Christian Bale leads the resistance in Terminator Salvation

CEBU, Philippines - Hot off the immense success from playing Batman in The Dark Knight, acclaimed actor Christian Bale now portrays another iconic hero in John Connor, the leader of the Resistance against the Machines in Columbia Pictures’ new action-thriller Terminator Salvation.

To embody the character who is the fulcrum of the vast Terminator saga, director McG cast Bale, who became a critical component of the former’s vision for the film. “Christian is a wonderfully talented actor and a true collaborator,” the director says. “Few actors bring the kind of weight and gravitas to the screen that Christian does.” 

“Christian was hesitant at first to do the film because he needed to know that it would be more than just an action picture,” recounts executive producer Jeanne Allgood. So early in their development process, a new vision for John Connor began to take shape. “He’s so much older and he has gone through Judgment Day,” Bale says. “Living through an event like that alters everybody, so in many ways he’s a completely different person.”

As the film begins, Connor fights on the front lines of the Resistance, but is not yet its leader. New developments by Skynet have rocked his vision of the future, as told to him throughout his life by his mother. She believed the future was not set, and his own doubts are growing that he may not live to initiate the events that will result in his own conception, namely, sending Kyle Reese (his would-be father) back in time to protect his mother. 

The man John Connor has become is at once an extension of his younger persona and someone entirely new. Bale affirms, “He’s definitely a guy with a lot of issues, somebody who has been told the future all his life and bears the burden of that knowledge. But his mother also told him there is no fate but what you make, so knowing that, he can’t just go hide and think everything’s going to be fine. He’s got to be out there fighting. I saw him very much like an Achilles-type character. He’s somebody who loves the fray. But he’s battling with what soldiers deal with every day—the loss of very good friends—and his fears that he is not the leader that people are probably expecting at that point.”

In addition to his clashes with the Resistance leaders and fears about Skynet’s strength and innovation, a new element shatters the vision of the future Connor grew up believing in: the emergence of a man whose existence has never been mentioned—a human-machine hybrid named Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington). 

John Connor realizes the only way to truly stand up to Skynet’s ever-evolving combat strategies is to fight them where they live: in the heart of Skynet itself. And Marcus may be the key to infiltrating their network. “Connor has this incredibly hopeless task,” says Bale. “Sure, he’s got some weapons, but it’s like just throwing a few sticks and stones at a fortress…except for Marcus. So, Connor has to make this extraordinary leap of faith and break every rule that he has established for himself. He knows that the machines will use the best parts of humanity against us. So, how does he put trust into somebody whom he knows to be a machine?”

Opening across the Philippines on May 27, “Terminator Salvation” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.sonypictures.com.ph to see the latest trailers, get free downloads and play free movie games.