JUDGMENT DAY HAPPENED": BUILDING THE WORLD OF "TERMINATOR SALVATION"
Wilkinson adds that he also created costumes with individualized detailing for the women in the film, including Blair's adapted, skintight flight suit, and Star's oversized outfit.  "What McG and I really liked was the idea that, as opposed to the world of machines where all of them look the same, human beings are different because they express who they are through their clothes," he notes.  "We looked to the Native American people of the region to see how they integrated ornamentation into the useful things they carried.  So, on top of this military, tactical dress, you have a layer of organic, expressive, very human handcrafted elements.  In that way, Star wears a policeman's star-shaped badge on her hat; and Blair wears a variety of chains, lockets, feathers and other found objects as jewelry pieces."
Arming the characters also entailed combining creativity with practical realism.  The design team outfitted John Connor with an HK 416D, the German version of a U.S. M4.  Connor's right-hand man, Barnes, carries the mammoth Grizzly 50, while Blair is armed with the sizable Desert Eagle 50.
With the extensive gun battles, chase sequences and explosions, the filmmaking team had a tremendous amount of firepower to execute as practically and safely as humanly possible.  "We wanted to do everything in-camera," says McG.  "When it was necessary to extend with CG, we did that, but we wanted to build everything, blow things up, and really crash the car.  It was extraordinary to have the concussion of the explosion to add to the realism of the sequence.  You see exhilaration in everyone's eyes.  You can feel their adrenaline rising.  We aimed to keep it as safe as possible, but we definitely wanted to push things every step of the way, to create a movie that, at its core, is a war movie and captures the reality of that intense pressure."
Photorealism was the mandate for the practical effects and visual effects teams alike.  Visual effects supervisor (and second unit director) Charles Gibson asserts, "McG wanted real pyro events, explosions and actions at a one-to-one scale, not as miniatures or computer-generated.  This is actually more of an action movie in that sense.  So, we chose to deploy the visual effects as intelligently as we could, to not overdo it, and always used a real-world proxy where we could."  Gibson also worked in partnership with eight facilities, including Industrial Light & Magic, Asylum, Kerner Studios, Whiskey Tree and Rising Sun Studios.
One of the most potent special effects challenges was the destruction of the gas station during Marcus and Kyle's battle with the Harvester, in which Marcus spies a tanker truck and blows it up beneath the Harvester in an attempt to thwart further attacks.  Shot using a tanker filled with roughly 250 gallons of gasoline, the ensuing fireball was about 160 feet in diameter and 200 feet high.  That explosion enveloped the gas station itself, followed by another explosion at the gas pump island.  The effect required 12 weeks of preparation and thorough safety measures on the day of the event.
It also meant the production had only one shot at getting it right and capturing it on film.  McG took no chances, filming the scene from multiple angles using cameras on remote switches; cameras up close, protected in crash housings; cameras manned by operators behind bunkers; and even cameras on helicopters, using very long lenses.
Even more spectacular, perhaps, was the napalm drop and the crash of Connor's helicopter into the river.  To accomplish this sequence, the crew constructed a 200-foot length of river in the middle of the desert, consisting of an 18-foot-deep tank that housed a scissor lift that moved the helicopter up and down and was rigged so the helicopter could crash in the water and ratchet over.  Along the "riverbank" was a mix of real and concrete trees, the latter rigged with gas lines to generate a controlled burn, and beyond that a protective fire ring, with a cadre of local firefighters standing by. 
The "napalm" was dropped in a series of explosions along a 300-foot length of river, each blast using 100 gallons of gasoline, with the flames climbing several hundred feet into the air.  Lasting about seven seconds, the effect was like a machine gun strafe of fireballs, generating a big heat blast, "and luckily nothing more than that," recalls Gibson.
"It just got your adrenaline going," Moon Bloodgood attests.  "There were some crazy stunts--we'd start running and then it would be dust and things exploding and I had no idea what was going to hit me.  And we would be laughing because we were so scared.  But I loved it."
"My character goes through the wringer," says Worthington.  "He gets strung up, cut up, and blown up, which meant I also spent many a day getting strung up, cut up, and blown up," he laughs.  "So, yeah, we got our bumps and bruises, but it's 'Terminator,' it's not 'Pride and Prejudice.'"
With hundreds of people on set on any given day, all working in 80,000 square feet of stage space, as well as a good portion of the desert surrounding Albuquerque Film Studios, "Terminator Salvation" was, Jeffrey Silver states, "an incredibly huge operation.  It involved every different trick in the book--animatronics, special effects, visual effects, stunts…  You name it, this film had it."
McG sums up simply, "It was intense…but an incredible amount of fun."

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

McG (Director) made his feature film directorial debut with the actioner "Charlie's Angels," starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu.  Released in November 2000, the film topped the box office in its opening weekend with more than $40 million domestically, making it the largest opening weekend ever for a first-time director.  It went on to open at number one in 31 territories internationally, ultimately grossing more than $260 million worldwide.  McG also directed the 2003 sequel "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle," which reunited Barrymore, Diaz and Liu and added Demi Moore to the cast.
Following his success at the box office, McG formed Wonderland Sound and Vision, a production company that has film and television deals with Warner Bros.  Under McG's leadership, Wonderland Sound and Vision has grown from a production company into a multifaceted media entity that has set trends in the way in which content is produced and delivered. 
In 2006, McG directed the true-life drama "We Are Marshall," starring Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox and David Strathairn.  The film tells the tragic but inspiring story of the aftermath of a horrific plane crash that claimed the lives of the Marshall University football team and the coach who was able to motivate his new team not only to play but to win.
McG is next set to direct "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo," a remake of Jules Verne's classic science fiction adventure.  He is also currently developing the film version of the Tony Award-winning musical "Spring Awakening."  Under his Wonderland Sound and Vision banner, McG has several other projects in various stages of development, including "Fantasyland," about the obsession of fantasy sports players, to be directed by Stephen Palgon; "Dead Spy Running," a spy thriller based on the book by Jon Stock, adapted by Stephen Gaghan; "Maintenance," an action comedy based on the comic book about two janitors who must clean up the mess left by their megalomaniac bosses to save the world; and "I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil," a comedy about a 12-year-old boy genius who can control the world but has more trouble trying to win his class presidency.
McG has previously produced both films and television shows, including the hit series "The O.C," for Fox; "Chuck," for NBC; and "Supernatural" and "Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll" for the CW.  Additionally, Wonderland released the soundtracks "Music from The O.C.," which have gone on to sell over one million copies.
Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, McG grew up in Newport Beach, California.  He began his career directing immensely popular campaigns for The Gap and Coca Cola.  McG also directed more than 50 music videos for such diverse artists as Sublime and Wyclef Jean.  These music videos have contributed to the sale of over 100 million albums worldwide. 

JOHN BRANCATO & MICHAEL FERRIS (Screenplay and Story) have co-written more than a dozen feature films, including "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Their other credits include the thriller "The Net," directed by Irwin Winkler and starring Sandra Bullock, and David Fincher's "The Game," starring Michael Douglas and Sean Penn, which Brancato and Ferris also co-produced.  Brancato and Ferris also created and served as executive producers on the 2000 NBC sci-fi series "The Others."
Upcoming projects for Brancato and Ferris include the sci-fi thriller "Surrogates," starring Bruce Willis and directed by Jonathan Mostow, set for a September release, and "xXx: The Return of Xander Cage," starring Vin Diesel, to be directed by Rob Cohen. 
Brancato and Ferris met while attending Harvard, where both were editors and vice presidents of the famed Harvard Lampoon.  Brancato worked as an editor, writer and cartoonist for newspapers and magazines before segueing to screenwriting in 1985.  Ferris started out as a magazine editor and was also a staff writer for the animated series "Rugrats" before beginning his full-time creative collaboration with Brancato.

DANNY ELFMAN (Composer), one of Hollywood's leading film composers, has earned numerous honors, including a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award and four Academy Award nominations.  In 1998, he was honored with dual Oscar nominations for Best Original Score for his work on Barry Sonnenfeld's "Men in Black" and Gus Van Sant's "Good Will Hunting."  He received his third Oscar nomination for the score for Tim Burton's acclaimed fantasy "Big Fish."  Elfman earned his most recent Oscar nod earlier this year for his score for the acclaimed biopic "Milk," directed by Gus Van Sant. 
Elfman has worked extensively with director Tim Burton, most recently on the live-action "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and the stop-motion animated film "Corpse Bride."  Their previous collaborations include "Planet of the Apes," "Sleepy Hollow," "Mars Attacks!," "The Nightmare Before Christmas," "Edward Scissorhands," "Beetlejuice," "Pee Wee's Big Adventure," and both "Batman" and "Batman Returns."
In all, Elfman has composed more than 60 motion picture scores, working on films of every genre, as well as documentaries.  His recent film credits include all three "Spider-Man" blockbusters, for director Sam Raimi, as well as "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," "Wanted," "The Kingdom," "Meet the Robinsons," "Charlotte's Web," "Hulk," and the Oscar^®-winning Best Picture "Chicago."
Elfman's additional film work includes the music for "Spy Kids," "The Family Man," "Proof of Life," "Instinct," "A Civil Action," "A Simple Plan," "Mission: Impossible," "To Die For," "Dolores Claiborne" and "Sommersby."
For television, Elfman won an Emmy Award for his theme for the hit series "Desperate Housewives," and was also Emmy-nominated for his theme for "The Simpsons," which is the longest-running primetime comedy series ever.
A Los Angeles native, Elfman got his first experience in performing and composing at the age of 18 for the French theatrical troupe "Le Grand Magic Circus."  The following year, he collaborated with his brother Richard performing musical theatre on the streets of California.  Elfman then worked with a "surrealistic musical cabaret" for six years, using this outlet to explore multifarious musical genres.  For 17 years he wrote and performed with rock band Oingo Boingo, producing such hits as "Weird Science" and "Dead Man's Party."   
Elfman's first composition for ballet, entitled "Rabbit and Rogue," had its American Ballet Theatre (ABT) World Premiere at The Metropolitan Opera House at New York's Lincoln Center in June of 2008.  The ballet was choreographed by Twyla Tharp and commissioned by ABT.
Following "Terminator Salvation," Elfman's music will be heard in several upcoming films, including the comedy "Taking Woodstock," directed by Ang Lee, and the horror thriller "The Wolfman," for director Joe Johnston.

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