According to The Hollywood Reporter, Anton Yelchin is in negotiations to star as Kyle Reese in Terminator 4: Who Knows What It Will Be Called?.
The young actor will be seen next as Chekov in J.J Abrams Star Trek reboot/remake.
Paul Haggis (of Crash and Casino Royale fame) is also in negotiations to rewrite the script by David Campbell Wilson, John Brancato and Michael Ferris.
I'll just let that news sink in for a moment.
Is it good news or bad news? To use a phrase that I say all too often: "It's a bit of both".
Let us begin with the bad news: Anton Yelchin as a teenage Kyle Reese.
I just don't see it.
To me, Michael Biehn is Kyle Reese - just like Arnold Schwarzenegger is the T-800. Reese is one of Biehn's signature roles, like Hicks in Aliens - he is that character and I can't see anyone else taking over the role. It's just casting to get the kids to go to see the movie. The "if you cast a teen, then teens will come" sort of motto (and if that's who they're targeting, that's a bad sign as well).
Not only that, but the producers of Terminator 4 seem to be "stealing" actors from upcoming science fiction films so that they can bolster the fan base. This was seen previously with the casting of Sam Worthington, who is also starring in Terminator creator James Cameron's forthcoming Avatar.
The good news is Haggis. He was able to reboot James Bond and get quite a bit of critical acclaim for doing so (and bring in big box office to boot), so he might just be the man to help give the Terminator franchise some new respectability; something that is lacking because of the way the franchise's producers are milking the brand name.
That said, I think that his greatest achievement was the television series Due South over ten years ago. No, I'm not kidding when I say that - go out and buy a series box set of the Canadian cop show!
However, I digress.
The trade paper also gives some "new" plot details:
"Reese, one of the children who survived a machine-driven nuclear holocaust, befriends Marcus (Sam Worthington), an early edition of the Terminator cyborg played in previous films by Arnold Schwarzenegger."
This "new" plot point was first mooted by yours truly way back in January. Not to blow my own trumpet. Well, maybe a little bit.
It was also just the other day that I said that Christian Bale was was hoping on a new draft of the script, and we all know that Haggis works fast: He pumped out his Quantum of Solace rewrite in a matter of weeks. Expect him to do the same here, so that they can get that May start date.
Am I just showing my age here and my inability to embrace change, or is all this starting to seem like bad news? Please, make me feel better!
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
0 comments:
Post a Comment