THE MAKING OF TERMINATOR 2 - Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton

[Music] in 1984 film audiences were introduced to a new kind of villain [Music] terminated [Music] [Applause] seven years later writer director James Cameron as reteamed with stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton for the long awaited sequel Terminator 2 Judgment Day if it is little children today all grown-ups the one line that everyone always asked me to say is you know say I'll be back say their lines come on now I'm a cybernetic organism Cyberdyne systems model 101 [Music] I'll be back those words took on new meaning in the fall of 1990 when cast and crew reunited in the Mojave Desert to continue the story of Sarah Connor and her fight against the machines of the future the important element that's changed in her life since we saw her last is that she's had her son John Connor and he is now 10 years old the new Terminator of the film is not targeted on her anymore the child now himself is the target okay for Cameron Terminator 2 he goes only a matter of time action it was inevitable that a terminator sequel would get made and I wanted to be at the helm I wanted to make sure it didn't kind of drift off the concept of what it should be about Cameron's vision of a killer cyborg from the future hit a chord with audiences worldwide the Terminator represented something to people a kind of a dark side of the human psyche people want to have that fantasy of being able to do exactly what they wanted to do whenever they wanted to do it I need you close your boots and your motorcycle he forgot to say please it took us all I think awhile to realize that the Terminator had kind of permeated into the culture and it just kept getting reflected back to me in so many ways was always a very strong force in trying to get the sequel made I said to Jim Cameron and I said you know we should have an ongoing story because we're dealing here with such an interesting subject I knew instinct told me that based on that the strength of the first film that there would be another one it's just you you're never ready yeah several of the original Terminator crew returned for the sequel including director of photography Adam Greenberg and terminator effects creator Stan Winston sequel must be true to the first film but yet it must be more than the first film we have to give them what they got in the first and we have to give them something new and fresh and I think that's what we've done in Terminator 2 how can Arnold be starring in the sequel a terminator is built in a factory and there's one after another after another and they all look like Armand I guess it's just because he's cute this Terminator however isn't just another pretty face there's more sophistication to the the way it will look and bigger much bigger things will happen on the screen for six months Terminator 2 combined the efforts of over a thousand filmmakers shooting day and night throughout the state of California to capture the many action sequences of the script the production actually changed the course of a river to shoot high-speed chases in the extensive flood control channels of Los Angeles the tight quarters of NASA filming equipment often paralleled the action of the scenes being shot a defunct steel mill was resurrected by the film bankers recreating the intense heat and light of molten steel ironically actual temperatures in the mill averaged 42 degrees making it difficult for the actors to work up a sweat and in Northern California a team of expert pyrotechnicians staged one of the largest day shootouts in cinematic history [Music] tell me that wasn't a rush their crowning achievement however was blowing up a four-story office building we'll be so wrong it's those reverse lights waiting for your cue Jim Donald and I working together it's it's just like it was on the first picture he's one of the most professional people I've ever worked with he has incredible concentration he takes physical direction like no actor I've ever worked with and it's really a joy to work with them before method acting is although then in 1984 he paid a lot of attention to the acting he pays much more attention to the acting now the way he goes about directing actors how much time he spends with rehearsals how much time he spends with perfection and with moves and churches so I would say that in that area he's much smarter and much more sophisticated I mean he wants to do basically everything because he's such a clear vision of what he wants to see and see him ending up running with the smoke machine and creating smoke in front of the camera and then putting on blood and doing you trying to do your makeup that's why people always say that the Jim Cameron movie has a certain look because it's a totally representation of what he wants to see long before the cameras roll Cameron and crew are hard at work designing sequences and testing ideas in a unique mix of filmmaking and science I do a lot of visual research I do a lot of technical research the more fantastic the subject the more realistic the situation needs to be using extremely detailed models Cameron designs sequences with the aid of a thumb-sized video camera by blocking the scene in miniature production designer Joe Nemec can alter a location or set to meet the specific needs of the scene also during pre-production an ex Israeli commando provided the cast with military combat and weapons training since the character of sera has become an expert marksman linda was required to master a variety of guns and assault rifles it was really like entering the military and learning the mindset and coming up against myself in a big way that was even more significant in terms of playing Sarah she is so set herself down a path a concentrated path of of duty that she's lost all touch with her son you cannot risk yourself even for me do you understand you're too important which is a great warrior but for what you know so what she doesn't have anything that makes it worth while you know and also my life we don't even we don't even notice the gunshot anymore why just what meat there was a nuclear war sarah has lived with the certain knowledge of the destruction of the world on a certain date for so long and it haunts her dreams and nightmares every night and it's driven her kind of to the point of madness really as it would anybody who really had to confront that knowledge we experienced the end of the world through Sarah's eyes a process that called for the strictest sense of realism but even more powerful and haunting are Sara's visions of the people when we had to create ashen bodies that were going to be blown away by a nuclear holocaust [Music] it was very unsettling and it was the one time when he got a little uncomfortable because it wasn't pleasant to look at while you were shooting it but it is the important aspect of the film Judgment Day the day Sara was told the war would start clearing the path for humanity's successor the machines [Music] future war for Terminator 2 Cameron mobilized an army of actors stunt people and special-effects crews to create the final battle between humanity and the machines this battle took place on many levels in Terminator 2 as the crew executed one successful vehicle stunt after another one Scene required the Terminator to climb from a speeding pickup on to a heavy tanker upbeat performed by Arnold stunt double Peter Kent [Music] after a successful spin-out the truck was rolled onto its side and dragged by a team of tractors Peter wrote the sliding tanker like a surfboard to protect young John Connor the human resistance has sent but terminator itself our mission is to protect you who sent you you did this is deep playing the role of young John Connor his newcomer Eddie furlong it's almost in a way the classic the classic story I mean he literally was just plucked off the streets of Pasadena and whipped into the vortex of making a movie and Jim said Eddie I was gonna tell you Friday but don't tell anybody but we're gonna we picked you for this film and I felt like hugging Jim but he's a guy so I didn't hug him cast with less than a month before production Eddie began an intense period of preparation in addition to his regular education he received physical training acting lessons and motorcycle classes funny thing is I'm sure it's nothing like anything he ever expected and it's a total left turn in his life but on the other hand children have this remarkable capacity to just deal with things whatever life throws them they don't know how the world is supposed to be yet so they just think that's that's okay you know it can be like this if it wants to be one of the many tasks Stan Winston and crew undertook was enhancing the original Terminator makeup design originally there were a number of stages designed or considered as Arnold stages in makeups for this particular production an actor must know going into a situation like this that there is physical stress with this process fortunately Arnold Schwarzenegger is a is a pro three more hours of this I don't know how much longer I can bake this he attacks it as a pro he doesn't complain all right but I need my foot massages my oatmeal when Austrian Christmas music I need it all go ahead do it this pre-made a piece here is going to be glued to Arnold space with the help of Arnold holding it no no no Sophie okay now it's the glue we use it makes these arms pop up and get all swollen on days when the makeup doesn't turn out a hundred percent I just sneak by the camera and rub a little Vaseline on the lens during the production makeup artist Jeff Don and Steve Laporte and hairdresser peter toth ball would transform Arnold into the flesh covered Terminator an estimated 35 times totaling six consecutive days on a makeup chair for Arnold not too much because if you put too much blood on it it doesn't you can't see the work that's been done you can't see the metal and the flesh that's gone it just looks like a big bloody mess like you slap some hamburger on that's a good example Jeff burger people accept this possibility that there can be a blend between a human component and a machine component and I think it's just an aspect of our lives right now that we're so surrounded by machines all the time and the fact that we can accept that to me is the most amazing thing of all what it is is I'm do handsome no camera can take all these good looks so what they're doing every movie basic is is they put appliances on and terrible makeup on the kind of tone that looks down a little bit so I match up to the rest of the actors in the movie was my breath that bad two and a half three hours and he's done the next stage for the makeup is stage five six seven and it's basically the same that Arnold had before just more chrome more appliances he'll have his eye plugged up so we won't be able to see out of it and it'll take probably an hour hour and a half longer to put on he's gonna love it as one might imagine sarah has trouble accepting the Terminator as an ally she doesn't know that he's gonna come back she knows that it's a possibility so she's ready no affection you know i-i've kept it really clean do you know what you're doing I've detailed files under human anatomy I bet makes you a more efficient killer right correct terminator in this film adopts certain human characteristics you gotta listen the way people talk if someone comes up to you with an attitude you say hasta la vista baby hasta la vista baby that character slowly develops but a very fact of hanging around a human being Jesus you're gonna kill that guy of course I'm a terminator listen to me very carefully okay you're not a terminator anymore all right and all that registers and I start dealing with all those kind of emotions the terminators sent to kill young John is unlike any killing machine ever imagined I call him a mimetic polyalloy a meeting that it that he's made of a substance that can imitate anything playing the t1000 is Robert Patrick Jim was looking for somebody that was sort of a mixture between the protector character which was Michael Biehn in the first and Arnold Schwarzenegger which was which is the Terminator and I think he was looking for somebody that could look like he could possibly just be a human and yet could be a terminator could handle the intensity to be an in Terminator well I wanted to find someone who would be a good contrast to to Arnold if the 800 series is a kind of human hands our tank then the 1000 series had to be a Porsche an advanced prototype Terminator who was more fearsome than the old model the thing I like about Robert was he kind of looks like a cat in a way it's almost like it's about senses with him you know he you feel that he's very in touch with with the world and analyzing and observing it my character wants to completely take out John Connor that's his mission relentless tenacious young machine and he won't stop though their missions are exact opposites both terminators stem from the same creator the unseen supercomputer called Skynet we stem from the same technology so we've got to have some like programming are you the legal guardian of John Connor that's right officer what's he done now so we're both killing machines were just different types there was a guy here this morning looking for him - yeah big guy on a bike so I got something to do with this [Music] [Applause] the new Terminator really with this new capabilities is as much more threatening [Music] I'm basically death you know they're running from death both terminators are programmed to complete their missions at all costs and without question but Sarah has decided to confront her destiny and takes matters into her own hands I need to know how Skynet gets built who's responsible the main most directly responsible is Miles Bennett Dyson she decides that the only way to stop the future that she knows is going to happen is to kill the man that builds the chip that starts the war in a very real way she becomes the Terminator of the of the second film at least at a kind of a psychological level for cast and crew Terminator 2 has been more than a reunion has been very intense Tobruk and a you know a lot of night shooting and a lot of long hours and so on and I'm very honored and happy that I'm able to do the second one in 1984 Cameron transformed Arnold into one of the screens most memorable villains seven years later the process is reversing itself The Terminator is becoming a protector ultimately the film is about the value of human life no matter how inconsequential you may seem to others or even to yourself your individual existence may have great value in the future they have a job to do to protect her son and they do it one of the most amazing aspects of Terminator 2 is that it's taken the art and science of special effects to an entirely new level several Academy award-winning effects companies worked under a strict veil of secrecy for almost a year to create the many and varied effects of Terminator 2 fantasy 2 under the command of Terminator veteran jean warren greatly expanded the future war sequences from the first film combining live-action combat sequences with effects photography artists created the massive battlefield for the war between man and machine [Music] the famous endoskeleton also returns for the sequel Stan Winston's company joined forces with stop-motion animator Peter Klein now to create an army of these hi-tech death figures it's the same endoskeleton it's basically the same design we have finessed it but it's much more technically advanced than the endoskeleton in the first movie it's actually artistically advanced they can do more there is more life to these endoskeleton but redesigning the original endoskeleton was only the beginning for Stan Winston and staff in this particular movie we had to duplicate every principal actor animatronic Lee in the scene where the Terminator must force his way past a SWAT firing squad Stan was called upon to create an Arnold double that could withstand a barrage of gunfire there is nothing that we can do that will actually duplicate living things we can come close but we can't do it exactly we are making animatronic duplications of living things very nice it's just a movie you don't get paid so what I make it for you okay relax [Music] for Sara's nightmare Winston's crew designed and created several duplicates of Linda Hamilton all of which were destroyed in the creation of the haunting nuclear sequence destroying Los Angeles was a task given to forward productions under the direction of Bob Skotak vast miniatures cityscapes were built in tremendous detail for the sole purpose of their destruction but the truly revolutionary effects involve creating the t1000 the deadliest machine ever built it just blew my mind to actually see it and you go wow they've morphed you you're you're liquid mercury man they're liquid chrome I I don't think I'll get over it and I I totally believed it creating the t1000 required the combined efforts of Stan Winston's company and Industrial Light and Magic under the direction of Dennis Muren at the beginning of this show Jim had the board's already done and you have to start with storyboards you have to know what you're doing at the beginning cannot even be done show like this you know is it technically feasible to even do it now and Jim was hoping it was and I thought it was you know so we all agreed that we could do it was a constant you know little juggling act and then very beginning to figure out what was going to be done optically what was going to be done has a real life effect and then what things from us would be needed for ILM to help them work things out optically and vice versa and it was it just worked out as perfect as it possibly could [Music] [Music] when the t1000 x' abilities went beyond what was possible with animatronics makeup and prosthetics ILM was given the task of creating the effects optically literally redefining state-of-the-art for computer animation computer-generated images are a way of coming up with new effects especially when we've been doing traditional effects for 80 years and you're starting to see I think a lot of sort of the limits of traditional effects sort of the there you know it's very hard to use the same tools and do the different things all the time Dennis and I sat down and conceived the process and we sort of decided to concentrate on the Robert Patrick form because Robert is the t1000 we just what we decided we're going to study his body we're gonna watch his movements we're gonna find a way to capture his quality his the way he walks the way he runs the way he behaves the way his body changes shape and that was for us was going to be the key that drove our visual approach to the whole team 1,000 at the making of the models the studying Robert Patrick we got Robert and he was up here and we painted a grid on him and shot a lot of footage of him and we could see how that how the grid moved as his muscles moved his bodies moved around way it was way back in the beginning of the show and so that gives you an extremely powerful guide for creating a real Robert Patrick walk a real Robert Patrick run which is in fact the t1000 well the t1000 run so it's absolutely critical to our whole process we're trying to always duplicate human beings everybody's shooting for human beings this is really the first successful step to adding a real life to another wise inanimate piece of geometry notice the wrinkles you know it's the slight mannerisms of the eyes and the hands and stuff just like a real human that's the kind of thing that's the extra step we wanted to take we were destined to do that or nothing we knew that other people had come so far we wanted to go beyond that I dabbled in this a little bit in the abyss with the water tentacle that formed the faces of Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth mastrantonio and that proved to be very compelling imagery that people remembered indelibly from that movie so that kind of encouraged me to take it a step further or many steps further as on the abyss ILM employed a revolutionary laser scanning process to capture Robert Patrick's movements and form in one of the most powerful ways or one of the most exciting ways to use it is to get people's facial expressions in the computer I'm sitting in a chair you know like this and I'm I can't I can't move this way I can't move this way I've got to stay stoat aliy control hit this emotion and lock on this expression you know like we can reconstruct the actors face it's a very it's a very free process you can sort of go with what's happening and digitize those expressions as you wish and and we can immediately work with them animate model create human were very realistic very strong human faces get out I mean we work on this stuff and every day you know we still have not lost the spirit of amazement when we see what's coming out it's new and that's what's necessary is we can't have a sequel and just have it more of the same there's some wonderful new surprises in Terminator 2 bringing the t1000 to life has been a group effort I knew I was in good hands like with ILM and Stan Winston I knew I was working with the best of the best and I just like to thank them and the crew and my cast members as the science fiction film of the decade seven years later stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton and visionary director James Cameron have created one of the largest movies ever the conclusion of the Terminator saga for cast and crew Terminator 2 was nothing short of destiny [Music] hasta la vista baby [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you

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Length: 30min 55sec (1855 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 10 2020