Also getting into the action in Terminator Salvation is Moon Bloodgood (Street Fighter). As with the previous female players in the Terminator universe, Bloodgood's 'Blair Williams' is a force to be reckoned with, a strong woman capable of holding her own in fights.
Taking time out from shooting, Worthington and Bloodgood sat down with a few members of the online press to talk about working with director McG on this latest entry of the Terminator franchise.
Sam Worthington and Moon Bloodgood Interview
What did McG tell you he wanted to accomplish with this film and what attracted you to the project?Sam Worthington: "Well, he wanted it to be gritty and have a lot of grunt to it as if the post-apocalypse actually happened. And I thought if you could pull that off that separates it from the others. So he said he wanted it to be like a cross, to me, of like a Mad Max kind of thing and the realism of Mad Max, especially the second one. Which I think it’s coming across that way. It looks dirty and rough and we’re covered in blood and sh-t, and that's a good thing. It’s not fancy and clean, which is nice. That's what appealed to me."
Even though we’re dealing with some of the iconic characters from the Terminator series – Kyle Reese and John Connor – it looks like your relationship is a major component of the film. It looks like your identity and you searching for who you are and what you are is a big piece of the film. Is it a big shift, in terms of the focus of the film?
Sam Worthington: "I kind of look at it that it’s Marcus’ journey and John Connor’s are running parallel and, if anything, I'm a bridge between how Kyle Reese became Kyle Reese. John is not the leader. He’s learning how to be a leader, so I kind of bridge that. So if anything, that's how I look at my character. I don’t consider it more of a focus, more of a kind of missing piece of the puzzle that when you go back and watch the first one, you can go in and go, 'Well he learned that f--king sh-t from Marcus,' and he learned that from that. Plus, it’s a lot less pressure. We’re not living up to anyone."
Could you talk a little bit about your character?
Moon Bloodgood: "Yes, I play Blair Williams. I'm a pilot and me and Marcus Wright, we have this really close relationship. I bring him into the resistance. I'm also part of the outpost with Kate Connor and John Connor. And you do, you see these stories sort of running parallel with each other but then you see there's like vines and they're sort of coming together and there's a little bit of a labyrinth. But it’s a lot of different focuses and I think it is trying to be very different from the first series of Terminators. It has its own stand-out look about it, feel about it, and I think it’s way grittier. But I’m such a fan. I mean you can never try and remake what they did in the first films."
Jim Cameron's films are full of action but they've always been character-driven. He's clear his people are the focus of the movies. Is that still the case with this? Do you still feel like it’s a very character-driven film?
Moon Bloodgood: "I do, absolutely. I feel that's the first, the most important thing with McG and with all of us as actors that the story, the plot, the characters are really developed and that the technology, that's secondary. It’s really about the human component, how people connect, how people deal with the world. Humanity, that's a big word we use a lot. What's Marcus’ humanity? What's Blair’s humanity? Where does the resistance stand? Who’s John Connor? And what I love about it is that he’s sort of a reluctant hero and he’s not fully developed. You watch how he has his insecurities and he doesn't know if his mother was right and the doubts are there. That makes it to me more compelling than, 'He's the hero and let’s watch John Connor kick ass.'"
What have been the most challenging action scenes for you?
Sam Worthington: "Every single day. I'm getting shot at, blown up, napalmed, mined, shoot myself, drowned, you know, every single day. This wasn’t in the script I read."
Moon Bloodgood: "Sam had to do the scene one day where he was chained up and we all had to watch him. It was so brutal. Like, just the emotions that you saw running in his face… He was vulnerable, he was angry, he was chained up, he was not comfortable, and it was a really long scene."
Sam Worthington: "You just dig in and do it, don’t you?"
Moon Bloodgood: "He was quite the champ about it."
Page 2: On the Physical Demands of Terminator Salvation and the Film's Theme
