We Meet with Christian Bale to Plan the Resistance

An army of Terminators roams the post-apocalyptic landscape, killing or collecting humans where they hide in the desolate cities and deserts. But small groups of survivors have organized into a Resistance, hiding in underground bunkers and striking when they can against an enemy force that vastly outnumbers them. Controlling the Terminators is the artificial intelligence network Skynet, which became self-aware 14 years earlier and, in the blink of an eye, turned on its creators, unleashing nuclear annihilation on an unsuspecting world.

Only one man saw Judgment Day coming. One man, whose destiny has always been intertwined with the fate of human existence: John Connor (Christian Bale).
Now the world is on the brink of the future that Connor has been warned about all his life. But something totally new has shaken his belief that humanity stands a chance of winning this war: the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger from the past whose last memory is of being on death row before awakening in this strange, new world. Connor must decide whether Marcus can be trusted. But as Skynet adapts new strategies to end the Resistance forever, Connor and Marcus must find common ground to take a stand against the onslaught--to infiltrate Skynet and meet the enemy head-on.

The man John Connor has become is at once an extension of his younger persona and someone entirely new. "He's definitely a guy with a lot of issues,” Bale explains, “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. And he is a fighter. 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."

Bale, who was born in Wales and grew up in England and the USA, made his film debut in Steven Spielberg's World War II epic "Empire of the Sun." He most recently starred in the blockbuster "The Dark Knight," reprising his role from "Batman Begins." His film work to date also includes "The Portrait of a Lady," "American Psycho," "The Machinist," "The New World," "The Prestige," "Harsh Times," "Rescue Dawn," "3:10 to Yuma" and "I'm Not There." Bale next stars in Michael Mann's "Public Enemies," set for release in July 2009.

Christian Bale is a wonderfully talented actor and we really appreciated his time. Here’s more of what he had to tell us about “Terminator Salvation”:

MoviesOnline: We just talked to Sam Worthington and asked him if you were intense. He said, “I hate that fucking word now. People call him intense, but he’s just passionate.” How do you feel about the intense label?

Christian Bale: I hate that fucking word. (smiles) I said it first, alright?

MoviesOnline: Do you feel like you’re intense?

Christian Bale: I don’t really analyze each word. People can label me whatever they want to label me. That’s their prerogative. I don’t actually have the same passion of feelings as Sam does about the word. I’m like whatever. I don’t care. Call me an a-hole. I’m alright. I’m fine. If that’s what you think of me, then that’s your right to think that.

MoviesOnline: It’s an interesting choice to go into another franchise. What did you see in this movie that made you really want to be a part of it?

Christian Bale: I didn’t go straight into it. I did “Public Enemies” in between the two. I felt like the franchise was done so when I first got sent it, I didn’t have any interest. Then I sort of got a creepin’ idea that there really was something good that could be told here. If that was going to happen, then absolutely I wanted to be on for it. I like mixing it up. I like doing a “Dark Knight,” “Batman Begins,” and “The Machinist” and doing “Public Enemies” and then doing “Terminator.” I enjoy that mix.

MoviesOnline: How does the physicality of these roles change your life when you’re spending all of those months being physically so intense?

Christian Bale: Not so intense on this one. Not nearly as intense as it was on “Batman.” It’s probably more intense for Sam because he’s somebody who could actually have a fist fight with a Terminator, but as a human being you’re not having any fisty cuff sessions with a Terminator. You get to that point, then you’re probably just dead. So, for me, it was mainly just weapons handling and preparation for that. We had a great advisor who I spent a lot of time with, but the physical challenge was not nearly as tough as I thought it was going to be.

MoviesOnline: Can you talk about how you collaborated with McG and what that relationship was like on set?

Christian Bale: Initially collaboration was just me saying, “No, I didn’t want to do the movie.” Then it was, “Why?” When people look at the franchise mythology and think it’s over, you’ve got to come back with something that really knocks people out. I just didn’t feel like it was there, but that was not just me. Everybody felt that. I really couldn’t see that it wouldn’t be able to get there. It just seemed crazy to me that that wouldn’t be possible. So I took a leap of faith because it was the writers strike and everything and they were saying alright, listen, let’s all just have a few points that we want to get across in another script and have that be written and fine. Let’s go after that.

Of course, a movie is a collaboration, but a director has to have his own point of view. That is a director’s job. He creates the point of view and he must have a strong point of view. He has to. He can’t be wishy washy. He creates a rhythm, you know, of the piece. You can’t have too many chiefs otherwise the whole thing is going to be a balls-up. He’s obviously very open to ideas, but I like it when I’m hearing great ideas and then I’m just adding onto it and making it something extra.

MoviesOnline: What was your reaction when you saw it all come together at the end?

Christian Bale: I saw a few different variations and, like any movie, it goes through a lot of different shapes. Ultimately, the last one I saw I really felt satisfied. I felt okay, I think we’ve…the public will decide. This isn’t a movie that you sit down and want to watch as a personal 2 o’clock in the morning viewing. It’s not something which you’re sort of gazing into the human soul and speaking to you in that way. It’s a movie that’s meant to be watched with a lot of different people and to get that common energy.

I think movies like this, it’s much like sports. It’s that feeling of a common excitement throughout the theatre and that is what I loved about seeing T2. I felt like I think we might have a chance here. People will decide, but I think we might have a chance of maybe having revived this and being able to move on and see what happens with any future movies if this one does well enough.

MoviesOnline: Can you talk about the “I’ll be back” scene? Was that in the script and was that fun to do?

Christian Bale: That was actually something which a friend of mine who came on as a writer for awhile. I would have liked him to have been around for longer throughout the movie, but it was conversation actually when Jonah Nolan was on it briefly to work. He called me up and said, “Christian, I’ve got an idea. I just want to run it by you because you might just say ‘no way.’” I thought, you know what, let’s try it. We can always cut it out. My aim was to attempt and you can tell me if you feel I did it successfully or not. My aim was to kind of have it be such a logical answer to what I’m being asked that hopefully people didn’t go in that second, “What’s he doing an Arnie impression for?” I didn’t ever want it to come across as an impression. Ideally for me, a few seconds later, people who know the other movies go, “Hey. Wait a second, he just said the same line.” That way I felt comfortable.

MoviesOnline: You and Anton have this weird time travel relationship. How was that to develop as actors?

Christian Bale: You know what? I solved it by just not thinking about it too much. That’s really the answer to it. As soon as you start getting into any kind of time travel -- which we don’t have in this one, it’s before the days where that has been discovered -- you can get into a complete mess with the movies. It just becomes limitless and completely confusing. That one was fairly straightforward. I just don’t think about it that much.

MoviesOnline: Was the helicopter scene at the beginning done in one take?

Christian Bale: Well that would be great, wouldn’t it? Imagine that, if it was done in one take. That would be fantastic. The camera didn’t ever pan off. I’m having a tricky time remembering that day, so I guess it must have been one take.

MoviesOnline: What’s the most dangerous stunt you did in this? The helicopter scene looked horrifying.

Christian Bale: If it had been done in one take, it would have been. (Laughs) The biggest adrenaline rush was actually a dive I had to make down into a cavernous space and I had to drop a fair distance for that, but I have worked with all the stunt guys, the riggers, the stunt coordinator before on a number of movies and I know how good they are. It became just a heart pounding rush filming. I’ve got to say, the stunts in this one, I didn’t find real tricky.

MoviesOnline: Are you fearless? I remember asking you on Batman when you were on the ledge of the Sears Tower in Chicago if you were nervous and you looked at me like I was crazy, like what’s scary about that.

Christian Bale: Hey, listen. I’m sure there are things I have a fear of, but just not standing on the ledge of a building.

MoviesOnline: You’ve been an actor a lot longer than you’ve been a star. With the current TMZ culture, are you concerned about it distracting people from your character onscreen? Does it distract from your performance?

Christian Bale: Not for me it doesn’t because I don’t know what things are being said or gossipy stuff that’s going on. My life is much happier when I ignore that. As for other people, that’s their choice. If they want to embrace that, then they’re probably going to sacrifice enjoyment in the movies. I really believe that, but it’s their choice if that’s what they love looking at. I don’t get it, but it is what it is.

MoviesOnline: Can you talk about any scenes that you shot for this film that aren’t in the theatrical cut that you’re looking forward to seeing on the director’s cut or the DVD?

Christian Bale: I hate all the extras that you get on DVD’s like the deleted scenes. They’re deleted for a reason. Why show it? There’s that expression you’ve got to kill your babies sometimes. That happens. You do get sometimes some very good scenes, but they just don’t work in the rhythm of the movie. I’m pretty satisfied with whatever you see in this movie.

MoviesOnline: Were there any more scenes with you and Bryce that we didn’t see?

Christian Bale: Yeah, there were a few, but you’ll have to speak to Mc G about that. He’s the one who made the call.

MoviesOnline: Is there any chance we might see you in a third Batman film?

Christian Bale: You know, after making a number of blunders, I’ve learned that I do not answer that question until Chris Nolan has answered that question.

MoviesOnline: There were a number of reports of you being in Bartlesville, Oklahoma a few months ago. What were you doing there?

Christian Bale: What do you mean? That’s offensive to Bartlesville. Who doesn’t want to go there? Are you from Bartlesville?

MoviesOnline: I’m from Tulsa actually. I was just wondering what brought you there?

Christian Bale: I was there for doing a little bit of location scouting and getting ideas for something that might happen.

MoviesOnline: Nothing further that you can add to that?

Christian Bale: No.

MoviesOnline: How are things going with “The Fighter”?

Christian Bale: I hope that we’ll be making it.

MoviesOnline: If you do another Terminator movie, can you talk about where you’d like to see your character go emotionally?

Christian Bale: No. [laughs]

“Terminator Salvation” opens in theaters on May 21st.