One topic that some might argue was always bigger than anything else related to McG‘s Terminator Salvation is: would we or would we not see Arnold Schwarzenegger, and if so, how? Rumors have flown in every direction, from strictly voice over work paired with Arnie-clone Roland Kickinger handling the physical look; to Schwarzenegger actually appearing; to even his likeness possibly being digitally introduced in one fashion or another.

Well, it seems that if you chose C, you’d be absolutely correct. Let’s see what they’ve won!

It’s being reported that a bust made of Schwarzenegger 25 years ago for the first movie is being used as the base for digital reproduction. That’s right, Arnold Schwarzenegger will apparently be appearing in the movie, but he didn’t do one thing for the appearance, just OK’d it, looked at it, and gave the gubernatorial thumbs-up. The thumbs-up may have been digital as well, we’re still checking in to that one.

So is this a good idea? Or has all of this Arnold business been way too distracting? With Christian Bale, you wouldn’t think that this would be as big of a deal as it has been, so one must wonder what the payoff will bring, or even worse, if it will heed negative blow-back.

To present an actual human actor in complete digital form while trying to appear completely authentic — it may just be too obvious to work. Another curious area would be the role of Roland Kickinger. If they’re making a fully-digital Arnold, then what did Kickinger actually do?

Thankfully, we’re not years off from this movie anymore, and soon, we shall all know.

Terminator Salvation will be released on May 21, 2009.

[Source: Variety]