THR has an interesting report regarding Terminator Salvation, director McG, and superstar lead Christian Bale. Apparently, the original script for the fourth film in the franchise was built around the main character of Marcus Wright (now being played by Sam Worthington), with the role of John Connor not being that large. When McG went to meet with Christian Bale, it was in an attempt to get him for that main role of Marcus, not Connor. This is where the project was seemingly grasped by Bale and taken from McG in a sense, as Bale decided that he wanted to play John Connor and add him into the story more.

This news got my brain to turning and wondering, how much has Christian Bale affected Terminator Salvation, whether positively or negatively?

On one hand, there’s the possibility that Bale was the one that recognized flaws in the story and demanded the changes that could make Terminator a critical success as well as the box office blockbuster it’s already destined to become.

On the second hand, there’s also the chance that the original script was the best script, and that Bale’s A-list status and power to alter has instituted changes that negatively affected the final product. There’s even the chance that the massive star power of Bale lead Warner Brothers to require the PG-13 rating that has some fans on a rampage.

As far as I can recall — the initial story surrounding Bale’s contribution was that he refused to be in the movie unless it was story-based, and not all action. I don’t ever remember hearing anything about him being courted for the role of Marcus. A very interesting bit of added information.

So what do you guys think — will Terminator Salvation be a great movie in the end because of the marked changes that Christian Bale needed to happen, or will the power of such a big star and his ability to change a script at will prove to do more harm than good?

[Source: THR]