On the Set of McG's 'Terminator Salvation'

SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

Rising up from the plateau of the Albuquerque desert is the burned remnants of a concrete highway overpass, and on the ledge, a figure is about to jump. Dressed in a black bomber jacket and combat boots, with weaponry slung about his waist, he hesitates for a second and then plummets head first to the ground. He's Christian Bale, and he's the newest John Connor.

"Hey, Christian, that looked great!" The voice belongs to a tall figure in a Penguin shirt, black shorts, and a white Stetson, hidden from the desert heat in a makeshift tent. McG watches the action from behind several monitors but also keeps an eagle eye on the set towering above him. "Did you see me start to spin though?" laughs Bale, before downing a bottle of red Vitamin Water.

Bale is hoisted on wires to the top of the set for yet another take, this time joined by a few members of his heavily armed resistance group. The atmosphere on the set seems to shift subtly, a palpable sense of tension rising as set medics gather around.

"Standby!" A low hissing noise is audible. "Everyone got what they need? Picture's up! Fire in the hole! We are rolling... 3-2-1. Action!" Just as Bale tosses a bag over the ledge, a massive explosion blasts the actors from the edge of the concrete structure. Chips of wood, charcoal and other debris scatter over the set in a brown rainstorm. The acrid odor that follows the explosion is quickly replaced the unmistakable smell of... sewage. A cleaning service, blissfully blind to the fact that one of 2009's most expensive and highly anticipated films is shooting a key action sequence, has just cleaned out the set's portable toilets. A mind-numbing stench settles over the set, and actors and crew flee in all directions, covering their noses.

Back in the editing room, McG, the maverick director perhaps best known for the 2000's big screen version of Charlie's Angels, is unable to contain his passion for Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, aka T4. McG freely reveals innumerous crucial plot points of the story and describes in detail how the movie, slated to be the first in a reboot of the series, opens.