Tuesday, May 12

• The Resistance vs. the Harvester in Terminator Salvation Featurette

  It is not a terminator, but it's certainly no less intimidating. The harvester's primary function is to reap a crop of human captives and take them back to Skynet.

  The harvestor is also director McG's main entry in his giant robot competition with Transformers director Michael Bay. And it's definitely impressive. Standing about 60 feet tall, and towering over the landscape, the harvester shoots out powerful energy bursts to sweep away the resistance, and gathers up the survivors with its claw-like pinchers.

  As you can see in this new clip, the resistance -- Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) and Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) -- are determined to take it on and take it out.

  In an effort to make it feel as real as possible, McG kept the CGI to a minimum and concentrated on really blowing things up. A lot like an episode of Mythbusters but with a giant robot and even bigger explosions.

  
  

  Posted 05/12/2009 by Bill

  Related: Anton Yelchin | McG | Sam Worthington | Terminator Salvation

Friday, May 8

• Hints and Revelations in New Terminator Salvation Trailer and Clips

  The new four-minute-long Terminator Salvation trailer provides the most detailed look yet at this new vision of the world after Judgment Day. There are lots more action sequences and longer versions of some scenes from earlier trailers and TV spots. More surprisingly, there's a lot more extended narrative and dialogue -- and more than a few spoilers.

  And if that's not enough, there are two new clips from the movie, both highlighting internal conflicts in the resistance. In the first, we see John Connor (Christian Bale) struggling to convince others in the resistance that Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) is worth saving. In the other, we are treated to a nice display of how Blair Williams (Moon Bloodgood) responds to sexual harassment.

  
  

  Posted 05/08/2009 by Bill

  Related: Christian Bale | Moon Bloodgood | Anton Yelchin | Terminator Salvation

Thursday, April 23

• Anton Yelchin Talks Trek and Terminator

  Identified by the Los Angeles Times as one of the stars to watch this summer, 20-year-old Anton Yelchin has landed plumb roles in two of the most-anticipated fanboy flicks of the season. He plays freedom fighter Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation and Pavel Chekov in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot.

  Reacting to his new-found fame in an interview with the Times, Yelchin says he got "really lucky," and emphasizes his sense of responsibility in "capturing what people appreciate about the characters." But in both cases he is taking on the characters at an earlier stage in their lives than audiences have been seen before. This gives him a certain amount of creative latitude. "There are different paths to the same person," he observes.

  As an actual Russian -- he's from what used to be known as Leningrad -- he approaches playing Trek's Chekov with a certain sense of irony:

  With Chekov, it was fun to capture the comedic aspects.... Naturally, he's kind of funny sometimes. I adjusted it, but I wanted to be close to the [original version]. Certain things I took: the V's to the W's. He says wessels. He doesn't say the V, which is an odd choice. It's the kind of choice that they made 40 years ago when he was this Cold War stereotype. But it's fine. It's great.

  For his role as a younger incarnation of Michael Biehn's rage-filled Kyle Reese, Yelchin says he drew on some fellow middle-class San Fernando Valley residents: observing how they overreact when they're younger, before they gain self-control -- leadership, vulnerability, and anger all mixed up together.

  The paparazzi aren't beating down Yelchin's door, yet. But after the pair of blockbuster role out this May, they may well be.

  
  

  Posted 04/23/2009 by Bill

  Related: Anton Yelchin | Terminator Salvation | Star Trek

Wednesday, April 22

• Arnold Schwarzenegger May Appear in Terminator Salvation

  

  Terminator Salvation will debut in theaters in less than a month, but the producers are still contemplating the addition of at least one more character to the film: the original Terminator, made famous by actor-turned-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

  

  Schwarzenegger admitted to meeting with Terminator Salvation director McG, but said that he turned down a cameo appearance. However, in a recent webcast interview with the "Governator," Schwarzenegger said that he was open to the possibility of his Terminator appearing via digital means:

  I said that I would be willing to be in the movie if they get the technology together, and so they are working on that right now.

  The planned scene with Schwarzenegger would incorporate existing footage from 1984's The Terminator and not require the filming of new footage.

  Terminator Salvation stars Christian Bale as John Connor, the man destined to lead the human resistance against Skynet's army of Terminators; Anton Yelchin as a young Kyle Reece (who fathers John Connor in the past, during Terminator); and Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright, a human-Terminator hybrid.

  
  
  

  Terminator Salvation - Trailer

  Christian Bale Stars - Releasing May 21, 2009

  Posted 04/22/2009 by BrentJS

  Related: Arnold Schwarzenegger | Christian Bale | Anton Yelchin | The Terminator | Terminator 2: Judgment Day | Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Friday, April 17

• Green Lantern Movie Gets $150 Million Budget and a Studio in Sydney

  The Hollywood Reporter has put a number on the amount of money that Warner Bros will be laying down for the Green Lantern movie. Reportedly, the $150M figure is about the same that they shelled out for their most recent super movie Watchmen.

  We almost had a nerdgasm when script details came out last summer. The proposed storyline is gigantic in scale, and if loyally followed, it won't be your typical earth-bound comic book movie, but a space saga of epic proportions -- complete with cosmic battles requiring tons of sweet SFX. It could clearly be kick-ass, and this budget bodes well for the post-production quality of this movie.

  Also noted in the news is a release date of December 2010, and the filming location confirmation over at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia, where the recent decline of the Australian dollar should help stretch that $150 million budget even further. The studio choice may have also been a part of the Warners/Fox legal settlement over Watchmen -- sheer speculation on our part, but still interesting to note.

  Now everything is nailed down except a lead actor. So, expect an announcement soon of the star who will slip on the power ring. All are rumors at this point, but some names that have been bandied about are Ryan Gosling, Trekkers Anton Yelchin, Chris Pine and ex-90210er Brian Austin Green -- who has a winning name for the role.

  
  

  Posted 04/17/2009 by Jim

  Related: Chris Pine | Ryan Gosling | Anton Yelchin | Brian Austin Green | Green Lantern

Wednesday, March 25

• Chris Pine May or May Not Be The Green Lantern

  Last week, IESB reported that Star Trek actor Chris Pine, Captain Kirk 2.0, is on a short list of candidates for the role of Green Lantern. LatinoReview confirmed the rumor, calling it "LEGIT" but with Pine neither accepting or declining the role.

  Meanwhile, Collider disagrees, saying that their source told them no offer is out to Pine for the Green Lantern role and that their source "would know."

  Well, if it's not Pine, then who is it going to be? So far, the studio's top choices Ryan Gosling and Sam Worthington are either not interested or too busy, and the Anton Yelchin casting rumor was ironically debunked by Collider and Yelchin himself. Who do you think should be cast?

  
  

  Posted 03/25/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Chris Pine | Ryan Gosling | Anton Yelchin | Sam Worthington | Green Lantern

Tuesday, March 3

• Still No One Cast as Green Lantern

  With fan favorite actor Ryan Gosling turning down the role of Hal Jordan, otherwise known as the Green Lantern, and rumored second choice Sam Worthington too busy with Clash of the Titans to accept as well, LatinoReview reported last week that Terminator Salvation and Star Trek star Anton Yelchin was being considered for the role. Fans called for blood over the news, however Yelchin tells SciFiWire that there's no reason for alarm:

  I had no idea about that. I think I'm probably too young. I mean, no one's approached me, no one's said anything to me. So I imagine I'm just too young. I mean, it's a great character, but I don't know anything about it. ... I haven't heard anything about it.

  However, with Green Lantern set for a December 17, 2010 release, a casting decision should be made soon. Producers are apparently going back to Gosling to see if he will reconsider the role. Who do you think should be cast?

  
  

  Posted 03/03/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Ryan Gosling | Anton Yelchin | Sam Worthington | Green Lantern

Wednesday, March 19

• Yelchin a Trekkie and a Terminator?
  

  Okay, well he's not actually a Terminator and the deal isn't quite set yet, but the Hollywood Reporter says Anton Yelchin (Charlie Bartlett) is in talks to play a young Kyle Reese in the upcoming fourth installment of the Terminator franchise.
  
  Yelchin better prepare for a lifetime of ComiCon appearances because he is also currently shooting a role as Chekov in J.J Abrams' 2009 Star Trek reboot.
  
  The constantly in-demand Paul Haggis (Crash) is also in talks to offer a polish on the Terminator script prior to the start of filming in May. Haggis has offered his polish work to two Bond flicks, Casino Royale and the upcoming Quantum of Solace.
  
  Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins is directed by McG (We Are Marshall) and stars Christian Bale as John Connor.
  
  
  
  

  Posted 03/19/2008 by reelz

  Related: Anton Yelchin | Terminator Salvation

Wednesday, February 27

• Anton Yelchin (Chekov) Talks About J.J. Abrams' Star Trek

  Anton Yelchin sat down with ReelzChannel's Leonard Maltin to discuss playing Pavel Chekov in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek update, now set for release May 8, 2009.
  
  He met with Walter Koenig (the original Chekov) and Koenig said, "Looks like you guys are really being smart about this and doing your own thing, and yet I see traces of myself in what you're doing."
  
  Watch the full Anton Yelchin interview.

  
  

  Posted 02/27/2008 by Dack

  Related: Walter Koenig | Anton Yelchin | Star Trek

Wednesday, August 8

• Yelchin officially a "Trekkie"      

  MTV reports that Alpha Dog star Anton Yelchin has joined the cast of J.J. Abrams upcoming reworking of the Star Trek franchise.

  Yelchin will portray Pavel Chekov and fans will be happy to learn that Yelchin himself is, in fact, Russian by birth.

  The character was first introduced during the second season of the original Star Trek series, an inexperienced crewmember of the initial Enterprise.

  ReelzChannel brought the prior Star Trek casting news from Comic-Con of Zachary Quinto as the new Spock, but many big roles are as-yet unfilled. Of course, the biggest fan speculation revolves around Captain Kirk, which was previously played by the irreplaceable William Shatner. Matt Damon has been rumored as has Ben Affleck, although those rumors seem to have been dispelled by this point.

  We'll keep you posted as more casting news comes down from the deck of the future Enterprise!

  
  

  Posted 08/08/2007 by reelz

  Related: Anton Yelchin | Zachary Quinto | Star Trek