"Terminator" Director Reboots Franchise

Latest Installment In "Terminator" Film Series, "Terminator: Salvation," Hits Theaters May 21

(CBS)  In "Terminator: Salvation," the highly anticipated new installment of the Terminator movie franchise, is set in post-apocalyptic 2018. Chrisitan Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of terminators.

The director of "Terminator: Salvation," McG, (aka Joseph McGinty Nichol) stopped by The Early Show Wednesday to talk about the challenges of reviving the franchise, as well as his impressive lead character.

As he spoke, the Terminator robot was at his side.

"We needed an incredible, talented actor and that list had one name, Christian Bale," McG said.

Bale steps into the role of John Connor, played previously by Edward Furlong and Nick Stahl. And he does the same voice he uses when he dons the black suit for the "Batman" movies, a monotone, guttural growl regardless of the dialogue.

John must find and protect his future father, Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin), while trying to determine whether to trust the mysterious Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) to help in this quest.

"Those (the previous 'Terminator') movies take place in present day and our movie takes place in the future, McG said. "So now, he's a little bit older, and has to lead the way."

Director McG, of the "Charlie's Angels" movies and "We Are Marshall," drops into this well-established lore and presents a post-apocalyptic world that is repetitively bleak and relentlessly loud.

McG went onto explain how tough it was to take a franchise and breathe new life into it, and why he was willing to take that risk.

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"Terminator Salvation" opens in theaters on May 21.

[sam-kiley]

bonjour
"terminator-machine" waouuuuw...impressionnante, elle fait peur aussi avec ses "yeux-yeux" rouges..j'adore terminator, j'ai vu tous les volets, et revu..salvation..on attend
christian bale superbe..btavo..bye..

[veils-2009]

Arnold the terminator seems to have a way out after bankrupting his favorite state, Cal-li-forn-ia.

[khadilov]

Sorry about the name mix-up. I knew it didn't sound right, but I know Derek is John's Uncle in the tv series....Hope the movie is good!

[luvl42]

Derek Connor does not exist. Derek is Derek Reese (the uncle) but he does not exist (that we know of) in the movies only the series. Kyle Reese is the father. John uses his mother's last name, not the father's. If you can't get your facts straight then you shouldn't be a reporter. Oh wait, most reporters never get the facts straight.

[khadilov]

Derek Connor is John's uncle on the tv series 'The Connor Chronicles' , which was cancelled. It was a very good series and a lot of people are upset? I wonder if it was cancelled so that would not compete against each other!

[loueetwoee]

Who the heck is Derek Connor? I know I've missed new terminator stuff, but I know Kyle Reece is John's father.