Meetings with Cameron and Schwarzenegger Fuel New 'Terminator' Director

Now that Universal Pictures has won the rights to the "Terminator" franchise in an auction, what do they plan on doing with it? Make a new movie of course. They have already made strides in that direction by hiring "Fast Five" director Justin Lin to head up "Terminator 5."

Lin recently told website The Playlist that he has already met with the two most important people affiliated with the "Terminator" franchise. Those two people would be Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron.

"'Terminator' is something I've been having a lot of fun with. Just even this week, I had a great meeting with Arnold [Schwarzenegger] and James Cameron, just sitting down unofficially. And James is so gracious, because he's not part of the project, he's not going to be producing, but it was great of him just as a filmmaker to take time out to just talk," the director stated.

Schwarzenegger has tentatively agreed to reprise his legendary role in "Terminator 5." However, first he is set to work on "The Last Stand." It has been eight years since the actor and former governor of California has put on the leather jacket, shades, and boots to portray the lead character. He still looks good, but has visibly aged since then. If a cyborg does not age, how are they going to explain Schwarzenegger's appearance? I guess they could make the robot look aged to "appear" more natural to John Connor and the other characters.

As much as I would like to see Schwarzenegger back as the "Terminator," this might be the time for them to just get his permission to use his likeness for any future films and go the CGI route. They did it in "Terminator Salvation" and I though it looked great. When I saw the film, people exploded in applause when he showed up. It was a lot of fun and could work for future franchise installments. He could even still voice the character to be actively involved. If his voice starts to sound too old or different, just fine-tune it in post-production or editing.

It could be a while before we see "Terminator 5" in theaters. Director Lin has to shoot "Fast and Furious 6" first. He also does not intend to rush "Terminator 5" into production prematurely. He wants to make sure everything is how it needs to be.

"If I'm going to be kind of the gatekeeper to it, I want to make sure that I can hopefully build it up the right way-and so far that's been the most fun," Lin said. I could not agree more. I would rather he take the time to come up with something excellent than just get a mediocre new entry out sooner to make money.

For more articles by Eric Shirey, check out:

Heading to the movies? Get an instant mobile coupon to use at select theaters for free popcorn!