Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is a little more than a month away from its series premiere, and FOX has begun inundating its audience with promos for the latest iteration of the Terminator franchise.  If you watched football this weekend, you saw a lot of Sarah Connor promos, which featured a heavy dose of Summer Glau.  Fans should be happy about this.  Well, on the heels of Sarah Connor's imminent television premiere, news has emerged about Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins.  Terminator Salvation is probably better known as Terminator 4, which is now set for a 2009 theatrical release.  Terminator 4 sees a grown-up John Connor leading humanity in its attempts to take down SkyNet.  It was announced late last week that Terminator 4 has two big names attached: director McG and actor Christian Bale.

McG has directed Charlie's Angels, Charlie's Angels 2, and We Are Marshall.  He's also acted as a producer on the shows Fastlane, The OC, and Chuck (he also directed Chuck's pilot).  McG has flirted with large franchises before, at one point having been signed on to direct Superman Returns (that gig eventually went to Bryan Singer).  McG is known for his stylistic (and sometimes over-the-top) visuals.  However, this is mainly due to his work on Charlie's Angels; McG toned down his act on the mildly successful football drama We Are Marshall.  Reaction to that announcement that McG would be directing the newest Terminator film has been mixed within the fan community.

The announcement that Christian Bale would be playing the grown up (and bad ass) John Connor has not been mixed.  Bale has become one of the most reliable and critically acclaimed actors of his generation, a man capable of incredible range, a true method actor who has also seen his share of box office hits.  He's probably currently best known as Bruce Wayne/Batman from Batman Begins.  As a child, Bale starred in Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun.  As an adult, Bale burst into the mainstream thanks to his terrifyingly hilarious portrayal of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, the film adapted from Bret Easton Ellis's controversial novel about 1980s Wall Street yuppie excess.  Since then, Bale has starred in films like The Machinist, The Prestige, 3:10 to Yuma and Rescue Dawn. 

Terminator 3 ended with John Connor confined to a secure mountain base as the machines were beginning to take over the outside world.  Terminator 4 will likely pick up with John Connor wrangling up survivors to fight and probably eventually take down SkyNet.  The Christian Bale signing is interesting, because it's the first time John Connor will be played by a movie star.  Edward Furlong and Nick Stahl (the previous care takers of the John Connor role) are both good actors, but neither have the bad ass quality of Bale.
 

-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: Ain't It Cool News
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