History Trivia / TerminatorSalvation

** Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger [[http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-Blunt-Opinion-Terminator-4-70677.html apparently doesn't like the movie]].

** Creator/ChristianBale [[https://www.slashfilm.com/christian-bale-regrets-terminator-salvation/ initially]] rejected the role three times but eventually accepted it to spite haters, and laments that Jonathan Nolan's initial script was scrapped due to Nolan being called away to other commitments.

* CreatorBacklash: Co-writer John Brancato, who wrote the first script alongside partner Michael Ferris (which is why both are the only ones credited in spite of other scribes contributing), [[http://johnbrancato.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-to-beat-twice-dead-horse.html had lots of bad words about the film]], specially regarding how the original ending was discarded (see WhatCouldHaveBeen below).

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** In an [[http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Terminator-Salvation.html early script]], Marcus was much more emotional and talkative, just like Kyle and a non-mute Star, and they would encounter cannibals in the road instead of a good-natured clan of survivors. Marcus would be revealed to be just a brain in a cybernetic body, just like Serena Kogan who would explain that Skynet was creating hybrids like them to build a new, superior human society as part of what they called Project Angel. John Connor himself wouldn't appear personally until the last act and, more shockingly, be killed by Serena while rescuing Kyle, so Marcus would assume his role by surgical methods to lead the Resistance.
** Even after turning John into a main character by Bale's demand and adding the Ashdown subplot to fit it better into the story, the main plot points were kept when they started shooting: Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter was going to play the cyborg Kogan and not just her image used by Skynet, Marcus would have fought a T-800 in his meeting with her, and his impersonation of a dead John was going to be the official ending. However, this ending was blasted by everyone who heard about it after an internet leak, with Creator/{{McG}} himself finding it thoroughly wrong upon reading it, and the Project Angel storyline was felt as too outlandish and out-of-character for the franchise, so they changed plans again mid-production. Some scenes from these earlier ideas were shot and are contained in the DVD.
** There was even a [[http://www.hopeofthefuture.net/deletedscenes/t4omit02.html second alternate ending]] where Marcus, after waking up from the operation, [[FaceHeelTurn turned evil]] and [[KillEmAll killed everyone in his hospital room]], including Kyle, Star, Kate, and Barnes. It got as far along as having concept art drawn up for it, but was even more hated than the former and eventually discarded.
** Creator/StanWinston was intended to have a cameo as a prisoner who was fighting a Hydrobot in the Skynet research facility, but this was scrapped due to Winston's worsening health.
** The submarine commanded by Ashdown was originally going to be destroyed by an underwater Harvester and not by a simple missile.
** Had Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger not given permission for his likeness to be used for the T-800 that attacks John in the factory, the plan was to have John shoot the T-800's face off as the camera panned up.
** Creator/JoshBrolin turned down the role of Marcus Wright.
** Creator/TildaSwinton was originally cast as Dr. Serena Kogan.
** In the original script, Serena would have become a Terminator/human hybrid like Marcus and would have been the BigBad and the ManBehindTheMan of Skynet. The scenes were shot with Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter but not used, which is why she became an AdvertisedExtra after the re-shoots.
** This film was meant to be the first of a new trilogy, but the plans for any future endeavors with this incarnation vanished at some point and prompted a {{reboot}} with ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'' that reset the ''Terminator'' playing field altogether; Bale was not invited back, but Schwarzenegger was. That said, ''Salvation'' did receive an ExpandedUniverse of novels and comic books that continued the story and even managed to wrap up the universe and timeline with a conclusive finale after it was abundantly clear no more actual films were going to be made. That's at least more than ''Genisys'' ever got.
** [[https://www.slashfilm.com/mcg-wants-robert-patrick-for-terminator-5/ An idea]] discussed between [=McG=] and Creator/RobertPatrick for the sequel was to introduce a scientist played by the latter, who would be studying cell replication in an effort to find [[CureForCancer a panacea to aging, disease, and so on]], and this subplot would have been a deconstruction of such topics. Hmm...

* HostilityOnTheSet: During production, Creator/ChristianBale infamously went off on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFvxmB8vi6M a furious and profane rant]] directed against director of photography Shane Hurlbut, telling him to get off the set because he was blocking the shot and calling him unprofessional. The audio of the incident went viral and {{memetic|Mutation}} to the point where it was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTihsJQHt48 remixed]] into a StupidStatementDanceMix. Bale later [[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/feb/09/christian-bale-apologises-for-onset-rant issued an apology]].

* BillingDisplacement: Despite prominent billing, Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter only gets five minutes of screentime.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Inverted; it is set in the state, but was mostly filmed in New Mexico.
* CastTheRunnerUp: Earlier drafts of the script before rewrites focused a lot more on just Marcus Wright and Kyle Reese, with John Connor making an appearance in the last few scenes. Creator/ChristianBale was first offered the role of Marcus but took more interest in the character of John Connor so rewrites took place to give him more of a substantial role throughout the film.
* ChannelHop: The producers of ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'' were planning a fourth movie, then started feuding among themselves and The Halcyon Company purchased the franchise rights to get the thing done. Amusingly, in a way the "Channel" didn't change, as like the predecessor, Warner Bros. released it domestically and Columbia Pictures did so internationally.
* CreatorBacklash: Co-writer John Brancato, who did the first script alongside partner Michael Ferris (which is why both are the only ones credited in spite of other scribes contributing), [[http://johnbrancato.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-to-beat-twice-dead-horse.html had lots of bad words about it]], specially regarding how the original ending was discarded (see WhatCouldHaveBeen below).

** The relatively low intakes ($371.4 million, about a third from the US) compared to the huge $200 million budget sent the Halcyon Company into bankrupcy.
** This film also proved to be a serious blow to director [=McG=]'s career. His next two films, ''This Means War'' and ''3 Days to Kill'', would also underperform or bomb, and all his next projects have been Direct-to-Netflix affairs.
* DeletedRole: Creator/TerryCrews played Jericho, a resistance soldier and brother to Barnes, in a deleted scene which never was included. Similarly, Greg Plitt's brief role as a hybrid similar to Marcus was deleted after a general plot change.
* DeletedScene: [[http://www.hopeofthefuture.net/deletedscenes/t4del_index.html There were many scenes that didn't make it to the screen]], ([[MissingTrailerScene some of which were in the trailer]]), including (see What Could Have Been as well):
** An opening narration by Connor:
---> ''"The future is not set. I’ve been told I said that once. Many years from now. It was a warning. That I was going to hell. But if I fought hard enough, I could escape. I believed it for a lifetime. Now I pray I was wrong. Because now I am in hell. We all are. And the future I used to dread is the only hope I have left."''
** The original cut of the film included a topless scene when Blair and Marcus are warming themselves by the fire. Director [=McG=] said that it was meant as a ShoutOut to Kelly [=McGillis=]' topless scene in ''Film/{{Witness}}'', but that it ultimately felt exploitative and would have flouted a PG-13 rating. The scene is reinstated in the director's cut Blu-ray.
** A longer third act, that had John and Kate having a longer conversation before he leaves on the mission to rescue Kyle, appearances by T-700's, more footage of Marcus infiltrating Skynet, prisoners escaping during the attack, the T-800 trying to use the T-600's minigun and [[spoiler:Kyle burying Marcus and finding Sarah's Polaroid in John's jacket]].

* LyingCreator: Pre-release publicity played up Roland Kickinger's role as the new T-800 actor. What said publicity conspicuously failed to mention was that Arnold Schwarzenegger's head would be rendered on top of Kickinger's body.

* OldShame: Creator/ChristianBale [[http://www.indiewire.com/2018/01/christian-bale-terminator-salvation-turned-down-role-statement-1201915441/ admitted that he turned down the role of John Connor at least three times]] before signing on and only accepted to prove that he could bring something to the role. Bale ultimately regrets his now infamous on-set rant and was ashamed the film failed to reignite the franchise.
* TheOtherDarrin: Since the film followed ''Film/Terminator3RiseOfTheMachines'', Christian Bale replaced Nick Stahl as John Connor and Creator/BryceDallasHoward replaced Creator/ClaireDanes as Kate Brewster.

* SeparatedAtBirthCasting: Creator/AntonYelchin was uncanny as a young Kyle Reese, originally played by Creator/MichaelBiehn.

** The script of the film was extensively rewritten at least three times, both for Bale's ExecutiveMeddling and testing audience's reactions. Then filming was delayed for four months when Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter lost members of her family in a car crash and had to attend to her relatives in England.

** ''Welcome to [[http://www.skynetresearch.com/ [=SkyNet=] Research]]...''

* WagTheDirector: Creator/ChristianBale was offered the part of Marcus, but wanted John Connor. This expanded the role, and kind of threw things off-balance. Of course, the most infamous case involving Bale was the rant he delivered at the DP. In the leaked audiotape, Bale chews out the director of photography for changing the lighting levels while he was in the midst of performing a scene, and subsequently tells [=McG=] that he will not have it happen again. Bale would later go on to apologize for the rant sometime later of his own violition, and most cast and crew reaction when asked about it was, "You don't change the lighting during a scene."

** In an [[http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Terminator-Salvation.html early script]], Marcus was much more emotional and talkative, just like Kyle and a non-mute Star, and they would encounter cannibals in the road and not a good-natured clan of survivors. Marcus would be revealed to be a just brain in a fully cyber body, just like Serena Kogan, who would rexplain Skynet was creating hybrids like them to build a new, superior human society as part of what they called Project Angel. John Connor himself wouldn't appear personally until the last act, and more shockingly, he would be killed by Serena while rescuing Kyle, so Marcus would assume his role by surgical methods to lead the resistance.
** Even after turning John into a main character by Bale's demand and adding the Ashdown subplot to fit it better into the story, the main plot points were kept when they started shooting: Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter was going to play the cyborg Kogan and not just her image used by Skynet, Marcus would have fought a T-800 in his meeting with her, and his impersionation of a dead John was going to be the official ending. However, this ending was blasted by everyone who heard about it after an internet leaking, with [=McGs=] himself finding it thoroughly wrong upon reading it, and the Project Angel storyline was felt as too outlandish and out-of-character for the franchise, so they changed plans again mid-production. Some scenes from these earlier ideas were shot and are contained in the DVD.
** There was even a [[http://www.hopeofthefuture.net/deletedscenes/t4omit02.html second alternate ending]] where Marcus, after waking up from the operation, [[FaceHeelTurn turned evil]] and [[KillEmAll killed everyone in his hospital room]], including Kyle, Star, Kate and Barnes. It got as far along as having concept art drawn up for it, but was even more hated than the former and was eventually discarded.

** Had Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger not given permission for his likeness to be used for the T-800 that attacks John Connor in the factory, the plan was to have Connor shoot the T-800's face off as the camera panned up.

** In the original script, Serena Kogan would have become a Terminator/Human hybrid like Marcus and would have been the BigBad and the ManBehindTheMan of Skynet. The scenes were shot with Helena Bonham-Carter but not used, which is why she became an AdvertisedExtra after the reshoots.
** This film was meant to be the first of a new trilogy, but the plans for any future endeavors with this incarnation vanished at some point and prompted a reboot with ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'' that reset the ''Terminator'' playing field altogether; Bale was not invited back, but Schwarzenegger was. That said, ''Salvation'' did receive an ExpandedUniverse of novels and comic books that continued the story and even managed to wrap up the universe and timeline with a conclusive finale after it was abundantly clear no more actual films were going to be made. That's at least more than ''Genisys'' ever got.

--> ''"The future is not set. I’ve been told I said that once. Many years from now. It was a warning. That I was going to hell. But if I fought hard enough, I could escape. I believed it for a lifetime. Now I pray I was wrong. Because now I am in hell. We all are. And the future I used to dread is the only hope I have left."''

** This film was meant to be the first of a new trilogy, but the plans for any future endeavors with this incarnation vanished at some point and prompted a reboot with ''TerminatorGenisys'' that reset the ''Terminator'' playing field altogether; Bale was not invited back, but Schwarzenegger was. That said, ''Salvation'' did receive an ExpandedUniverse of novels and comic books that continued the story and even managed to wrap up the universe and timeline with a conclusive finale after it was abundantly clear no more actual films were going to be made. That's at least more than ''Genisys'' ever got.

** This film was meant to be the first of a new trilogy, but the plans for any future endeavors with this incarnation vanished at some point and prompted another reboot with ''TerminatorGenisys'' that reset the ''Terminator'' playing field altogether; Bale was not invited back, but Schwarzenegger was. That said, ''Salvation'' did receive an ExpandedUniverse of novels and comic books that continued the story and even managed to wrap up the universe and timeline with a conclusive finale after it was abundantly clear no more actual films were going to be made. That's at least more than ''Genisys'' ever got.

* FranchiseKiller: The plans for any future endeavors with this incarnation vanished at some point and prompted another reboot that reset the ''Terminator'' playing field altogether; Bale was not invited back, but Schwarzenegger was. (Ironically, said reboot, ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'', ended up being a Franchise Killer too.)
** That said, the film did receive an ExpandedUniverse of novels and comic books that continued the story and even managed to wrap up the ''Salvation'' universe and timeline with a conclusive finale after it was abundantly clear no more actual films were going to be made. That's at least more than ''Genisys'' ever got.

* WagTheDirector: Creator/ChristianBale was offered the part of Marcus, but wanted John Connor. This expanded the role, and kind of threw things off-balance. Of course, the most infamous case involving Bale was the rant he delivered at the DP. In the leaked audiotape, Bale chews out the director of photography for changing the lighting levels while he was in the midst of performing a scene, and subsequently tells [=McG=] that he will not have it happen again. Of course Bale would later go on to apologize for the rant sometime later of his own violition, and most cast and crew reaction when asked about it was "You don't change the lighting during a scene".

* CreatorKiller: The relatively low intakes ($371.4 million, about a third from the US) compared to the huge $200 million budget sent the Halcyon Company into bankrupcy.
** This film also proved to be a serious blow to director McG's career. His next to films, This Means War and 3 Days to Kill, would also underperform or bomb, and all his next projects have been Direct-to-Netflix affairs.

** That said, the film did receive an ExpandedUniverse of novels and comic books that continued the story and even managed to wrap up the ''Salvation'' universe and timeline with a conclusive finale after it was abundantly clear no more actual films were going to be made.

* TroubledProduction: The script of the film was extensively rewritten at least three times, both for Bale's ExecutiveMeddling and testing audience's reactions. Then filming was delayed for four months when Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter lost members of her family in a car crash and had to attend to her relatives in England.
* UncreditedRole: Creator/LindaHamilton recorded Sarah's messages herself uncredited.

* OldShame: Creator/ChristianBale [[http://www.indiewire.com/2018/01/christian-bale-terminator-salvation-turned-down-role-statement-1201915441/ admitted that he turned down the role of John Connor at least three times]] before signing on and only accepted to prove that he could bring something to the role. Bale ultimately regrets his now infamous on-set rant and was ashamed the film failed to [[WinBackTheCrowd reignite the franchise]].

* WagTheDirector: Creator/ChristianBale was offered the part of Marcus, but wanted John Connor. This expanded the role, and kind of threw things off-balance. Of course, the most infamous case involving Bale was the rant he delivered at the DP. In the leaked audiotape, Bale chews out the director of photography for changing the lighting levels while he was in the midst of performing a scene, and subsequently tells [=McG=] that he will not have it happen again.
** Of course Bale would later go on to apologize for the rant sometime later of his own violition. And most Cast and Crew reaction when asked about it was "You don't change the lighting during a scene".

** Even after turning John into a main character by Bale's demand and adding the Ashdown subplot to fit it better into the story, the main plot points were kept when they started shooting: Helena Bonham Carter was going to play the cyborg Kogan and not just her image used by Skynet, Marcus would have fought a T-800 in his meeting with her, and his impersionation of a dead John was going to be the official ending. However, this ending was blasted by everyone who heard about it after an internet leaking, with [=McGs=] himself finding it thoroughly wrong upon reading it, and the Project Angel storyline was felt as too outlandish and out-of-character for the franchise, so they changed plans again mid-production. Some scenes from these earlier ideas were shot and are contained in the DVD.

** Creator/TildaSwindon was originally cast as Dr. Serena Kogan.

** DisownedAdaptation: After ''Film/TerminatorDarkFate'''s production, this film is one of the three ''Terminator'' movies that is completely turned away by Creator/JamesCameron.

* DeletedRole: Terry Crews played Jericho, a resistance soldier and brother to Barnes, in a deleted scene which never was included. Similarly, Greg Plitt's brief role as a hybrid similar to Marcus was deleted after a general plot change.

** Had Arnold Schwarzenegger not given permission for his likeness to be used for the T-800 that attacks John Connor in the factory, the plan was to have Connor shoot the T-800's face off as the camera panned up.

* FranchiseKiller: The plans for any future endeavors with this incarnation vanished at some point and prompted another reboot that reset the ''Terminator'' playing field altogether; Bale was not invited back, but Schwarzenegger was. (Ironically, said reboot, ''Film/TerminatorGenisys'', ended up being a FranchiseKiller too.)
* HostilityOnTheSet: During production, Creator/ChristianBale infamously went off on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFvxmB8vi6M a furious and profane rant]] directed against director of photography Shane Hurlbut, telling him to get off the set because he was blocking the shot and calling him unprofessional. The audio of the incident went viral and {{memetic|Mutation}} to the point where it was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTihsJQHt48 remixed]] into a StupidStatementDanceMix, forcing Bale to [[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/feb/09/christian-bale-apologises-for-onset-rant issue an apology]].

* TroubledProduction: The script of the film was extensively rewritten at least three times, both for Bale's ExecutiveMeddling and testing audience's reactions. See What Could Have Been below.