Schwarzenegger's face to star in Terminator?

Will Ahnold help Terminator: Salvation save face?
Will Ahnold help Terminator: Salvation save face?

Arnold Schwarzenegger is too old to star in another Terminator movie. We all know this – you can't be a primed killing machine if you are not in your prime.

But the makers of the upcoming Terminator movie Terminator Salvation have seemingly come up with the ingenious idea of getting Arnie into the movie, by digitally mapping his face onto another actor's body.

Face: Off

According to Latino Review, cast member Roland Kickinger – essentially Arnie's body double – will forgo his own face for that of Schwarzenegger's.

The effects team behind this is said to be ILM, so at least it should look real enough.

This isn't the first time ILM has been involved in a project like this, according to the website, the effects company digitally mapped Christopher Lee's face to a stunt double in the Star Wars prequels. And you thought it was Lee bounding around like a mentalist in the movie.

Director McG has apparently been busy using stereoscopic camera systems to make it that bit more realistic. So, it means that we won't be seeing anything like the 'special effects' in Game Of Death, where Bruce Lee's untimely death meant the makers of the film used cardboard cut outs of his face to mask the stand-in's!

Will it work?

So, will this actually work? If it is true, it is definitely a boost for fans, knowing that Schwarzenegger has signed up and will do voiceover work and lend his likeness for the film. But it doesn't detract from the fact that McG, of Charlie's Angels' fame, is helming the movie.

As Kyle Reese says in the original, which we think pretty much sums up our feelings of 'filmmaker' McG, "It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead."

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.