Lena Headey and James Middleton on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles! at The Insider

Lena Headey Pictures: Lena Headey and James Middleton on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles!

With the big premiere running tonight and a new episode tomorrow, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is set to make an impact in a big way.
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Executive Producer James Middleton and lead actress Lena Headey spoke earlier this week about the series and touched upon it’s eventual tie-in to both the next big-screen Terminator film and a series of direct-to-DVD animated shorts.J. Mitchell: I just don’t know. I hope we could. I have a feeling that the nine shows that we have may be our first season, because it takes us about five weeks to get a show up and running. We would have to get the writers back into the writer room. They know what they have to do, but still, it takes times. Our show is very involved in terms of CGI and practical special effects and costumes and sets, so the preparation time is critical. I don’t think that there is a scenario where we could have those last four episodes of our order to be running continuously with the season.
Q: Okay, but you might be able to get them maybe a bit later? J. Mitchell: Yes, it would really be up to FOX.
Q: Episode nine, were you able to do it in time to make it something of a season finale?J. Mitchell: Yes, actually it turns out that that episode has a tremendous cliffhanger.
Q: When you got the script for this show, was your response just instant and immediate, oh I want to do this?L. Headey: Yes, pretty much. I just read the feature script, which had similar themes to it. It was a very strong physical woman, and, for one reason or another, it didn’t work out, and literally, the next day, I got the script, “The Sarah Connor Chronicles”, and I absolutely loved it. I thought it was brilliant and the fact that it’s a television show, the possibilities for it are endless in the development of all of the characters in there. It’s really exciting, and yes, it’s all good.
Q: I wanted to ask you a little bit about taking the Terminator franchise to an audience, not only on television, but in 2008. When everyone sat down to say okay, we’re going to do a Terminator franchise on a TV series, what kind of changes and adaptations do you think you had to make for, not only a television audience, but the 2008 audience?J. Mitchell: It’s interesting, because the themes of Terminator are just as relevant today as they were when T2 came out. Technology, in terms of robotics, is increasing at just an astonishing rate. People are working on artificial intelligence in many different quarters. At the same time, I think people, in general, feel sort of powerless over this technology and don’t understand it, and there’s a natural paranoia that comes with that. I think that that makes our show really relevant, if not more so, than when T2 was released. So that part is something that we bring with us.The other thing is a theme from the movies that a small person, let’s say Sarah Connor, a former waitress, can have an amazing impact on the future. I think everybody wants to believe that there’s a calling for them. That they can have a positive impact and that their existence means something. So I think that that is also very relevant to new audiences.In terms of the show itself, what that provides us is the ability to deal more with Sarah Connor’s character than you could in a movie. It also allows us to have that character more proactive instead of just being chased. Sarah is basically proactive and on the hunt and investigating this mysterious and very tense world.
Q: You’ve spoken a lot about what Sarah is going to do in the series, but what is it about the Sarah character in total that made you want to go back and revisit it?J. Middleton: I think our audience has always identified with this character, this character that has an enormous task thrust upon her that is very much like us. She starts out as a waitress. Her beginnings are not auspicious, but because of the calling she’s given, she rises to the occasion and transforms into an amazing heroine, and I think that’s something that we would all like to believe could happen to each of us. If such a calling were thrust upon us, we could be strong enough and rise to the occasion. With that, I’ve always loved Sarah Connor’s intensity. The fact that, while fighting very viciously against her foes, you absolutely see in her face, the stakes and her fear and her anxiety. I think that that’s very interesting and it’s a fantastic character created by Jim Cameron and I wanted to really explore her. Lena has absolutely just knocked it out of the park in terms of taking this character and making it her own.
Q: Can you talk about the interaction between Sarah and Cameron? We haven’t really heard much about that and that’s one of the best parts of the show.J. Middleton: The interaction between Sarah and Cameron, the protector machine, is very complicated because Sarah has a well earned fear of machines, yet, she must keep this machine close to her in order to protect her own son. So there’s a wariness that Sarah has for Cameron. But, as the series goes on, it’s impossible for either Sarah or John not to become somewhat emotionally attached to Cameron as a being. So it’s a very interesting thing watching Sarah deal with what is really her worst nightmare and having to embrace it everyday.Q: Okay, and can you talk at all about any of the guest stars who may be coming onto the show in the first season?J. Middleton: I really can’t, because I just want to make it a surprise for the viewers when they get to see it.
Q: Just going back to the beginning, what was it that made you want to bring the whole Terminator franchise to a TV screen for Sarah Connor? Is Jim Cameron involved at any level at all?J. Middleton: Jim Cameron is not involved and he has not been involved in the franchise since about 1998 when the franchise was sold to C2 Pictures, but he’s obviously an inspiration to us everyday and David Nutter, I think, put it really well when we were working on the pilot. Whenever there was an empty chair in the room, he would say that’s Jim Cameron’s chair. So we acknowledge that what we’re working on is created by a master filmmaker. Going to the question of why television for Sarah Connor, the first thing is that I knew that Sarah would not appear in any future movies, and I really desperately wanted to bring that character back. The original drafts of T3 included Sarah and that was not able to happen, but when I look back on it, I feel actually that that was a blessing, because that allowed us to get to this point where we had a series where we could have Lena Headey play Sarah.
Q: Just following up regarding Jim Cameron, is there any talk of having him come and guest direct any episodes in the near future?J. Middleton: No, there hasn’t been any talk. He’s just not involved in that way. I think that, knowing our schedules and our television budgets, that it probably wouldn’t interest him to do that. He’s really moved to a much grander scale with the likes of Titanic and Avatar.
Q: Just following up with the idea of how important it is for a fan to embrace the show as well and being very encouraging of the Web sites that it spawns, what kind of things have you put into the show that will really play to the really invested fan, to those that are going to want to see Cameron being a great little Easter egg right there. Are there things that play to the fan base that give them something to invest in?J. Middleton: As the series progresses, there is going to be revealed many references and echoes to the first two movies, and real fans will be able to pick up on those references. We’re very influenced by certain themes and lines and characters from the first two movies, and those things will eventually appear in our series, or be referenced.At the same time, we don’t want to be slavish to the first two movies, and we can’t really. We have to expand the universe. So we’re going to create surprises that have nothing to do really with the first two movies.
Q: With the series progressing, and, as you said, there being a big cliffhanger for the ninth episode, are you working with trying to be very sterilized as we move through in these first nine episodes, or are you trying to stay a little bit more standalone so that you can get those fans that may just have an interest in the films and want to jump in. Or do they really have to invest with the mythology that you’re going to create for this series?J. Middleton: Yes, there’s a balance that we have to strike and each episode that we have has a closed ending, but there are naturally serialized elements to it as the show progresses. I think it’s the right balance. I don’t think that, having seen all the episodes now and worked on them in post production, I don’t think that there’s anybody that would come into a particular episode and not be able to figure out what’s going on.
Q: Is there anything that you can tease in terms of what that first season arc is going to be for us and where Sarah is supposed to end up that we can anticipate as she moves through these first nine?J. Middleton: I could, but I just don’t want to. I just want it to be a surprise for you and for everybody that’s going to watch this. Link

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