Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
The machines will rise.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
Production
Budget
$200 000 000
Revenue
$435 000 000
Director
Scenario
John Brancato
Author
Composer
Producer
Mario Kassar
Actors
Arnold Schwarzenegger
The Terminator
Nick Stahl
John Connor
Claire Danes
Kate Brewster
Earl Boen
Dr. Peter Silberman
David Andrews
Robert Brewster
Carolyn Hennesy
Rich Woman
Jay Acovone
Cop - Westside Street
Short description
Ten years after the events that averted Judgment Day, John Connor lives off the grid, leaving no records or electronic traces that Skynet might follow. He is drawn back into the open when a new machine, the T-X, arrives from the future to kill him and Kate Brewster, a veterinarian whose fate is tied to his. The Terminator returns to guard them, and together man and machine must confront the advanced assassin.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was released in 2003, the third entry in the science fiction series begun by James Cameron and the third feature directed by Jonathan Mostow, following Breakdown in 1997 and U-571 in 2000. John Brancato and Michael Ferris wrote the screenplay. Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as the Terminator, with Nick Stahl as John Connor, Claire Danes as Kate Brewster, Kristanna Loken as the T-X, and Earl Boen and David Andrews among the credited cast of thirty-six.
Made for about 200 million dollars, the film took in roughly 435 million dollars worldwide, a solid return on a large production. On IMDb it holds 6.3 out of 10 from some 436,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.2 out of 10 from about 7,490 votes. A critics' rating of 6.7 out of 10 from 203 reviews places it somewhat above those audience scores, suggesting reviewers judged the blockbuster more kindly than many viewers did.
What's left behind the scenes
- For a long time, Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed to star in the film only if James Cameron directed it. As is known, Cameron refused to direct the film under any circumstances. Eventually, Cameron advised Schwarzenegger to reprise his role as the Terminator for a third time, but to demand a huge sum of money from the studio as a fee. Arnie did just that – his fee was $30 million.
- The man yelling at John Connor after the latter crashed into his car is Billy Dee Lucas, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s stunt double.
- Among the listing of airbase names over which Skynet established control, one can notice “Moron Airfield” and “Batman Air Base”. These are real, existing airbases. The first is located in Spain, the second in Turkey.
- At one point, John McTiernan was considered for the director’s position.
- For promotional purposes, Indian Motorcycle provided eight 'Chief' motorcycles for use in the film, which were used as patrol motorcycles.
- The chase scene took six months to assemble.
- Ridley Scott could have directed the film, but he chose to make “Black Hawk Down” (2001) instead.
- In this film, Arnold Schwarzenegger does not utter his signature phrase, “I’ll be back.” However, in this film he says “She’ll be back” and “I’m back.”
- The method of time travel remained traditional – through an energy sphere formed by the time machine. Since the second film, it remains unclear how polyalloy robots travel. According to the version voiced in the first Terminator, only living matter or what is contained within it can travel, hence the situations with finding clothes. If the appearance of the T-1000 in the second film remained off-screen (most likely the robot did not have its own form before contacting the police officer), then in this film, the T-X, being a polyform robot that does not need other people's clothes and faces, still emerges from the sphere naked (presumably to maintain continuity) and takes not only a car but also clothes from the first woman she encounters, although she could easily mimic any that fit her, as was shown later. At the same time, the inconsistencies regarding the need for some kind of organic shell that allows robots to travel through time were completely forgotten.
- The shot of the Terminator getting on a motorcycle, starting it, and then turning right is filmed from the same angle in all three films.
- Toyota Motor provided seven Toyota Tundra trucks for filming. All of them were wrecked during the shooting.
- The first week of filming was dedicated to shooting the scene where the Terminator crashes a truck into T-X. The last day of filming was the scene where T-X emerges from a time portal.
- The famous phrase “Get out!” is used in all three films. This film also features a similar phrase: when the Terminator takes a police motorcycle, he says, “Get off!”
- The first draft of the script differed significantly from the finished film. For example, John Connor was a successful programmer who was partially responsible for activating Skynet. Sarah Connor was also supposed to return in the film. The evil Terminator could change its shape and also take on a gaseous form.
- Claire Forlani could have played the role of Kate Brewster.
- A scene explaining why the Terminators look like Arnold was cut from the film. In this scene, Sergeant Candy, played by Schwarzenegger, talks about how his appearance will be used to create the Terminators. This scene can be found on the DVD release of the film.
- Arnold Schwarzenegger donated $1.4 million of his fee to ensure a scene was filmed where a crane crashes into a glass building. Jonathan Mostow was unsure about filming this scene, fearing it would exceed the initial budget and extend the film's shooting schedule beyond its original timeframe.
- At the end of the film, before the destruction of the T-X and the Terminator by a fuel cell, the Terminator says “You have been terminated,” just as Sarah Connor says before destroying the T-800 at the end of the first film.
- Tedi Sarafian wrote one of the early script drafts. If the film had been shot according to this script, the film's budget would have exceeded $200 million, as the script contained several scenes of colossal scale: for example, a scene in which a 'Boeing' crashes in downtown Los Angeles, destroying almost half the city. However, some of Sarafian's ideas were used in the film (the female Terminator, Sarah Connor does not appear in the film), so he is credited as the story author.
- James Cameron was not involved in the making of this film.
- The screams of T-X before her destruction are the screams of predatory velociraptors from Steven Spielberg's film “Jurassic Park” (1993).
- In this film, the T-800 uses the following weapons: A hunting shotgun – an attempt to save John Connor and Kate Brewster from the T-X. A modified “Browning M2” machine gun – shooting up police cars. An RPG-7 – blowing up the T-X in the cemetery. A “Protecta” rifle (formerly known as “Striker”) – several shots at the T-X. A “Minigun” torn from the T-1 – a shootout with another T-1. An “HK G36” assault rifle – an attempt to destroy the flying hunter-killer.
- At the 90th minute of the film, John and Kate board a plane with tail number N3035C. In the next shot, as they fly over the desert, the number displayed on the aircraft changes to N3973F.
- When the Terminator goes to a bar for clothes, he breaks the arm of a stripper who refused to give up his clothes, just as the T-800 breaks the arm of one of the bikers in the second film.
- Upon its theatrical release, "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" was the most expensive film with an officially confirmed budget. Although other films cost more, their budgets were not officially confirmed.
- In some shots, the crane hook is not real, but computer-generated.
- Kristanna Loken delivers all of her lines in the first twenty-five minutes of the film.
- After the first escape from the T-X, John asks the Terminator about the T-X, "Will you destroy her?" – the same phrase Sarah Connor asks Kyle Reese about the T-800 in "The Terminator."
- When Arnold Schwarzenegger asks Claire Danes where John Connor is, he promises to let her go if she tells him, then he says – 'I lied...' He says the same thing in the film *Commando* (1985) when he throws a guy off a cliff.
- At the 70th minute of the film, when John and Kate are sitting at a table and talking, a large amount of explosives is lying on it. In one of the shots, all the explosives disappear from the table, replaced by a pistol.
- Three video games were released based on this film. "Terminator 3: War of the Machines" (2003) is a multiplayer game that did not use the film's plot, but only some details, such as locations and cyborg models. "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" (2003) and "Terminator 3: The Redemption" (2004) follow the film's plot and also expand upon it with events from the future. In the latter two games, the T-800 was also voiced by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- In the scene where the Terminator reboots his system to eliminate data corruption caused by T-X's interference, you can notice which elements of his system he is rebooting: Remote Access, Sound, Memory, Software Update, QuickTime Player, Date and Time, Multiple Users, Keychain Access, Location Manager, Energy Saver, Add Application Program, MP3.com. All of these elements, with the exception of MP3.com, are part of Apple Macintosh operating systems, most likely Mac OS 9. A similar joke was present in the first film: if you look closely at the Terminator's commands during the POV shot, you can conclude that it uses a Motorola 6502 microprocessor. At the time of filming “Terminator” (1984), this processor was used in Apple II computers.
- Linda Hamilton was offered to play Sarah Connor for the third time, but she declined the offer.
- During the filming of the scene where Scott Mason / Peterson transforms into T-X, both actors precisely mirrored each other's movements. Notably, Mark Famiglietti, who played Scott, was forced to wear platform shoes because Kristanna Loken is significantly taller than him.
- The exact time of Judgment Day is 6:18 PM on July 24, 2004.
- The role of the T-X could have gone to Joanie Loreer, Vin Diesel, Shaquille O'Neal, Famke Janssen, Carrie-Anne Moss, or Jeri Ryan.
- At the 28th minute of the film, T-850 puts John Connor in a veterinary clinic van and orders him to leave. John quickly starts the engine and drives off, although when Kate tried to escape in the same van from T-X at the 25th minute, she dropped the car keys, not having time to insert them into the ignition.
- Shortly before the end of the film, the inscription “Blue 478” appears on the computer console screen, and John says: “Dakota 775”. These code numbers are references to sockets for Intel Pentium 4 microprocessors: Socket 478 and LGA 775.
- The first and only appearance of the T-X robot. This model does not appear in subsequent films.
- At the 34th minute of the film, two police cars box in John's van from both sides. When John brakes at the intersection, in one of the frames, a driver's door appears on his van, which T-X tore off in the parking lot in front of the veterinary clinic at the 25th minute.
- The film's original tagline was "The War Begins 2003." However, this tagline had to be abandoned due to the political situation at the time and the start of the war in Iraq.
- Early versions of the script featured a Terminator named 'T-1G'. It was initially intended to be a male role.
- During the chase episode that begins at the 31st minute of the film, a car crane inconsistently changes its configuration with scene changes. Thus, the boom is sometimes retracted, sometimes extended to the side or forward. Also, the side supports change their position: they are either hidden or extended to the side. Similarly, the hook hangs freely during some scenes, but in neighboring frames it is secured with a cable in front of the cab.
- Kristanna Loken gained 15 pounds (approximately 6.8 kg) of muscle mass specifically for the role of the T-X. She also took special mime lessons, as her character speaks very rarely and needed to learn to communicate through facial expressions and gestures.
- At the 56th minute of the film, a SWAT team bursts into the mausoleum to capture John and the T-850. However, when the Terminator emerges and opens fire on the remaining special forces officers on the street, the team that previously ran in disappears and does not participate in the battle.
- When, at the 26th minute of the film, T-850 in a pickup truck hits T-X and crashes into a building, the car's cab remains outside. At the 27th minute, when John climbs out of the cage, the pickup truck is almost completely inside the building.
- Three full-size T-1 models were used during the filming of the hangar scene, in which we see dozens of T-1s. Their number was multiplied using computers during editing.
- After the first week of filming, Sophia Bush, who played Kate Brewster, was replaced by Claire Danes, as the director believed Sophia was too young to play John Connor's lover.
- James Cameron declined to direct, as he believed the story was concluded in the second film.
- Upon meeting John Connor at the veterinary clinic, the Terminator says, "Come with me if you want to live," just as he says to Sarah Connor in the second film, and Kyle Reese says to Sarah Connor in the first film.
- When John, Kate, and the T-850 flee in a hearse from the T-X at the 60th minute of the film, the vehicle loses all its wheel covers during the chase. When the Terminator stops at a tourist parking lot in one of the subsequent scenes, a wheel cover reappears on the front left wheel in one shot, and then on the rear right wheel in the next angle.
- Initially, Kate Brewster's fiancé was named Scott Petersen. However, due to the trial of Scott Petersen, who was accused of murdering his pregnant wife, Kate's fiancé's name was changed to Scott Mason. But in the final credits, he is listed as Scott Petersen.
- The initial script featured a character – Detective Vukovich (from the 1984 film 'The Terminator,' intended to be played by Lance Henriksen). This character was to be confined to a wheelchair due to events depicted in the first film of the trilogy. Ultimately, the filmmakers abandoned this idea.
- The scene where Kate Brewster shoots the Terminator with a pistol, after which he spits out the bullet and tells her “Don’t do that.” Kyle Reese also says to Sarah Connor in the first film when Sarah bites his arm during their escape from the T-800.
- Shane West, Ben Curtis, and Chris Klein were considered for the role of John Connor.
- Initially, filming was planned to take place in Vancouver (Canada), but at the last moment it was decided to film in Los Angeles (USA). One of the reasons for the change of location was the sharply increased criticism from American film companies filming outside the United States. In addition, at the same time, Arnold Schwarzenegger launched his political campaign for the governorship of California. The official reason for the change of location was the last-minute availability of production facilities at a film studio in Los Angeles, necessary for filming this movie.
- Filming took place from April 15 to September 8, 2002.
- In the Russian dub, when John crawls past the Terminator holding the door at the end of the film and says “Thank you,” the Terminator replies: “I’ll hold it.” In the original, the Terminator responded “We'll meet again.”
- Before filming began, Arnold Schwarzenegger worked out every day for 6 months. Each workout lasted about three hours. When filming started, Arnold was in the same physical shape as he was during the filming of 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' (1991).
- At the 52nd minute of the film, Kate grabs a pistol and points it at the T-850 standing before her. After a cut, the Terminator straightens up and stands at a half-turn, with his left shoulder forward. In the next shot, he is already standing with his right shoulder forward.
- Ang Lee could have directed this film, but he chose to direct "Hulk" (2003) instead.
- At the 8th minute of the film, T-X dials a phone number and, during the call, gathers information about its targets, future allies of John Connor. However, the phone screen shows an indicator that there is no connection to the cellular network.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
