Movies
About Edward Furlong’s ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ Return as John Connor [Spoilers]
The Terminator reunion didn’t feel complete until producer James Cameron confirmed the return of Edward Furlong as John Connor in the Tim Miller-directed Terminator: Dark Fate, which retcons all sequels except Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
The third film in the trilogy brings Linda Hamilton back as Sarah Connor, so it would be strange to see a continuation of the story without her son, John, who in the key component to everything.
In Cameron’s 1984 The Terminator, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) is sent back in time (by John) to protect his mother from the original T-800 (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a machine programmed to kill her before she can give birth to the future leader of the resistance.
Sarah and a teenage John team up in the sequel, Judgment Day, and eventually stop all the future events from coming to fruition. Thus, we never actually see John strap on his boots and go to war with the machines.
This led to a lot of speculation as to what John’s role would be in Dark Fate, arriving in theaters this November. Would we see him as the leader of the same resistance, started in a different future, or maybe we’d see him sending Reese back in some sort of futuristic flashback sequence? The answer is neither.
*SPOILERS*
I have confirmed that early leaked reports were on target and that we won’t be seeing an adult version of Furlong’s John Connor in Dark Fate, at least not in the most recent cut of the film.
My source tells me that yes, Jude Collie was in fact cast to play a young John Connor and that CGI was used to put Furlong’s face on his body. Now, here’s where this becomes news and not a rehash of what you’ve read here on Bloody Disgusting for over the past year – while Furlong isn’t physically in Dark Fate, he does deliver a brand new performance that’s been digitally placed directly onto Collie’s face. So, yes, Furlong is technically in Dark Fate, just not exactly how we all expected.
It’s also important to note that Miller and the cast are preparing for a round of additional photography that could change the current edit as it exists. It’s still possible that they shoot some new sequences that involve an older John Connor, but as of this writing, we’ll be seeing him in CG form.
As a side note, I’m told this new film bleeds James Cameron and is a worthy sequel to Judgment Day. Also, in case you were wondering, Biehn nor Reese are in this film.
What do you all think about all of this?
Movies
‘Backrooms’ Director Kane Parsons Is No Fan of Generative AI: “Defeats the Purpose Entirely for Me”
There has been a lot of talk recently about filmmakers embracing generative AI as part of the filmmaking process, from Darren Aronofsky to Martin Scorsese. But what about filmmakers that are against the use of Gen AI for creative pursuits? You can count 20-year-old Backrooms director Kane Parsons among that group, which should give you some hope for the future.
In a new chat with The Australian, the self-taught young filmmaker makes it crystal clear that he won’t be using generative AI in any of his upcoming filmmaking projects.
“I think I’m in the same boat as most well-adjusted people,” Parsons tells the outlet. “If I could snap my fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, I probably would. Creatively, I get no enjoyment from using those tools. It defeats the purpose entirely for me.”
“What interests me more is interrogating it artistically,” Parsons notes. “We already live in a world where you walk outside and there are billboards and signs that are obvious AI slop. That’s become part of our visual reality. To me, generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot.”
He explains, “I’m interested in using that iconography in art – not using AI to make the art itself, but examining what it represents. I definitely want to explore it further in future projects.”
Kane Parsons also notes during the interview with The Australian, “… there’s so much at stake and so many genuinely harmful consequences already happening.”
Backrooms marks young prodigy Kane Parsons’ feature directorial debut, and it’s based on his own series of YouTube videos that were brought to life using Blender, the open-source 3D computer graphics software suite. So it’s no surprise that Parsons, who has hand-made his filmmaking career up to this point, isn’t buying into the hoopla around Generative AI.
His debut feature is the #1 movie in the world, so perhaps he’s onto something.
What’s next from Kane Parsons, you ask? Stay tuned…
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