Born out of James Cameron’s fever dream, the relentless Terminator has become a cinematic juggernaut. The original ground-breaking film, The Terminator, and its mighty sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, not only assured the blockbuster career of their director but also turned their star, Arnold Schwarzenegger, into an icon. Movies about the dark side of humanity’s love affair with technology, they redefined the boundaries between science fiction, horror and action, and set astonishing new standards for special effects.
Now, Terminator Vault brings to light the stories behind these two landmark films, drawing on new interviews with James Cameron, producer Gale Anne Hurd and many more cast and crew members – plus a foreword from Arnold Schwarzenegger himself.
Featured herein are concept artwork by Cameron, annotated effects storyboards, rare photographs of the miniatures team at work, diagrams of the shape-shifting T-1000 by the late, great Stan Winston’s makeup and effects studio, and ten meticulously reproduced artefacts enclosed in vellum envelopes for readers to remove and examine.
Fully authorized and beautifully illustrated throughout, Terminator Vault is the ultimate celebration of two movies that changed cinema forever.
Ian Nathan, who lives and works in London, is one of the UK’s best-known film writers. He is the author of ten books, including Alien Vault, the best-selling history of Ridley Scott’s masterpiece; Terminator Vault; Tim Burton: The Iconic Filmmaker, and His Work; and Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-earth. He is the former editor and executive editor of Empire, still the world’s biggest movie magazine, where he remains a contributing editor. He has contributed to The Times, The Independent, The Mail on Sunday, Cahiers Du Cinema, and can be seen on the Discovering Film documentary series on the UK’s Sky Arts channel.