Whilst promoting his new film Whiplash, which has revered at both Cannes and Sundance earlier this year, both Total Film and Empire spoke to J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man, Juno) about the film, and couldn’t resist quizzing the actor about his role in the currently shooting Terminator reboot, Terminator: Genesis.
Simmons told Total Film: “I can tease very little but the character I play is a small role that I’m told becomes larger in the sequels, which are planned of course. When it was initially sent to me I was interested but a little sceptical about the project itself. And I read the script and it’s a wonderful script – it’s really smart and it has comedy, and obviously brilliant action and the sci-fi aspect of it, which is not a genre I’ve really been involved in before.
“But it’s good storytelling and a fun little part. There’s Arnold, and Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke and Jai Courtney who play the characters who have existed in the world before. Then the character I play is a new character to this universe. I went out to New Orleans a few weeks ago for pre-production, and I had a table read and it was very affirming that these actors and this script were really smart and fun and good.”
And when chatting with Empire, he also spoke about the film’s director, Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World): “Alan Taylor is a wonderful director – I got to work with him on Oz a couple of times – so I’m optimistic that this can be one of those films. This, I think, is a reimagining. They don’t want to call it a sequel or a reboot. It’s the world that James Cameron created with Arnold. All the leading characters are characters who have existed in that world – the character I play is new to it.”
What are your thoughts of the reboot/reinvention of the beloved franchise?
Set for release in the UK on June 26th 2015, and in the USA on July 1st, 2015, Terminator: Genesis stars Arnold Schwarzenegger (Escape Plan) as an aged Terminator, Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as Sarah Connor, Jason Clarke (Lawless) as her son John, Jai Courtney (Jack Reacher) as Kyle Reese, Dayo Okeniyi (The Hunger Games) as Danny Dyson, as well as Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Byung-hun Lee (G.I. Joe: Retaliation), Michael Gladis (Mad Men) and Sandrine Holt (House of Cards).
Originally published May 23, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
