Terminator: Salvation McG talks about the PG-13 Rating….

Via SciFiWire:

..You’re going with a PG-13 rating on this one. Some people aren’t happy about that. What got cut?

McG: We shot an R movie, and at the end of the day we found that if we just cut back one shot of the Marcus character stabbing a screwdriver through the shoulder of one of these thugs it would warrant a PG-13. We thought, “Well, that would be ridiculous to make it tough for kids to go see this movie.” We were inspired by The Dark Knight getting a PG-13 and being a film without any compromises. So we took the rating we got and ran for it. We never had to shoot for a rating. We were liberated by [Warner Brothers president of production] Jeff Robinov from day one, and I give you my word that there’s no way that Christian or Sam or I, for that matter, would shoot a picture aiming for a rating. We never cared. We just shot what we thought was best, and, short of gratuitous gore, which I don’t think furthers the story or furthers the characters, we didn’t really have a problem with it.

Will that scene be an extra on the DVD, or will you cut it back in for an R-rated version for the DVD?

McG: I haven’t decided yet. We’re looking at the different ways to express the DVD. I think I’ll include all the extra scenes.

-snip-

You’ve been putting the final touches on the film. How’s it coming together?

McG: Some films, you get a first cut, and you think, “OK, we’re very, very close.” This film really needed to be worked on to get the characters to the exact place of arc that I wanted them. That was most critical. I always knew the visual effects would come in. I knew the sound would ultimately be designed well, but I wanted to really nail building with Marcus and building with Connor until they finally collide.

For you, what is Salvation ultimately about?

McG: It’s about the value of humanity, what it is that makes it worthwhile, why people choose to make sacrifices for the benefit of people they care about. And where does that lie? There’s really a theological argument regarding where does the soul lie and where does the heart lie, because the science fiction that you and I are fans of from the late 1970s and early 1980s has now landed. It’s here. You got a bad hip, science can give you a new one. It can certainly give you a new heart. And, most creepy, if you’re depressed, serotonin reuptake inhibitors will alter your mood. Therefore, where does the soul lie, and where does choice lie, and where does our humanity lie? That’s the study of the movie. What is it about us that makes us more than a chip, more than a program, more than a machine?

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