SKYNET is a short film starring Michael Edwards, who you may remember from played General John Connor in 1991’s Terminator 2. Michael was gracious enough to reprise his role and return for my short, which takes place 55 years after Judgment Day. The war is over….. We lost. Now, the last man on earth will finally come face to face with the program that drove mankind to extinction – SKYNET.
A WORD FROM DIRECTOR CHRIS R. NOTARILE
It’s pretty safe to say that the Terminator franchise has gotten stale. The fact that there are literally THREE, count em, THREE part 3’s, and a part 4/prequel, and none of them managed to capture the creative spark of the first two films, speaks volumes. As a life long fan, I just got tired of it all. I’m tired of the pointless retcons, the paper thin excuses for when Judgment day now will take place, the endless amount of disbelief that needs to be suspended to keep roping in Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the never ending, yet continually unfulfilled promise of a “new” trilogy. Terminator has become about as complicated as the Halloween franchise, and that is not something to be proud of.
In 2007, before Rob Zombie gave us his…. “version” of Halloween, I decided to put the final nail in the coffin of the Michael Myers we all came to know and love. I killed him in a short film called THE LAST HALLOWEEN : THE DEATH OF MICHAEL MYERS. By that point, in 2007, Halloween had become a very messed up franchise, with multiple sequels ignoring each other. It was stupid, contrived, and I hated it. And since 2002’s HALLOWEEN : RESURRECTION ended with the promise of an unmade Halloween 9, I wanted to just kill off Michael for good. And I did.
I went into SKYNET with the exact same mindset. I wanted to terminate the franchise. My goals were simple- fix what was broken, then end it, leaving no way for the story to continue. Now I know what you might be thinking- Skynet is technically still alive at the end of the short. Yeah, but it is a paradox. It knows it cannot allow itself to be created again. So it will either just exist entirely on its own, much like DARK FATE’S Carl did- a relic of a dead timeline, or it will find a way to self terminate. Either way, my version of Skynet has learned its lesson, so I guarantee it will either behave, or find a way to physically terminate itself. But its days of enslaving humanity are long behind it.
After I had written the script, I immediately went into casting….. Then Covid hit, and the entire project was put on hold. But in so many ways, it was for the best. Originally, the story was actually set in 2029 with a 45 year old John Connor. But the actor I originally approached for the part (someone I often collaborated with) kinda fell out of touch with me. Disappointed, but refusing to kill the project, I began thinking who else could play the part? Personally, there is no bigger honor than when fans of the franchise consider my work canon. It’s the best compliment I could ever ask for. So I thought to myself, what is the best way to get someone to consider my little short canon? The most obvious answer was to get someone from the original franchise to guest star or cameo. But who? And then I thought to myself- what about Michael Edwards? What’s he up to? So I straight up emailed him and asked if he’d be interested in the part. I was not only shocked that he replied, but to know he was eager to do it was as awesome as it was validating.
After a few video calls, I quickly retooled the script to fit Michael’s current age and demeanor. This was going to be the John Connor we’ve always wanted to see. The great military leader from the future war, with the guy who originated the part. What was he like? How has 55 years of unending war treated John? Short answer- not very well.
Michael and I spoke for about 6-8 months via email and text as we tried to figure out how to film during a pandemic. We both agreed to just put the whole thing off till Covid got more under control. Thankfully the vaccine finally came out in early 2021, and as soon as Michael got his shot, we began prepping to film.
We shot all his scenes in one day at the Abandoned Zoo in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. Filming was tough because we had to constantly hold for sound interruptions from endless amounts of noisy hikers. But thankfully, we got it all done. Laura Van Yck played the role of Skynet. Some will probably ask, why is Skynet a woman? The answer is simple- I work with a ton of incredibly talented women. I would be a fool not to use them whenever I can. And aside from her amazing talent and beauty, Laura also has a wonderful Belgium accent, which I was more than happy to incorporate. Especially since everybody was cool with the T-800 being from Austria.
SKYNET was a labor of love. Part LOGAN and part BLADE RUNNER. I wanted to tell a thoughtful, heartfelt story about two mortal enemies finally seeing eye to eye, and then finding a way to make the wrong things right. This is not a shoot em up action blockbuster. This is the end. The finale we never got, but have always wanted. Hopefully someone in Hollywood is taking notes.
