Alan Taylor, Emilia Clarke Are Done with 'Terminator'
Last Sunday’s Game of Thrones marked a behind-the-scenes reunion of Emilia Clarke—who plays dragon queen Daenerys Targaryen—and episode director Alan Taylor.
Taylor directed Clarke in many of the early episodes of GoT in Seasons 1 and 2. He also directed her in one of her first major blockbuster tentpoles: the 2015 Terminator movie that nobody asked for, Terminator Genisys.
Clarke played the latest incarnation of Sarah Connor in the sci-fi movie, which was roundly panned by critics and moviegoers, and was a box-office bust despite Arnold Schwarzenegger returning to his most famous role.
Genisys was intended to launch a new trilogy of films, with Clarke and co-star Jason Clarke (who played John Connor) leading the charge. Those plans were quickly halted after Genisys bombed. In an interview in 2016, Clarke made it abundantly clear she wasn’t interested in revisiting what ended up being a black mark on her IMDb page instead of a stratospheric launch into the upper echelons of Hollywood.
Taylor, too, had a tough ride aboard the Terminator express. Even before the film was released, there were signs of discontent when movie studio Paramount gave away in trailers scenes the director felt should have been revealed only on the big screen. So perhaps it’s no surprise that like his GoT colleague, Taylor is done with Terminator.
“That was a rough one,” Taylor tells Newsweek of his Genisys experience.
“There were so many great things about it. I think she and I loved some of the same things. Arnold was a delight, in every way, to work with; the crew were a delight; being on location in New Orleans was a delight.
“But it was tough, it was tough on [Clarke] and me. I think we came away feeling a little bit burned by the process. It was hard for her in ways that I didn’t have to experience, because it was her face up on the screen and facing the [criticism] we had to face. I’m not surprised she’s more content to carry on with her other fantastic projects than re-enter that world.”
As for a Taylor-directed sequel, he says, “Well, it hasn’t come up...but you won’t see either of us back in that world, I think it’s safe to say."
By the way, if you want to see a good Terminator movie, James Cameron's venerable Terminator 2: Judgment Day just got a 3-D re-release.
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