Pack your sunscreen for New Mexico, Bryce Dallas Howard.
The Hollywood Reporter brings the news today that Bryce Dallas Howard is in talks to join the cast of Terminator 4 (btw, THR is referring to it again as Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins. I swear they had announced that that was no longer the title. Did they switch back again? Or is everyone just calling it by the old title for sake of clarity? Can’t we just call it Terminator 4? It’s short, to the point, and everyone understands it. In fact that’s what I’m calling it today and will continue to call it until you can show me a poster with a new title. So there.).
Howard would replace Charlotte Gainsbourg, who had to leave the production due to scheduling conflicts. Apparently they realized that there’s still the possibility that T4 may be shut down due to an actor’s strike, and if that happens, the restart once the strike is resolved (and in my opinion, if there is one, it isn’t going to last long) would run into the next film on her schedule, a French comedy.
I’m very sorry about this as I like Gainsbourg a lot and think she was good casting to play opposite Christian Bale. Now Howard will take over the role of Kate Connor, John Connor’s wife. Howard, while I’m sure she’s very nice and all, has yet to impress me. She didn’t particularly stand out in Spider-Man 3, but then again, that was a weird situation where you had Howard, a natural redhead playing a blonde, and Kirsten Dunst, a natural blonde playing a redhead, so it was a film that kind of messed with everyone’s heads. Literally. And of course, I want to give her the benefit of the doubt because I love her Dad. Have you ever seen reruns of the Andy Griffith Show? He was a fantastic kid actor (not to mention Happy Days, Eat My Dust, all that directing stuff, and of course the great Simpsons appearance).
Howard next will be seen in The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, which is based on a long lost, recently discovered Tennessee Williams manuscript. This is not good news as all the stuff that’s been “discovered” from Tennessee’s Williams’ papers–first drafts, buried manuscripts, outlines, story ideas–has usually turned out to be barely respectable at best and dreadful at worst. Didn’t it ever occur to anyone that maybe there was a reason why he didn’t have some of these things produced in his lifetime? Perhaps he realized they weren’t ready to be seen. The poor man must be just cringing at having basically his B-sides and throw aways put out there with his name on them (“Good lord, people, can’t you just do another production of Streetcar? I swear I’m okay with that.”).
(sorry, rant over)
Terminator 4 or whatever it’s calling itself today is currently filming in New Mexico.
