Anton
Yelchin:
Youthful Legend
by Lynn Barker
 In
the new sci-fi film Terminator: Salvation, hot, barely 20-year-old
actor Anton Yelchin, whom you might have just seen as young navigator
Chekov in Star Trek, plays tough teen resistance fighter Kyle
Reese. The adult version of the character was played by Michael Biehn
in the original 1984 The Terminator film. Reese is a legend in
"Terminator" mythology because he is sent back in time from
the future to save the Sarah Connor character who has his child and that
child is John Connor, the eventual savior of Mankind soooo, he's quite
the pivotal dude and Anton was aware of this responsibility. Connor is
played by Christian Bale in the new film.
We wanted
to ask Anton how he felt about his character, working with Christian,
kicking butt on set and getting injured. Which character does he prefer?
Chekov or Reese? Did Anton become a fan of the "Terminator"
films as a little kid by watching them on tape? He wasn't even born when
the first one came out and, how did he play a scene with Christian when
he's not supposed to know he'll one day be John Connor's dad? It's mind-boggling.
Anton likes
to doodle, is quite a cool artist and we ended up with one of his drawings
after the interview. Picture the actor in jeans, a cute buff-colored Henley
shirt accessorized by a brown, Indiana Jones-style fedora...
AGW: Anton,
how did this compare to being on the bridge of the Enterprise?
Anton: It's
very different. They're both kind of really incredible to be a part of
and experience and to be on the sets is just insane. They're both iconic
franchises but two totally different moods and philosophies, really. So,
it was pretty wonderful to go from one universe into a totally different
universe. Even though they're both science fiction, the two of these couldn't
be more different in tone, in understanding of the world they describe.
AGW: The two
characters you play couldn't be more different either.
Anton: I've
been really lucky to be able to play two very compelling characters in
two totally different films even though they're both sci-fi and to be
able to find things that I admire and find challenging about these characters.
The process of reinterpreting a character [once played by someone else]
is also really fascinating and it's something that I haven't ever done
before. It was very surreal.
AGW: Did you
study the Kyle Reese character from the older films?
Anton: A lot.
I thought that it was really important that I studied it. I'd seen 'T1'
a bunch of times. I re-watched it a bunch before we started shooting and
then I'd just  kind
of come home and, before specific scenes, look at scenes that in my mind
I had written down and sat down and said, 'Use this for this. Use that
for this.' You can't imitate, but I feel like the source is there. Michael
Biehn is so iconic.
AGW: Is it
a different process for you to be playing a character who has been played
before versus creating a new character? You did it with Chekov originally
played by Walter Koenig and now Kyle Reese.
Anton; Yeah.
For me at least, there's a whole other set of guidelines in my mind that
I want to follow and I take those guidelines from the character that was
created by the original actor. You start off with like a,b,c and d that
you want to have and you see 'how can I incorporate those things into
this idea'? And then, for me, it was like I had to adjust certain scenes
to those guidelines as opposed to adjust those guidelines to the script
because I felt like this is something people would want to see in that
character and it was just essential to capture that. In a way, it's a
lot of fun. You're given something to work with and you're told, 'you
need to take this toothpick and this piece of clay and these marbles and
make something out of it' then you do that and you have a toothpick, clay
and marbles [laughter]. I don't know but you do something with it. It's
that kind of a thing.
AGW: If you
had to really be Chekov or Kyle Reese, which one would you be?
Anton: I'd
be Chekov Reese [laughter]. I don't know. They're very different. I'd
love to be a gun-wielding [tough guy]. I'd be both of them. I guess I'd
be Kyle Reese. Yeah. Kyle Reese.
AGW: Why did
you want to be a part of Terminator: Salvation?
Anton: I was
just always a huge fan of the first two films, definitely. They had a
profound impact on me when I was younger, when I was a small boy. Arnold
[Schwarzenegger] was the archetypal '90's hero. If you were growing up
and you're four or five years old and you see Arnold it just has a profound
affect on you. So, I was really kind of honored and to play Kyle Reese
who's another one of those heroes that you look up to when you're younger
and have action figures of and pretend to be them. Like, every day on
set I would be so touched by the chance to be there and to cock a shotgun
one-handed and say, 'Come with me if you want to live.'
AGW: The exact
line the adult Kyle says to Sarah Connor. That's so cool. You had to be
tiny when these films came out. When did you watch them?
Anton: Well,
I wasn't even around in '84 when the first one came out but I think I
saw them way too early. I saw T-2. It came out in '91 or '92.
I probably saw it on TV a couple of years after that so I was four or
five when I saw it and I was so into it. I was obsessed with it and I
saw T-1 shortly after. I made my parents rent it. I was obsessed.
I even re-enacted the final scene from T-1 in elementary school.
I tried to get this girl to say '[die, robot]' or whatever [Linda Hamilton]
said. [we laugh] And she was like 'no. I'm not saying that'. 'It's Terminator!
You've gotta do it. You can't mess around with the movie!'. So, I was
obsessed. I didn't have a t-shirt either but I had all those action figures.
I had a Terminator factory that made gelatin Terminators. They put one
out and I had it. At some point I had a model that I got at Universal
Citywalk. That was a big deal. So, yeah, I loved it.
 AGW:
When you sign on for a movie like this, you're probably prepared for a
lot of green screen and effects like that. Were you surprised at how many
things were done practically on set?
Anton: We
did some green screen but very little.
AGW: What
about the action sequences, the stuntwork? Were there any mishaps?
Anton: [Michael
Meinardus] was basically like the guy from Tropic Thunder that
blows everything up. His leg almost got sliced off. He was there every
day on crutches. I'm pretty sure everyone got hurt. I fell off of a truck
we were shooting on. I was latched onto the truck and I'd start to pull
off and I kept pulling farther and farther and farther and then one time
I just didn't come back. I fell off and was hanging upside down. I dropped
the gun and my nails got [killed]. I was just hanging there and I'm like
'[I need to get back on...now!]’ I got back on and everyone stopped
and was screaming and the best part was that Sam [Worthington] was laughing.
I'm like 'why are you laughing?' But it was pretty painful because I slammed
my shin into the truck. I still have a scar. We'd get a call 'Logan's
[Anton's stunt double] in the along with the 2nd Unit DP'. You know, it's
a 'Terminator' movie.
AGW: Yikes!
When that happens right at the beginning of the movie and they say 'you'll
be fine', are you questioning that a little bit more?
Anton: All
the time. I don't believe any of them. Lies.
AGW: How did
you and Christian get your heads around the fact that you are his future
father? Your character doesn't know that yet but you, as an actor, do.
Did you just have to shove that knowledge aside?
Anton: [Director]
McG and I talked about it before we started shooting. Obviously, [teen]
Kyle Reese doesn't know so it's not essential to his understanding of
the universe he inhabits. It was an interesting moment to play when Kyle
Reese sees Connor and Connor sees Kyle Reese. Obviously, Connor's going
'Oh my God, this is my father' and Kyle is going 'I don't know who the
[heck] this guy is'. But there has to be some kind of emotional/spiritual
connection between these two people so that was a kind of fascinating,
interesting moment to play. You didn't want to play it like 'oh, Kyle
knows he's his father' because he doesn't. But it was interesting to find
that beat of some sort of vague recognition of something but I just kind
of put it out of my mind to just focus on other things.
Pictures from
TERMINATOR: SALVATION courtesy of and copyright Warner Bros,
2009
Picture from
STAR TREK courtesy of and copyright Paramount Pictures, 2009
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