The Australian actor peppers his statements with way more profanity than his Terminator co-star, Christian Bale — it’s just considerably more charming. Hollywood’s official Next Big Thing downloads the Salvation dirt on working with Bale, plus making Avatar with the T-800’s originator, James Cameron. 
Things get blown up real good in Terminator Salvation — how much of a war zone was the set, really?
Sam Worthington: “It was an extremely physical movie, so I was actually trying to bring some sense of depth and gravity and truth within all the big bangs and explosions and tumbles in the film. You do as much as you can — I think Christian’s the same — before the insurance people step in. This day and age you’ve got the Bourne franchise, and audiences want to see you getting beat up and blown up — It’s part of the character, part of telling the story. I don’t mind running, I don’t mind taking a few knocks. But hopefully it’s just not ‘Sam’s an action dude.’ That to me is not what I wanted. I wanted to bring a sense of weight and emotionality of doing Australian films and bring that into a bigger blockbuster, so you’re not just kind of grunting and groaning and running around.”
We do we keep coming back to watch these movies?
SW: “Any good science fiction will reflect a mirror of society today, and in Jim Cameron’s first two in particular — and in this one, hopefully — is a case of man’s humanity, and I think it has a lot of hope in it even though it’s bleak and dark. It’s got these heroes standing up against a bunch of bullies. I kind of like that message. My nine-year-old nephew is the barometer for movies as far as I’m concerned, and if he gets the message of ‘Don’t get bullied’ and ‘Don’t be afraid to stand up and take a stand,’ I think that’s a good message to send.”
Facing off with Christian Bale — “bring it on” or “butterflies in the stomach?”
SW: “I was nervous as hell because he’s a guy that I’ve watched his work and I admire. This is a guy whose movies I’ve rented at the video store and here he is in front of me. Half the time I’m looking at him going, ‘This ain’t f–king real, is it? Oh s–t, I’ve got a line!’ He’s extremely giving. People call him ‘intense’ — it’s the wrong word. He’s dedicated. He’s passionate about the story. He doesn’t give a crap about selling it. He gives a crap about the story. He doesn’t care about how big his trailer is. He walks around in his f–king track pants, and he’s dedicated to the work. A guy of that kind of magnitude or that big a star who isn’t walking around like ‘I’m the f–king king!’ I love that! He’s there for the work.”
What did you hope to carry over from the first two Terminator films? And what new twist did you want to add?
SW: “I reacquainted myself with it, obviously, before we started. I think when you reacquaint yourself you see what James had done, the level of expertise he has as a storyteller. Our job is to try to do a movie that hopefully gave something to the canon of movies, or it’s a f–king waste of time. I wanted to make a role where he’d actually feel pain because I’d never seen that, I’d seen a bit of it in Blade Runner, but I’ve never actually seen a movie where a cyborg or a robot hurts — not only physically, but mentally and emotionally. I wanted to ramp that up a bit.”
Terminator Salvation director McG and Terminator creator James Cameron — compare and contrast.
SW: “McG is very passionate about movies. He’s an Energizer Bunny. His enthusiasm rattles across the whole of the cast and the crew. He doesn’t stop. And there’s a similarity there with Jim, an excessive nature and making the best damn movie you can in that period of time. The difference is Jim’s got five years, and we had four months. Whatever you had, you had to film it. That’s the similarity, but the difference is they’re two different people.”
Did Cameron show any proprietary interest in what you guys were doing with Terminator Salvation?
SW: “I think he’s keen to see if we f–ked it up or not, to be honest. That was his message to me, anyway: Do your best and tell the story you want to tell.”
Are you still working with him on Avatar?
SW: “I know he’s still working. He’ll call me up in a minute if he knows I’m in town, I’m f–ked! I’ve seen the latest cut … it’s a f–king beast that’s going to kick everybody in the head. [I play] a former Marine who goes to another planet to drive these remote-controlled bodies called Avatars … Jim’s been working on it five years. He believes the 3-D brings the audience more into the screen. It’s not ooga-booga; it’s literally — you’re looking around s–t. And with it being photo-realistic, it actually pings in a lot better. Your brain starts to buy it. It doesn’t get distracted and distanced. You believe you’re on Pandora. From what I’ve seen in 3-D, it looks like we shot it in Hawaii — it’s that f–king real!”
You’re also filming a remake of that 1981 cult classic Clash of the Titans — we assume your Perseus sticks closely to Harry Hamlin’s template?
SW: “Oh, I want to do it EXACTLY the same. [Laughs] That guy’s gonna come after me … No, I had a take on Perseus that I said to [director] Louis Leterrier, and he went with it and the studio kind of liked my take — and we’ll see if it works. At the moment, we took on the Medusa and we took on the witches. We go back and take on a heap of scorpions and then we take on the Kraken. We’re running around in a dress, f–king killing everything! It’s the same kind of general story, we just ramped it up.”
Even with all the work you’re done in Australia over the years, you’re about to become famous overnight with these films on your resume — how are you preparing for the tidal wave of fame about to hit?
SW: “I’m enjoying the ride, for starters. Any actor wants their movies and their work to be seen. You don’t make a movie or get into this profession for your work not to be seen and just to show them to your mates at home. So I’m liking the fact that people are going to get to see my work and fingers crossed, they’ll like what I’ve produced. We’ll soon find out, won’t we? I might not be working next year … I’m doing as much as I can till people realize I’m a sham!”
Come on, say it: “I’ll be back.”
SW: “I hope so. They haven’t wrote a script. You might know something I don’t, man.”
MORE: 10 Qs With Christian Bale
