Director McG and a gang of under-the-title stars came out to show a footage reel from the upcoming Terminator Salvation.

Highlights:

• Christian Bale didn’t show up, but an Asian guy named Tim rocked an impeccable Arnold accent, and a Comic-Con star was born.
• McG strongly hinted that there will be, one way or another, a dose of Arnold in T4.
• But that could just be “disinformation” designed to preserve “the joys in going to the movies is not knowing what happens.”
• McG is enough of a Terminator fanboy that he might not screw this up.
• Ron Howard’s kid took the job just to make out with Christian Bale. Common’s “just glad that we’ve got a black man in this film.”
• The “real” trailer for the film will premiere in front of Quantum of Solace later this year.

Full live blog transcript after the jump.

2:08 - A couple of notes from the trailer…Anton Yelchin says, as Kyle Reese “Come with me if you want to live,” the infamous Terminator line. Christian Bale growls “This is not the future my mother told me about.”

McG: “Thank you all! We’ll see you all at Quantum of Solace! We’ll have our trailer done by then, and you’ll see even more!”

2:04 - McG is making everyone clamor loudly to show the trailer again. And here it is, one more time.

2:02 - McG: “Anything else, Arnold?”

Asianegger: “Well, all that’s left is for John Connor to be prepared, because I’m gonna take my fist, and shove it in his stomach, and I’m gonna break his spiiiiiiiiiiiine!”

McG: *laughter* “Okay, what’s your name man?”

Asianegger (in an entirely normal voice): “Uh, my name’s Tim. I build roads and work in tech support.”

1:59 - She’s “astonished” that she’s involved with this project.

McG: “Plus she gets to fire a pump action shotgun!”

McG: “So, Common, what do you think about all this?”

Common: “I’m just happy to be here, man.” He’s telling us all that McG is an artist, and that they’re all creating something special in this movie. “I’m just glad that we’ve got a black man in this film…This is gonna be fly… y’all gonna love it.”

1:58 - Moon Bloodgood, who plays a pilot in the movie, is talking about the connections between the characters, and she connects with “This guy over here…” indicating Sam Worthington. “… not in real life, though.”

Bryce Dallas Howard plays Kate Connor, and McG wanted to know “What attracted you to being in this, other than the fact that you get to make out with Bale?”

Bryce: “It was just that.”

1:55 - They’re talking about the new robot created for this film, the T-600s, the T-800s, and so on. It’s a lot of numbers.

McG: “The idea for these was always ‘Soviet tank, soviet tank, soviet, tank.’ and that’s what they did. Arnold, how do you feel about that?”

Asianegger: “It looks fantastic.”

*cheers*

1:51 - Wow, Asianegger is now running the panel.

He wants to know how involved Cameron and Schwazenegger are in this project. And he’s literally growling every syllable out in an Austrian accent.

McG didn’t really answer the question, so now McG is talking about the legacy of Stan Winston, and the degree that the Stan Winston Studios are involved in the production.

Guy from Stan Winston Studios: “Well, the first movie that we worked with Stan on was in 1983… the original Terminator. It’s wonderful and terrific to still be working on this.”

1:49 - Now there’s someone talking like Arnold Schwarzenegger…. and he’s Asian.

1:48 - A woman dressed as Sarah Connor gets up and asks “Why did you bring that machine here and put it up in front of thousands of people when you know the kind of damage it can do?”

McG gives an incredibly geeky answer, talking about T-600s and their rubbery skin, and Sarah Connor’s time in the psychiatric ward.” He definitely knows his stuff.

1:47 - McG: “We see the becoming of Kyle Reese. He’s a crafty guy, he definitely knows his way around a gun. The irony is, in this picture, some of the best moves that Kyle Reese learned, he learned from machines.”

1:46 - Remarkably, Anton is still talking, about “fighting Skynet”.

1:44 - Anton: “Michael Biehn in the first Terminator movie is fuckin’ awesome. What we see in this film is the development of the hero… the guy that everyone knows.”

1:43 - McG: “We release disinformation from time to time, so some of what you’re reading online is manipulated by the studios. Part of the joys in going to the movies is not knowing what happens, and we’re trying to preserve that.”

1:42 - McG: “We’re already living in a science fiction world. You’re texting people on your Blackberries, they spell check you as you go. Instead of people wanting to talk to you about your mother and father, they want to manipulate your seratonin and L-DOPA levels.”

McG: “We’ve tried to follow what Christopher Nolan did with Batman Begins. You don’t watch that movie and see it as “Batman 5.”

1:40 - Q: “Will Arnold be back?”

McG: “Answering both of those questions would deprive everyone from the pleasure of watching the film. But in answering that, I think you’ll understand the direction in which we’re going. But, the T-101 model is very much a part of the Terminator mythology.”

I think we just got a pretty decent indication that we’ll see Arnold Schwarzenegger in some form in this movie.

1:39 - Sam: “I didn’t want to sign off if they were changing what James Cameron had done in his movies, because I love those.”

1:38 - Bryce Dallas Howard is showing how “fate” works…. by using a plastic cup. It’s not really Stephen Hawking stuff.

1:36 - First question from a nervous fan, “What’s it like working with Christian Bale?”

Sam Worthington: “Awesome. I mean, you’re going toe to toe with fuckin’ Batman. We’ve got a movie that kicks you in the balls here.”

McG: “I think you see why Sam got the job.”

McG: “You get to see machines we call Harvesters, aerodrones, and all of these Russian-inspired designs. There’s one shot in that footage where you see a claw come in and grab someone out of the gas station, and that speaks to the size of the Harvester robot.”

1:33 - McG: “We’ve shot this on this on color film, but we’re treating the film stock with as much silver as you’d treat a black and white movie to wash it out.”

Josh is asking if this follows the other films from the Terminator trilogy. “Is this a war picture?”

McG: “This is very much a war film… the Schwarzenegger Terminator model comes from 2029, and our film is set in 2018. We see the state of the war and the genesis of Skynet.”

1:32 - Common, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anton Yelchin “the young Kyle Reese”, and Sam Worthington take the stage.

1:29 - Here comes the footage.

Christian Bale in a post-apocalyptic world with dead Terminators on the ground. The radio crackles “How many survivors?” Bale barks out “ONE!”

Trenchcoats, topless women, Terminators we’ve never seen before, and Christian Bale screaming “YOU SON OF A BITCH!” at a Terminator who is trying to take his eyes out.

1:27 - “But first, I’m going to call our friend over in Japan, Christian Bale.” He whips out a cell phone and he’s dialing. Looks like McG is a Blackberry dude, and not an iPhone user.

“Straight to voicemail, don’t let me down….”

He’s leaving a message for him, “Let me first congratulate you on the Dark Knight“––crowd screams and yells––”And now we’re showing footage from our new movie, so let him hear it!”

1:26 - “We’ve been shooting this always with the picture first.” (whatever that means). “We’ve heard rumors of a PG-13 version of this movie… but we’ve been told ‘Hey, if it’s a Rated R movie, it’s a Rated R movie.’”

“We’re going to show you some footage that hasn’t been seen before. So get ready for that.”

1:25 - “We knew we needed an actor, someone with credibility. I wanted to protect the movie and protect all of you by hiring the greatest actor of his generation… Christian Bale.”

The crowd goes wild! I’ve noticed that all week people can just say “Batman!” and people go nuts.

1:24 - McG: “Prior to making this pictures, I spoke to James Cameron, and Arnold Schwazenegger of course. We hired Stan Winston, may he rest in piece…”

1:23 - Okay, finally we’re off and running. Josh Horowitz from MTV news (short, bespectacled) is introducing everyone.

McG comes out to let us know they’re in the middle of shooting, “And we’ve brought some of the cast with us.” Think Christian Bale-man will make an appearance?

1:15 - Music is still looping, building to a fever pitch…. and…. it loops again. “We’ll be starting soon, so please take your seats.” If the Terminator can time-travel, then why can’t they start their panel on time?

1:13 - They’re playing the DA DUM DUM DA DUM Terminator theme loudly. We’re about to get Terminated.