Behind the Scenes of Terminator 2: Judgment Day
An interview with Stan Winston
Everything in Terminator 2 has been finessed. We've had a luxury in this movie. We have been able to do what we normally can never do in a movie. We have been able to take what we did the first time and do it better the second time.
To watch the never-before-seen Terminator 2 "Making of" video, just click on the player above.
Jump To Section
- Making Terminator 2’s T-800 Endoskeleton
- Stan Winston Studio Recreates Life With Art and Technology on T2
- Using Makeup FX and Puppets for Arnold as The Terminator
- Creating Animatronic Arnolds for Terminator 2: Judgment Day
- The Magic Behind T2
(Stan Winston with some of the stars of Terminator 2: Judgment Day.)
Making Terminator 2’s T-800 Endoskeleton
It's much more technically advanced than the endoskeleton in the first movie. It's actually artistically advanced beyond the endoskeleton in the first movie. But these things are subtleties that only we, as artists and technicians, will see.
(Terminator 2: Judgment Day's new T-800s assembled in Stan Winston Studio.)
(Stan Winston adjusts the full-size T-800 puppet on the set of T2: Judgment Day.)
(A full-size T-800 puppet scans for Resistance fighters in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.)
Stan Winston Studio Recreates Life With Art and Technology on T2
We try to re-create life… that is what our job is. We are duplicating life. We are duplicating Arnold…. We are making animatronic duplications of living things… with the use of servos to animatronically move faces, with the finest artists trying to duplicate skin texture and skin tones, with the finest technicians doing all of the mechanical work, with all of the original drawings and designs, with all of the sculpture, all of it, we are trying to duplicate life.
(Arnold Schwarzenegger poses with one of his puppet doubles on the set of Terminator 2.)
Using Makeup FX and Puppets for Arnold as The Terminator
We had to design the makeup effects that made Arnold himself, the actor, appear to be the Terminator when a certain amount of flesh was removed from his face, and certain appendages were ripped off of his body, and the revealing of the robotic aspect underneath him… all of these things we learned from [The Terminator] to make them better, how to make them lay flatter to his face, how to make the illusion of the chrome underskull be more acceptable as makeup, so it was not sitting out as far on his face as the makeup.
(The “final stage” disintegration makeup on Arnold Schwarzenegger from T2.)
(SWS concept artist Mark “Crash” McCreery's rendering of a battle-damaged Arnold for T2.)
(The Terminator proves he's a robot in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.)
Creating Animatronic Arnolds for Terminator 2: Judgment Day
We had to duplicate Arnold completely from head-to-toe animatronically for certain shots… Although the puppets actually worked much better than they did in the first, the need is less because of how well the makeup worked. And because of that, Jim [Cameron] was able to use Arnold in the makeup much more extensively than in the first movie.
(Schwarzenegger in clay. This bust became the basis for the Arnold puppets in T2.)
(The animatronic “hero” Arnold puppet head, just waiting for a body.)
(4 heads are better than one. Especially when you're working with James Cameron.)
The Magic Behind T2
When you see Arnold, and then puppet, and then Arnold, it's seamless. No one will know. That's what we need to do. And I don't believe that the audience unless they're looking for it, will ever know when it is real or when it is Memorex.
Excerpted from our new Terminator 2: Judgment Day Behind the Scenes video. Just click on the player above to watch it now.
Courses with the Creators of Terminator 2
- Special Effects Sequence Design with Shane Mahan
- Animatronics Design Basics with Richard Landon
- Cable Mechanism Basics - Tentacles with Richard Landon
- Hybrid Characters: Blending Practical & Digital FX with John Rosengrant
- Hybrid Character Design: Practical To Digital with Christopher Swift
- Animation For Animatronics: Intro To Pololu, Maya & AnimServo Software with Craig Caton-Largent
- How To Build An Animatronic Head - Creating The Mechanical Underskull with Craig Caton-Largent
- Garage Monsters - How To Make Creature FX On A Budget with Shannon Shea
- The Business of Making Monsters with Shannon Shea
- Mastering Effects Disasters - Explode A Head with Andy Schoneberg
- Remote Makeup Application Part 1: Prosthetic & Kit Preparation with Andy Schoneberg
- How To Sculpt A Character Makeup with Bruce Spaulding Fuller
- Character Makeup - Multi-Piece Prosthetic Application with Bruce Spaulding Fuller