Terminator Genisys: Alan Taylor lost “will to direct” after production

Everyone knows that making movies is a tough business. However, can a project be so problematic that it makes you lose your desire to create films altogether? According to Terminator: Genisys director Alan Taylor, the answer is yes, absolutely.

Recently while speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Taylor said working on Terminator: Genisys made him “lose the will to live as a director.” At first, it felt like a dream come true to work alongside Hollywood legends like Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron, but then reality dawned, and aspects of the project Taylor believed he could help fix began to fall apart at the seams.

“Well, [girlfreind and storyboard artist Jane Wu] read the script,” Taylor told THR. “She said, ‘You should be doing something you love right now, something that’s more personal.’”

He added, “All the voices in my head, and all the ones around me, were saying I should do it because who didn’t love the first two films? I thought we would go in and fix the script and everything could be great.”

Taylor, whose direction on projects like Mad Men and Thor: The Dark World made him a fine candidate for the technologically charged world of Cameron’s Terminator franchise, found himself at a loss when working on Genisys. While he went into the project with the best of intentions, it sounds as if he wasn’t given the level of creative freedom he desired.

At the time of its release, Terminator: Genisys earned $440.6 million worldwide. While it’s not the worst box office showing for a Terminator sequel, Genisys retains the worst reviews on the live-action franchise to date. Would Taylor’s script changes have worked to the film’s advantage? Can the Terminator franchise ever emerge from the dark shadow cast by a series of underwhelming sequels? Only time will tell. Thankfully, Taylor continues to work in the industry to this very day. Way to conquer those demons, sir!