Erin Stone
covers climate and environmental issues in Southern California.
Published October 28, 2024 5:00 AM
The heavy-duty truck charging depot in Lynwood has 65 chargers for up to 200 trucks that serve the ports.
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Erin Stone
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LAist
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Topline:
One of the largest truck charging depots in North America is in Lynwood, right off the 710 Freeway and just down the road from the nation’s busiest ports. The depot has 65 chargers and can serve up to 200 trucks at a time in a lot that’s less than an acre. Operating since March, the depot primarily serves electric trucks deployed by shipping giant Maersk.
Why it matters: Medium- and heavy-duty trucks make up only 6% of the vehicles on the road, but spew nearly 50% of the pollutants that form smog and 20% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the California Air Resources Board.
The background: Companies are successfully making the switch to electric after California passed a landmark law last year requiring the trucking industry to transition to electric and other less polluting technology over the next two decades. But the lack of charging stations has been a source of major pushback from the trucking industry against these new statewide rules.
Keep reading... to learn more about how charging infrastructure is expanding and the work left to do.
More electric trucks, more charging stations, but challenges remain
Big rig trucks that serve the ports have to transition first — their fleets have to be 100% carbon-free by 2035.
There are more electric trucks on the road, but the lack of charging stations has been a source of major pushback from the industry against these new statewide rules.
Over the last year, there have been gains in building that infrastructure, including the launch of what’s now one of the largest truck charging depots in North America. It’s in Lynwood, right off the 710 Freeway, a major trucking corridor, and just down the road from the nation’s busiest ports.
The depot has 65 chargers and can serve up to 200 trucks at a time in a lot that’s less than an acre. Operating since March, the depot primarily serves electric trucks deployed by shipping giant Maersk.
Jonathan Colbert, VP of Marketing for charging depot builder Voltera.
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Erin Stone
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LAist
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“For the industry and for fleets that want to electrify, this is literally the silver bullet of what they've been asking for: How do you take a site that's in close proximity to a port, electrify it, and quickly,” said Jonathan Colbert, vice president of marketing for Northern California-based company Voltera, which built the charging station.
Voltera is also building another charging depot in Wilmington. It’s one of several companies leading the effort to build truck charging depots along major shipping corridors in the state.
Why it matters
The push to electrify trucking and build the infrastructure needed to support that transition has been led by communities living nearest to major trucking corridors. That’s because medium- and heavy-duty trucks, mostly diesel fueled, are some of the largest sources of pollution that contribute to higher asthma and cancer rates, as well as global heating.
Medium- and heavy-duty trucks make up only 6% of the vehicles on the road, but spew nearly 50% of the pollutants that form smog and 20% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the California Air Resources Board, or CARB, which regulates these emissions.
So electrifying those trucks is an important piece of improving public health and addressing human-caused climate change. Bruce Tuter, a supervisor with CARB, said that diesel trucks have gotten a lot more efficient and less polluting over the decades, but it’s still not enough.
One of 65 chargers at the new Lynwood heavy-duty truck charging depot. It takes about three hours for a truck to fully charge.
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Erin Stone
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LAist
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“Diesel particulates are really highly toxic,” said Tuter. “It's the most toxic air contaminant that we know of. So it's absolutely critical that we get cleaner and cleaner and cleaner.”
A driver’s perspective
Former long-haul diesel truck driver and school bus driver Kenneth Phillips said the experience of driving the trucks is also better for the drivers themselves. He said electric trucks have the same performance as diesel, but are more comfortable to drive because they’re far quieter, smoother and don’t have smelly — and dangerous — fumes.
"That takes a toll on your body," Phillips said.
The Compton native now works for electric trucking company BYD, which has a manufacturing facility in Lancaster. Another big perk is the impact on pollution, he said.
“We have to do something to change what's going on and this is the way to do it,” Phillips said. “It may not solve it, but it will most definitely close the gap.”
Phillips said that it’s only been in recent years that more companies have turned their focus to all-electric technology.
The future is now because the competition is here.
— Kenneth Phillips, former diesel truck driver and school bus driver
“The future is now because the competition is here,” he said. “When I first started [at BYD], a lot of other companies were going to more fuel efficient, but now everybody is into electrical vehicles. There’s only so many alternate [fuels] that you can do. Electric…it's just the way.”
Kenneth Phillips, a Compton native and former long-haul truck driver and school bus driver, works for electric truck company BYD.
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Erin Stone
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LAist
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He took me on a short drive in one of BYD’s lithium-battery powered trucks that has a 200-mile range. We drove through a neighborhood and past a high school. But the families and kids there weren’t breathing any dangerous diesel pollution from this truck.
“Just knowing you're making a difference for Mother Earth, it's just outstanding,” Phillips said.
Challenges to building more infrastructure
The Lynwood charging depot is a bit of a unique case where all the necessary pieces came together to launch the depot in a timely manner, said Colbert.
Electric trucks showcased at ride-and-drive event at a new heavy-duty truck charging depot in Lynwood.
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The real estate was there, in a perfect location near the 710 Freeway and the ports, in an industrial-zoned area, and Southern California Edison had existing infrastructure nearby that they could upgrade and hook up relatively quickly to the site, which has a whopping 7.7 megawatts of power. The project was done in about 18 months.
But that’s not the norm.
“The two problems that you're going to hear are permitting and getting the power utility interconnection,” said Colbert. “We're asking for, in some situations, more than a skyscraper's worth of power in an acre or two-acre footprint, so they're not really accustomed to being able to bring this amount of power online and quickly.”
The need to upgrade equipment, primarily transmission and distribution lines to service the voltage needed at these sites, can slow a project by months, years and in some cases a decade or more.
“The challenge is not getting the power generated as much as it is getting the power delivered to the infrastructure built,” said Jeff Monford, a spokesperson for Southern California Edison (SCE). “Every one of these construction projects is unique.”
One of 65 chargers at Voltera's Lynwood heavy-duty truck charging depot.
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Erin Stone
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Monford said SCE has completed more than 80 projects supporting more than 2,000 medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and has 250 project applications in the pipeline that could potentially support another 6,000 electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.
Still that's a drop in the bucket for the estimated need: the state expects to need at least 114,500 chargers by 2030 to support 157,000 electric or hydrogen-fueled medium- and heavy-duty trucks.
Another wrench in the electric truck transition is the upcoming presidential election. The federal Environmental Protection Agency has yet to grant a waiver to approve California’s new truck electrification law and who wins the election could affect whether it gets granted at all.
Quick background on that: According to the nationwide Clean Air Act, air pollution from vehicles is a federal issue, but the federal government has for decades granted California waivers to regulate its own emissions because Southern California’s car culture has made air pollution a particularly long-running issue here (learn more about that history here). More than a dozen states have adopted California’s stricter car rules, as well as more recent truck rules. The rules have led to and are expected to lead to cleaner vehicles across the nation and the world.
The Trump Administration tried to revoke that power, the Biden Administration restored it, and now a future Trump presidency could put that waiver at risk again. Trump has also said he will rescind any unspent dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides funding to boost electric truck adoption and the needed infrastructure.
So some trucking companies have paused on buying electric trucks, Colbert said.
Community college students learn about the electric-powered Volvo semi-truck at an industry expo in Anaheim in 2023.
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But major players in the industry, including Voltera, as well as major truck manufacturers, are betting on electric no matter the outcome of the election.
“I think the election has made some folks wait and see what's going to happen, but we're bullish that no matter what…we're going to see a continued push to get fleets to electrify,” Colbert said. “I don't think that it benefits any administration to back down off of what's coming already.”
The delay on the EPA waiver has also made it so California can’t enforce its own law. More than 1,000 diesel trucks have been added to the registry to serve the ports despite the law, which went into effect at the beginning of the year, not allowing that.
CARB released a letter last year stating that they have the right to enforce the law from its official start date of Jan. 1, 2024, once the waiver is granted.
“As far as the state of California is concerned, there is a regulation in place,” said Tuter. “It's the law in California. We're just waiting right now to enforce it.”
If Donald Trump wins the election, there’s a possibility the waiver may not happen, but Tuter said there are other legal avenues that California can pursue to still enforce the rules.
Edwin Buenrostro was one of Quality Custom Distribution's first drivers behind the wheel of an electric truck, delivering to Starbucks across Fontana. The large distribution company is committed to an electric future.
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Still, Tuter said, despite the waiver not yet being granted, he’s not seeing much of a slowdown in applications for California’s main electric truck financing incentive program, called HVIP.
“A lot of people are waiting and taking the chance. Some people are not taking the chance,” Tuter said. “Personally, I think the smart money is on don't take the chance.”
New TSA program looks to increase private security
By Bill Chappell | NPR
Published May 21, 2026 9:30 AM
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Scott Olson
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Getty Images
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Topline:
Under the Transportation Security Administration's new program called TSA Gold+, private companies would play a much larger role in airport security than they have in decades.
More details: The agency is billing the program as an update to the Screening Partnership Program, or SPP, in which 20 U.S. airports currently use private security screeners rather than federal workers.
Why now: The agency says airports that opt into the program would be able to tailor security systems for their facility — and avoid the TSA staffing shortages that became a very public headache at airports during the recent government shutdown over Homeland Security funding.
Read on... for more on the program.
Federal officers handle security screening at all but a small fraction of U.S. airports, but the Trump administration is hoping to change that. Under the Transportation Security Administration's new program called TSA Gold+, private companies would play a much larger role in airport security than they have in decades.
The TSA is set to host officials from airports and security contractors to an "industry day" at its Springfield, Va., headquarters on Thursday, as it looks to develop TSA Gold+, a public-private program that the agency calls "transformative."
The agency is billing the program as an update to the Screening Partnership Program, or SPP, in which 20 U.S. airports currently use private security screeners rather than federal workers.
"TSA Gold+ marks a significant evolution in the agency's approach to aviation security," a TSA spokesperson told NPR via an emailed statement.
The agency says airports that opt into the program would be able to tailor security systems for their facility — and avoid the TSA staffing shortages that became a very public headache at airports during the recent government shutdown over Homeland Security funding.
It also says the program would bring "the latest technology" such as AI tools to airport screening operations, to increase capacity and cut wait times, although the agency did not specify how those gains would be achieved. From the details shared so far, the equipment would be the contractors' responsibility — a departure from the current SPP system, in which TSA controls the equipment and oversees the security contract. The TSA says it would perform the oversight role it currently does.
"Industry partners can manage equipment and introduce innovations, while travelers enjoy a smooth, predictable, and bespoke experience," the TSA said as it unveiled TSA Gold+.
Airports currently using the private Screening Partnership Program range from San Francisco and Kansas City to Sarasota, Fla., and Atlantic City, N.J., along with smaller facilities in Montana, Wyoming and other states.
Calls for privatizing airport security screening have come from President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress, echoing a recommendation in the conservatives' Project 2025 handbook for a second Trump term. But there are also signs of bipartisan interest in some level of private control over airport security, as seen in Atlanta, where city leaders recently voted to explore joining the Screening Partnership Program.
Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, touted that bipartisan interest on Wednesday during a hearing on TSA Modernization. But Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees union, which represents TSA officers, said he opposes further privatization — including the TSA Gold+ program, warning that it would hamper accountability and transparency.
Under the new program, Kelley said, contract workers would earn less than TSA officers. He added that while many transportation security officers hold security clearances, under the new plan, the government "would be ceding direct operational control of the most sensitive technology in the aviation security enterprise to private vendors."
The White House budget released last month promises to save some $52 million by privatizing airport screeners and requiring small airports to enroll in the SPP.
But officials at the hearing urged lawmakers to preserve airports' ability to choose.
Chris McLaughlin, CEO of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, noted that the SPP has been in place since aviation security underwent drastic changes following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which led to the creation of the TSA and the SPP system.
"We've had federalized screening for 25 years, almost," McLaughlin said. "Large airports like San Francisco have had an SPP program for 25 years."
Both airports' arrangements work well for them, he told Garbarino.
"The system has been safe for 25 years," he said. "It's important that airports have options."
The new "Gold+" program echoes the Trump administration's promise to bring a "golden age of travel" to the American public. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy touted those plans earlier this week, as he unveiled $970 million in funding to improve passengers' experiences at airports, from adding family-friendly security screening lanes to improving restrooms and children's play areas.
The money for those projects comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a Biden-era law aiming to update airports' aging infrastructure.
Copyright 2026 NPR
May gray skies return this morning for coasts and some valleys.
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Mel Melcon
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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QUICK FACTS
Today’s weather: Cloudy beaches sunny elsewhere
Beaches: Mid-70s
Mountains: Mid-70s to 80s
Inland: 83 to 91 degrees
Warnings and advisories: None today
What to expect: A marine layer will cover SoCal coasts today, bringing some cooling to the region. Elsewhere expect mostly sunny skies and highs around the mid 80s.
Read on ... to learn more.
QUICK FACTS
Today’s weather: Partly cloudy then sunny
Beaches: lower 70s degrees
Mountains: Mid-70s to 80s
Inland: 83 to 91 degrees
Warnings and advisories: None today
A marine layer will cover mostly the coastal areas today, lowering temperatures a degree or two. Otherwise expect a sunny afternoon elsewhere across SoCal.
L.A. County beaches will see temperatures in the lower 70s today, whereas Orange County could reach up to 79 degrees along the coast.
More inland, the valleys will see highs in the mid 80s. The Inland Empire will see highs from 83 to 91 degrees. In Coachella Valley, temperatures are expected to reach up to 100 degrees.
Keep up with LAist.
If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
Fleet Week, Exit the King at A Noise Within, the UCLA JazzReggae Festival, MAINopoly in Santa Monica and more of the best things to do this Memorial Day weekend.
Highlights:
Tour the U.S.S. Iowa and check out the three visiting battleships at San Pedro’s Pacific Battleship Center during L.A.’s annual Memorial Day weekend Fleet Weekon the waterfront. Plus, there are exhibits to walk through, food stands to try, and music for the whole family.
The name of this Eugène Ionesco classic alone — Exit the King— should give you some sense of where the always-on-point folks at A Noise Within were going when they chose it at this moment. The political satire borders on the absurd, with the L.A. Times likening the vibrant characters to “those in a deck of wild cards designed by Salvador Dalí.”
The nouveau bard of Kansas City, Kevin Morby, returns to his once-adopted hometown of Los Angeles on the heels of his newest release, Little Wide Open. Brooklyn-based Liam Kazar opens for him at The Wiltern.
Eat your way down Main Street in Santa Monica at MAINopoly, the annual Monopoly-themed food festival, which will allow drinks while you walk and eat thanks to a new city permit. The popular food-and-bar stretch near the beach is experiencing a little revival with the reopening of dive bar favorite Circle Bar, plus newish hot spots like Triple Beam Pizza and June Shine.
Happy long weekend! The Late Show with Stephen Colbert plays the funnyman’s swan song tonight, so my calendar is booked to stay up past my bedtime. Closer to home, the Yoko Ono exhibit (which comes to us straight from the Tate Modern in London) opens just in time for Memorial Day weekend, so watch this space for more on that.
There’s music for lovers of every genre this week, according to our friends at Licorice Pizza. On Friday, Yungblud and special guests Warning rock the Greek, and Dethklok plays the Palladium; jazz trumpeter Chris Botti begins his residency at the Blue Note.
Saturday, Bright Eyes performs I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn in their entirety at the Hollywood Bowl with openers the Moldy Peaches; American Football is at the Wiltern; Belgium’s Ultra Sunn plays the Belasco; Italy’s Mina is at the Echoplex; DJ KSHMR plays the Palladium; and then, for a different sort of “Kashmir,” Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening takes over the Greek.
On Sunday, brush your teeth with a bottle of Jack for the millennial dance party of the week at the Forum with Kesha, Chromeo and Sizzy Rocket. There’s also the big Day Trip afternoon concert at L.A. State Historic Park with Joseph Capriati, Toman and Cole Terrazas. For a more mellow Sunday, singer-songwriter Katelyn Tarver is at the Echoplex, R&B singer-songwriter Eric Bellinger plays the Novo, or classic crooner Paul Anka is doing it his way at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.
Through Monday, May 25 Pacific Battleship Center 250 S. Harbor Blvd., San Pedro COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy L.A. Fleet Week
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Tour the U.S.S. Iowa and check out the three visiting battleships at San Pedro’s Pacific Battleship Center during L.A.’s annual Memorial Day weekend Fleet Week on the waterfront. Plus, there are exhibits to walk through, food stands to try and music for the whole family. Not to mention those cute sailors in their whites.
Topanga Days
Saturday to Monday, May 23 to 25, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. 1440 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga COST: ADULTS $31.80; MORE INFO
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Fadeout Media
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Topanga Days
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Topanga Days is the easiest way to time-travel back to a simpler time when folk musicians roamed the hills, winning a yodeling contest was the biggest bragging right and you spent all year coming up with your parade costume. Those days are here once a year at Topanga Days, headlined on Saturday by New Orleans icon Cyril Neville and peppered with cherry-seed-spitting and bubble-gum-blowing contests, tons of other music, food, and, of course, the parade.
Exit the King
Through Sunday, May 31 A Noise Within 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena COST: FROM $49.75; MORE INFO
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Craig Schwartz
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Lucy PR
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The name of this Eugène Ionesco classic alone — Exit the King — should give you some sense of where the always-on-point folks at A Noise Within were going when they chose it at this moment. The political satire borders on the absurd, with the L.A. Times likening the vibrant characters to “those in a deck of wild cards designed by Salvador Dalí.”
K-Expo
Saturday and Sunday, May 23 to 24 L.A. Live 1005 Chick Hearn Court, Downtown L.A. COST: FREE; MORE INFO
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Courtesy BLND PR
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K-Pop fans will flock to the K-Expo at L.A. Live, where you can see free exhibitions and events featuring 100 Korean brands and companies across content, beauty, food and technology all weekend long. Stick around Saturday night and grab a ticket (from $47) to the mega K-Pop concert at the Peacock Theater, featuring Jay Park and P1Harmony.
MAINopoly
Sunday, May 24, 1 p.m. Main Street, Santa Monica COST: FROM $28.01; MORE INFO
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Courtesy MAINopoly Santa Monica
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Eat your way down Main Street in Santa Monica at the annual Monopoly-themed food festival, which this year will allow drinks while you walk and eat thanks to a new city permit. The popular food-and-bar stretch near the beach is experiencing a little revival with the reopening of dive bar favorite Circle Bar, plus newish hot spots like Triple Beam Pizza and June Shine. I also heard a rumor that something new is finally coming into the old World Cafe space (!!).
Arroyo Secodelic Festival
Friday to Monday, May 22 to 25 Various locations, Highland Park COST: VARIES; MORE INFO
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Courtesy Arroyo Secodelic
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As LAist's Robert Garrova reports, a new four-day music festival takes over Figueroa Street in Highland Park this weekend. The Arroyo Secodelic Festival will feature 65 bands, with acts hailing from Los Angeles, Mexico and as far as France and Holland. Highlights include Flamin' Groovies, Fear and Adolescents.
Angel City Chorale Spring Concert
Sunday, May 24, 4 p.m. Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Redondo Beach COST: FROM $17; MORE INFO
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Mel Stave Photography
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Angel City Chorale
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Enjoy the healing sounds of Angel City Chorale as they perform a new show with the theme "The Red Thread" as “a tribute to the beloved age-old parable and celebration of the invisible threads that connect as humans, our hopes, joys, resilience in the face of adversity, connection to nature and a shared planet Earth.”
Kevin Morby
Friday, May 22, 8 p.m. The Wiltern 3790 Wilshire Blvd., Koreatown COST: $50-$60; MORE INFO
Kevin Morby plays the Wiltern on Friday.
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Jim Bennett
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Getty Images
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The nouveau bard of Kansas City returns to his once-adopted hometown of Los Angeles on the heels of his newest release, Little Wide Open. Morby's latest effort might be his most realized, fully embracing the Technicolor sweep of his indie-Americana sound — striking the sonic equivalent between a Terrence Malick film and Robert Frank's roadside photographs, seen through a passenger car window of a cross-country train. This time, Morby tapped Aaron Dessner of The National to serve as producer — who has most recently done the same for Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams and Sharon Van Etten — alongside a constellation of collaborators, including Justin Vernon, Lucinda Williams, Katie Gavin, Mat Davidson and Meg Duffy. Brooklyn-based Liam Kazar opens. –Gab Chabrán
UCLA JazzReggae Festival
Monday, May 25, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. UCLA Wilson Plaza COST: $26.14; MORE INFO
Three little birds told me to get down to the UCLA JazzReggae Festival on Memorial Day. The yearly music fest draws students and neighbors alike for a full day of sunshine, food, music and jammin’. The fest is fully organized and run by student volunteers, and has been since its founding 40 years ago.
Forest Lawn Memorial Day remembrances
Monday, May 25 Various locations COST: FREE; MORE INFO
Forest Lawn in Glendale is one of several locations hosting Memorial Day events.
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David McNew
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Getty Images
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Honor veterans across Los Angeles as Forest Lawn hosts Memorial Day remembrances at each of its six Southern California locations: Cathedral City, Covina Hills, Cypress, Glendale, Hollywood Hills and Long Beach. The parkwide events will celebrate the lives of those who served, with patriotic music, wreath layings, presentations and retirings of the flag, keynote addresses, presidential proclamations, invocations, giveaways, coffee and sweet treats. All events will include American Sign Language interpreters.
Monica Bushman
produces arts and culture coverage for LAist's on-demand team. She’s also part of the Imperfect Paradise podcast team.
Published May 21, 2026 5:00 AM
Edward Furlong and Arnold Schwarzenegger in a scene from the 1991 film 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day.'
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via film-grab.com
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Topline:
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is back in select theaters this weekend, in celebration of the movie’s 35th anniversary. Considered one of the best action films and best sequels of all time, it’s also celebrated among film experts for its groundbreaking use of CGI visual effects — most notably for the T-1000 character, a liquid metal cyborg masquerading as an LAPD officer.
Where to see the film in LA: American Cinematheque, The Academy Museum and The Vista are hosting screenings of Terminator 2: Judgment Day starting on May 22, but they’re already selling out. Additional screenings are on May 29 at Los Feliz 3, May 30 at Aero Theatre in Santa Monica and June 6 and 7 at The Vista in Los Feliz.
Read on ... for behind-the-scenes details from the film's Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor.
You could call it a fulfillment of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s famous promise from the first Terminator movie in 1984: “I’ll be back.”
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), the bigger budget, multi-award winning follow-up to that first film is coming back to theaters in Los Angeles starting this weekend, in celebration of the film’s 35th anniversary.
Considered one of the best action films and best sequels of all time, it’s also celebrated among film experts for its groundbreaking use of CGI visual effects — most notably for the T-1000 character, a liquid metal cyborg masquerading as an LAPD officer, played by Robert Patrick.
Where to watch ‘T2’ on the big screen
While the American Cinematheque’s first two 35th anniversary screenings of Terminator 2 are already sold out, as of this article’s publishing time, tickets to screenings on May 29 (at Los Feliz 3) and May 30 (at Aero Theatre in Santa Monica) are still available.
Tickets for screenings on May 22 at The Ojai Playhouse and June 6 and 7 at The Vista in Los Feliz are also still available, and Rialto Pictures also lists screenings on July 2-5 at The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana.
And while the screening at The Academy Museum on May 27 (with the film’s Oscar-winning visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren in person) is sold out, we have you covered with some highlights from Muren’s interview with LAist below.
Making the impossible possible with CGI
Terminator 2, director James Cameron’s follow up to his surprise 1984 hit, The Terminator, was the first (and still only) movie in what would become the six-film Terminator franchise to earn an Oscar win or nomination.
Ultimately, the film took home four Oscars — for visual effects (for Dennis Muren, Stan Winston, Gene Warren, Jr. and Robert Skotak), makeup, sound, and sound effects editing — and also earned nominations for cinematography and film editing.
The visual effects studio responsible for the T-1000 character’s CGI effects was Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), founded in 1975 by Star Wars creator George Lucas. Dennis Muren headed up their Terminator 2 team, which consisted of about 35 artists.
Muren remembers first being taken with visual effects at the age of 6 or 7, watching The War of the Worlds (1953) in Los Angeles. He made his first film — a “creature feature” called Equinox — the summer between his freshman and sophomore years at Pasadena City College, and would go on to work for ILM on visual effects for movies like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, and (fittingly) the 2005 version of War of the Worlds.
A scene from 'Terminator 2' (1991).
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via film-grab.com
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ILM and Muren began development on the CGI techniques that would be needed to pull off Terminator 2’s T-1000 character in movies like 1985’s Young Sherlock Holmes and 1989’s The Abyss, which was also directed by James Cameron.
“ILM has been so good at being able to really do the impossible,” Muren said. “And we kind of joke about that, but we've got many different ways of doing things.”
When the opportunity for Terminator 2 came up, Muren had also just returned from a year-long sabbatical he spent studying computer graphics, and said he was confident ILM had the tools needed to make the T-1000 character a reality.
“We were ready to input the film digitally,” Muren explained. “[To] do all the manipulation in a computer instead of with optical film running through printers and going to labs for processing.”
And when ILM got that digital system for “compositing” — combining live-action images, practical and CGI effects — working seamlessly, Muren says, “That was an incredible tool.”
But that didn’t mean that pulling off a shiny, shape-shifting, liquid metal character successfully would be easy.
“It's just complicated,” Muren explained. “You've just got this reflective material [and] how are we supposed to be able to see depth or shape when it's deforming?” But at the same time, Muren said, “that's what was exciting about it.”
Muren says the trickiest scene for the team to figure out is when the T-1000 walks through a cell door made of metal bars. While it happens in a matter of seconds on screen, it amounted to 14 to 16 weeks of work for the visual effects team.
“I always said that shot, even as we were doing it, and we got close to finishing, I said, ‘This is an absolutely impossible shot,’” Muren explained. So when they got it right, he said, “It was like a new world.”
Today, while he says Jurassic Park (1993) is the film he’s now asked about most often, he always reminds people: “T2 was really the breakthrough film.”
