Purple lines indicate where California plans to lease broadband capacity. Orange dots indicate where the state plans to build. Teal is where the state plans to build with a partner
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Courtesy CalMatters via Mapbox
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Topline:
Advocates and state and community leaders have confronted state officials over broadband plans, asking why after years of working with community members to build an infrastructure system that would bridge the digital divide, some parts of the plan were suddenly defunded or deprioritized.
Why it matters: In L.A., middle-mile broadband infrastructure plans along major highways in South and Southeast L.A. cities were initially cut from the phase one plans, while infrastructure plans for Beverly Hills and West L.A. moved forward.
The backstory: In California, 15% of households, or about 2 million residents, don’t have access to high speed internet, said Niu Gao, a researcher for the Public Policy Institute of California.
In November 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the first 18 projects in the state’s plan to build a public broadband infrastructure system which would help bridge the digital divide between those who have access to high speed internet and those who don’t. That list included underserved communities of Southeast and South Los Angeles, Oakland and the Coachella Valley.
Over the last two years, the California Department of Technology, the agency responsible for mapping the broadband infrastructure, used community input and analysis from the state Public Utilities Commission to create its “ideal” map for the broadband network, said Mark Monroe, deputy director of the department’s middle-mile broadband initiative, at a July meeting.
Then this summer, some community leaders and advocates noticed that portions of the initially proposed broadband network would no longer be built with available funds. Instead, some of the neediest communities were pushed to an unfunded “phase 2” portion of the plan.
“It feels like we’re getting sent to the back of the line again,” said Isabel Aguayo, mayor of the Southeast L.A. city of Paramount.
Advocates and state and community leaders confronted state officials, asking why after years of working with community members to build an infrastructure system that would bridge the digital divide, some parts of the plan were suddenly defunded or deprioritized. Meanwhile, portions of the network infrastructure in wealthier areas, like Beverly Hills, have already been leased.
The Department of Technology responded recently to CalMatters that the governor is committed to funding the entire network with a 2024 budget allocation and that the project will no longer be completed in separate phases.
But the state is facing a $30 billion budget deficit, and some community leaders and advocates are skeptical that the governor will be able to keep his promise. They also said they’re frustrated by the state’s lack of transparency regarding changes to the network.
Broadband for all
Advocates of digital equity and state leaders worked for years to push for the 2021 law that would fund the new broadband infrastructure.
In California, 15% of households, or about 2 million residents, don’t have access to high speed internet, said Niu Gao, a researcher for the Public Policy Institute of California.
School districts provided hotspots and free devices to help students who lacked computers and internet accessibility at home, so they could complete school assignments while their schools were closed. But even with the technology, a lack of broadband infrastructure meant many students experienced slow internet speeds, which made it difficult for them to stay on track.
The same year Newsom signed the bill approving broadband funding, saying the state was committed to addressing internet connectivity challenges the pandemic exposed. The state would use mostly federal dollars, including funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.
“This $6 billion investment will make broadband more accessible than ever before,” he said, “expanding opportunity across the spectrum for students, families and businesses — from enhanced educational supports to job opportunities to health care and other essential services.”
The broadband system would include “middle-mile” broadband networks and “last-mile” networks. Middle-mile broadband network refers to the fiber optic backbone network that will be built out across the state. Last-mile networks connect homes, businesses and schools to that larger state network.
The state would own and manage the system and municipalities, nonprofits, internet service providers and education agencies would tap into the network, in theory creating competition and lowering broadband prices for all Californians, said Gao, the public policy researcher.
Will Newsom keep his promise?
The California Department of Technology said in its July Middle-Mile Advisory Committee meeting that unexpected costs and inflation meant the funds allocated to the project weren’t enough to cover the 10,000 miles of middle-mile broadband that the state planned. The money would only cover 8,300 miles, leaving the remaining 1,700 miles of broadband unfunded.
In Los Angeles, middle-mile broadband infrastructure plans along major highways in South and Southeast L.A. cities were initially cut from the phase one plans, while infrastructure plans for Beverly Hills and West L.A. moved forward.
And in the Bay Area, broadband infrastructure in suburban Livermore and Pleasanton were in phase one plans, but some communities in Oakland were relegated to phase two, said Patrick Messac, director of Oakland Undivided, an organization that aims to help bridge the digital divide.
Although state officials previously spoke about the plan in terms of a “phase one” and “phase two,” after inquiries from media and digital equity advocates, they now say that work for the entire 10,000 miles is underway, although much of it is not yet funded.
“No one area is being prioritized over another by (the California Department of Technology),” said Bob Andosca, a spokesperson for the department. “The work will be authorized immediately in every area where Caltrans completes pre-construction work, and many projects will proceed simultaneously.”
A screenshot of the California Department of Technology’s Middle-Mile Broadband Initiative webpage.
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Image via Wayback Machine on Aug., 11, 2023
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Daniel Lopez, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, said closing the digital divide has been a top priority for Newsom.
“The governor’s commitment to that mission has not wavered and his January (proposed) budget will double down on the state’s work to deliver high-speed internet access to all communities across California and will fund the full 10,000 miles of middle-mile projects,” Lopez said.
The governor’s office did not answer specific questions about how much funding would be needed to cover the entire network, nor how the budget allocation would be possible if the state is facing a budget deficit.
“It’s really hard for the people of Oakland to trust more promises when so many have been broken in the past, and the state describes this broadband for all as a once-in-a-generation investment,” said Messac of Oakland Divided.
“The governor’s commitment to that mission has not wavered and his January (proposed) budget will double down on the state’s work to deliver high-speed internet access to all communities.”DANIEL LOPEZ, A SPOKESPERSON FOR THE GOVERNOR’S OFFICELeaders of the California Community Foundation say they’re grateful the governor has committed to funding the whole network, but they worry the rollout has not been equitable and they are skeptical the project can be completed by the December 2026 deadline, given the overall budget deficit.
Jarrett Barrios, chair of the Digital Equity Team’s Angeleno Project, said the underserved communities were “lifted up” as the reason for seeking funding for a broadband project.
“Communities get overlooked again and again and again and that’s why they are underserved,” he said. “And it becomes habit.”
Assemblymember Mia Bonta, a Democrat from Oakland, met with top-level members of Newsom’s administration at the end of the legislative session to discuss the shortfall in funding.
“Assemblymember Bonta was upset to see a pattern in which the communities that were deprioritized were low-income and communities of color,” said Tomasa Duenas, her spokesperson. “This includes a major portion of Oakland that has historically been underserved by broadband but has a huge need for proper infrastructure … She, along with the California Legislative Black Caucus and others, will be watching to make sure (Newsom) keeps his promise. Too much is at risk.”
Rural and underserved cities left behind
The state’s $6 billion investment includes $2 billion for state grants to go to local governments, internet service providers, nonprofits, libraries and education agencies that plan to build last-mile networks connecting to the state’s network.
The technology department received 483 applications from entities in every county, requesting a total of $4.6 billion, more than twice the grant money available.
But with the changes to the middle-mile plan, some communities that applied for those grants are wondering if their work was in vain.
The middle-mile changes likely will determine which municipalities and agencies are prioritized for the grants. The farther away a last-mile project is from the middle-mile network, the more expensive it is, making broadband projects in underserved communities less tenable, said Shayna Englin, director of the California Community Foundation’s Digital Equity Initiative.
It feels like we’re getting sent to the back of the line again.
— Isabel Aguayo, Paramount mayor
Some groups chose to scale back ambitious plans because they no longer know what middle-mile networks are guaranteed.
Others have chosen to wait to see if the state Public Utilities Commission has answers about which projects will be funded or delayed, Englin said.
One of those project applicants is the Gateway Council of Governments, a group of 26 Southeast Los Angeles-area cities, including Compton, Paramount, Bellflower and Lakewood.
The leaders of the council were excited to learn in November 2021 they would be prioritized. They immediately got to work.
The group applied for the state grant and invested two years developing a cost analysis and initial design plan to link their communities to the state’s broadband network, said Andrew Vialpando, a spokesperson for Paramount’s mayor. Now the group has chosen to scale back its plan, cutting out six underserved cities, including Paramount, Compton and Bellflower.
“It was something we were all getting behind,” said Compton Mayor Emma Sharif. “We were excited about it. All of a sudden we looked up and said ‘Wait a minute, what happened?’ It was devastating for us. This is something I was really hoping to bring to my community.”
Similarly 40 rural counties that make up the Rural County Representatives of California came up with a joint plan to build last-mile projects in 37 jurisdictions. They weren’t expecting the state to change the plan.
The most recent change to the maps the group used for its planning happened on or around Sept. 29, the day that applications were due, said Tracy Rhine, senior policy advocate with the Rural County Representatives of California. That change means a project they hoped to build in the majority Latino, farmworker community of Greenfield in Monterey County may no longer be viable.
Both groups still submitted their grant applications by the deadline. They said they’re unsure if they’ll receive the grants and haven’t received clarity or guidance from the state Public Utilities Commission about how to modify their applications based on the middle-mile network changes.
It was devastating for us. This is something I was really hoping to bring to my community.
— Emma Sharif, Compton mayor
The California Public Utilities Commission, the agency in charge of disbursing funds for last-mile projects, declined interview requests from CalMatters. It did provide a statement in response to questions.
Terrie Prosper, a spokesperson for the state Public Utilities Commission, wrote applicants got “extensive technical assistance” before the applications were due and commission staff continues to work with applicants.
In the July 21 meeting, Public Utilities Commission officials said the grants will be disbursed in the first quarter of 2024.
The Department of Technology declined CalMatters’ request to interview department officials but answered questions via email.
In order to roll out the middle-mile network in the most cost efficient way, the Department of Technology is using a mix of methods, including purchasing or leasing existing fiber optic networks, which the state would operate and maintain, along with building new infrastructure. The state so far has spent $1.8 billion on various lease, purchase and joint-build agreements that will deliver 6,500 miles of the middle-mile network.
Most of that, $1.2 billion, went to leases for existing infrastructure. The state has contracts with 10 lease providers — private sector companies, government organizations and nonprofits — covering about 4,699 miles of the network. That includes leases for infrastructure in Beverly Hills and parts of West L.A.
Advocates also say the state is underestimating the number of households lacking broadband services because agencies are relying on flawed information from service providers.
Based on such Federal Communications Commission data, less than 10% of the population, or 20 million people, lack broadband internet, Gao, of the Public Policy Institute of California, said. However reports from broadband research organizations estimate about 42 million people are underserved.
Regardless, Sharif, Compton’s mayor, said cities in the second phase are keeping an eye on the broadband funding decisions, hoping Newsom will keep his promises.
“Our cities can’t afford to be pushed aside and forgotten,” she said. “These are critical steps to closing the digital divide, and we want to make sure we are part of that and that we are being thought of.”
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.”
