Next, McG was handed the keys to Superman. More than $15 million had been spent in pre-production and on a summer day in 2004, a private plane was waiting to whisk the director to Australia so he could get to work. Then McG was stricken by a severe panic attack. His intense fear of flying grounded him that day, and Superman instead took flight with director Bryan Singer.

Bruised and widely ridiculed, McG sought medical help to overcome his intense phobia. He faced another tragedy with the death of his brother. As his film career sputtered and lurched, he became a successful TV producer with shows such as The O.C., and Supernatural. Still, TV is TV and film is film, so there was no reason in the world for Warner Bros to think of McG as the right man for the $140 million revival of Terminator.

“He inspires me to do the impossible—who would have thought that McG could get Christian Bale to do T4?” said Lin. “Then he got Arnold Schwarzenegger to come back and do a digital cameo in the movie.”

The film is set in 2018 and the war between the malevolent machines of SkyNet and humanity. Bale is the finally adult John Connor, whom the previous films set up as the prophesied saviour of humanity in the face of the killing machines—serpentine underwater models, flying models, motorcycle models, giant walking models, etc.

McG was paid $6 million to direct Terminator Salvation, and he has locked in a $10 million deal for the sequel. “I have no sense of pressure or anxiety when I’m making a film,” he said. “I want to let this movie speak for itself. I really want to get away from my cheerleader self and keep quiet.”