SUBMITTED BY Kit-Kat

July 1, 2008 — Steven Zeitchik reports: "Helena Bonham Carter could soon be joining the battle between man and cyborg.

The Oscar-nominated actress is in talks to board McG's "Terminator Salvation," the fourth installment in the franchise kicked off by James Cameron in 1984. Roles in the new film have been kept under wraps, but insiders described the Bonham Carter role as small but pivotal.

Principal photography on the Halcyon-produced movie, which looks at the origins of the battle between humans and Skynet, started last month in New Mexico, with the idea that most exteriors will be shot before a potential SAG strike. Warners is scheduled to release the action film in May.

The addition of the Endeavor-repped Bonham Carter -- who in addition to being nominated for an Oscar for 1998's "The Wings of the Dove" is a five-time Golden Globe nominee -- would bring a prestige element to the summer tentpole.

"Salvation," however, wouldn't be the first event movie the British actress has recently been in. She starred as Bellatrix Lestrange in Warners' 2007 "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and is set to reprise that role in the franchise's next two films."