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THE MOVIE: Transformers

THE STARS:
Shia LaBeouf • Tyrese Gibson • Josh Duhamel • Megan Fox • Jon Voight • John Turturro
DIRECTOR: Michael Bay

THE CONCEPT:
For centuries, two races of robot aliens, the Autobots and the Decepticons, have waged war, with the fate of the Universe at stake. When the battle comes to Earth, all that stands between the evil Decepticons and ultimate power is a clue held by young Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf)

U.S. RELEASE: July 4 2007, Nationwide • Rated: PG-13

THE COMMENTS:

MICHAEL BAY:
“I was not a Transformers fan before I signed on to this movie. I’ve been offered a lot of superhero movies before and nothing’s really appealed to me, but it hit me that if I make this really real it could be something very new and different. So I’ve quickly become probably one of the bigger Transformers fans in the world, and I can officially say I’ve probably thought more about robots on Earth than anyone in the past year and a half.”

MEGAN FOX (Mikaela):
“All the robots were represented by window washer poles with red glowing balls on the tops of them that were all height appropriate to each character so we were looking in the right direction. The rest we had to create together, because we had to move at the same time, so it was difficult.”

SHIA LaBEOUF:
“We had to choreograph it like a dance. You just start learning movements, ‘On whose line is this happening?’ Or, ‘Where’s it coming from?’ then you start memorizing the robots movements. It becomes fun.”

JOSH DUHAMEL (Captain Lennox):
“[As a child] I had the toys and I watched the cartoon, so when I heard that they were making this movie I immediately flashed back to watching the cartoons and wondered, ‘Are humans going to be Transformers? How are they going to do it?’ I went to meet Michael Bay and he showed me some of the [CGI] and I started understanding what it was they were going to be doing.”

TYRESE GIBSON ( Sergeant Epps):
“When I went to met with Mike he showed me the animatics and all these images of the sets that were going to be built, and it was a lot for me to take in. Mike has been operating on this level for a very long time, so the things that could blow you away he’s sitting there talking about casually.”

JON VOIGHT (John Keller, Secretary of Denfense):
“I’m dazzled as anybody by the CGI work in this film. It’s phenomenal. The dramatic sequences where the robots interact is simply wonderful. And the story is good; it’s a nice mythology for kids.”

BAY:
“My movies often deal with the hero arch-type and the boy becoming a man, kind of like Nic Cage becoming a hero in The Rock. It’s the same thing with Shia when he gets to carry that ‘cube’ and sacrifices he life. It’s very scary when you’re trying to hinge a whole movie on a kid, and I spoke with Steven [Spielberg, the movie’s executive producer] and he said, ‘Shia’s great, I love him.’ And he came into audition and nailed it.”

LaBEOUF:
“This was a very physically challenging movie. You’re not going to have a fist fight with a robot, so there was a lot of running. But it’s a pretty bad ass movie. I’ve never seen action like this ever, so just from that point of view it’s pretty nuts.”

Written by Judy Sloane. Back to top

Visit the official Transformers site
Images above © Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures
Feature © 2007 Visual Imagination Limited.
Not for reproduction.

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