Marden's Nearly Dies In Copter Stunt?

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen co-star Matthew Marsden (SAS Graham in NEST) talks with Sunday Mercury about a helicopter stunt that nearly killed him in an interview on the eve of the London premiere of the movie. I assume this is a stunt filmed at Bethlehem Steel last June. Some of the article is below, click here for the entire thing. Thanks to Scorpio for the link.

“It was a nightmare,” recalls Matthew, speaking from his home in Los Angeles. “I had a very close shave when a helicopter crashed and missed me by a foot. I stepped out of the way a second before it hit the ground. The stunt went off too early, I should have been some considerable way away. I didn’t seriously injure myself, apart from shearing off one of my bottom teeth. There was a bit of blood, but my adrenaline kicked in so I didn’t feel it.

“I just remember the director, Michael Bay, shouting, ‘Oh my God! Everyone look at Matt!’. One of the crew rushed up and said, ‘Dude, do you have any idea how close that was?’. I said ‘As long as I look cool, I don’t care!’. People will probably think that it’s a computer-generated special effect, but I can assure you it was very real. It’s fine, I’m still here with all my fingers and toes, though not all my teeth.”

Transformers Site Opens As Casino

Bethlehem Steel, a location used by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen shoot has finished its conversion to a casino and opened this Friday according to the New York Times. The area was used by TF2 production as "Shanghai, China" when filming first started last June (click here for related articles). For reference, some of the scenes in the trailers involving Demolisher, Sideways and Arcee were shot there.

Autobot Fleet, Helicopter Painting Pictures

A few pictures from past Transformers sets have come up again. First up is a gallery of pictures that show the work that went into converting helicopters into the Shanghai police copters used for the Bethlehem set back in June. Below is a before, during, and after pictures but a whole lot more are at the full huge gallery here.
Thanks to Mike taking and providing the pictures for us.

Spoiler-TV posted to pictures Queensway Bridge, Long Beach, CA that shows off the entire known Autobot fleet (except for the always absent Ratchet).

Bethlehem Copter Pics

Thanks to an anonymous source are the two pictures of the copter used for filming Transformers 2 at Bethlehem Steel and Princeton. The first picture shows the copter as it was prepped for the its transformation into a copter for the Shanghai police force as seen in the second picture.

Split Ice Cream Truck Videos

RodrigoNJ has posted 11 videos (found by oddsey) from the Bethlehem Steel shoot that occurred in June. The videos are short, but some do show interesting information. Specifically video proof as to why the Ice Cream Truck is speculated to be the mysterious Twins from the call sheets.

In those sheets a scene is described as "Two halves of Ice Cream Truck. One spins. Join together. Ice Cream Truck splits around Chinese kids. Leaves treat." This description is why the truck is considered an Autobot since avoiding killing kids and leaving treats is very un-Decepticon behavior. The splitting in two, demonstrating a slight difference in behavior before merging also supports the notion of two separate robots. As the videos below show, you can see two halves of the truck beside each other and in the first video you can see the right half do a spin.



Two additional videos of note is the first one that shows a scene being filmed involving pyrotechnics and weapons. Note that the weapons are either firing at something in the air or at something pretty darn tall (the Constructicon Earth Mover perhaps?). The second video shows Tyrese and Michael Bay as they joke and are generally friendly with fans near the trailers.

Bethlehem Steel Signage Gone

Back in late June, Bethlehem Steel still had some signage up that seemed to indicate a possible return (first pic from June 22nd). Sadly that idea has been dashed as the below picture shows the Chinese signs have been removed from the site (probably put up at San Pedro). Thanks to Jason for the pic and info.

City Hall and Bethlehem Videos

To pass the time, here are two videos involving the location shoots for Transformers 2. The first is from the Movie Chronicles blog and show the autobot trio of Bumblebee, the Trax and the Beat driving by. The second one shows an explosion at the Bethlehem shoot that Russell found (thanks!).

As far as Princeton, shooting is occuring there today, Shia and Megan Fox have been spotted but I have not got much in regards to details.

Arcee's Biker Babes

Seibertron.com's "Chaingun" has posted images he found of the women that could be either Megan Fox's stunt doubles (I say no), or the hologram drivers.

The below pictures show three lovely women getting ready for a scene. They are all dressed identically, with same hairstyles and outfits that would be out of character for Michaela (Megan Fox) to wear. Blue jeans, a shirt and a plain leather jacket would fit that character more.

From the call sheets, the three Can-Am Spyders (commenters think Arcee may be 2 Trikes instead which were also on the call sheet) are referred to as Arcee Motorcycles and in scene descriptions the plural ("bikes") is used. There are also two of the Arcee drivers specfically identified, Jessie Graff (Arcee Rider #1)and Melissa Hartman (Arcee Rider #2). From a quick Google search, Jessie Graff is an experienced stunt woman who has worked on Die Hard 4, The Dark Knight, and GI Joe. I think Melissa Hartman is the married name of Melissa Stubbs who has done stunts on Indiana Jones 4, Battlestar Galactica, and Bionic Woman. I guess the third woman was picked from the casting call that occured last month.

Considering the precedent of hologram drivers from the first movie, it makes sense that Arcee would use three hologram drivers when she is in vehicle mode. Three bikes and three drivers, strikes me as more validation that that Arcee's vehicle mode is three Can-Am Spyders.

Bethlehem Call Sheet Reveals TFII Revelations

Thanks to an anonymous source, I have a scan of the call sheet used on Wednesday June 4th for the Bethlehem Steel shoot. A call sheet is used to direct the cast and other crews to where they need to be, when and what for. It usually includes a breakdown of cast members participating in a scene, brief description of the scene and many other details. I plan on summarize a lot of information within the call sheet along with the images of it. Suffice it to say, there are spoilers contained within about the cast, some of the Transformers, where the next bit of shooting is occurring and other details.

!!! BIG SPOILER WARNING !!!
There have been rumors about who was at Bethlehem Steel to shoot for the film. Was Shia or Fox there, who else was there, what did the cars do, which where Transformers, which where not. Now this is just for Wednesday but not a reach to infer this went for the other days to.

From the sheet, the movie is given the code title of E7². From the comments,
around the Bethlehem base camp there where "E7" signs which apparently are reused at each location. The shoot is scheduled to go 84 days, not including days off or the built-in hiatus.

Bethlehem Steel's Role
Based on the scene descriptions, the role of the factory is a Shanghai, China steel factory. The scenes describe action and vehicle chases occurring along a "Shanghai Steel Yard" and "Shanghai Side Street". The scene is the Autobots, SAS and Lennox's team chasing after Decepticon Audi R8. What the air attacks are about is not on the call sheets but I imagine they are Decepticons.

Also the Sands Bethworks, a casino on the otherside of the steel factory, was used for an exterior shot of Bumblebee and the Ice Cream truck for below describe next stop in Transformers II filming.

Bethlehem Steel Human Cast
The cast at Bethlehem Steel was Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Matthew Marsden and Andrew Howard. Josh and Tyrese was already confirmed (pics here and here). The news of Marsden's casting as SAS Graham was just out this week, didn't know he had already started shooting.

A new addition is Ramon Rodriguez, (The Wire) who was cast as "Leo" and based on being number five on the call sheet, I am guessing he is Spike's college roommate.

Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox did not film at the site. The call sheet has multiple gaps in the cast numbering which simply suggests that are more principle cast members, its just they didn't work on the scenes on the sheet. It appears the first 12 numbers in the count represents the "core" cast for the movie. One is Shia LaBeouf, 2 is Megan Fox, 3 is Josh Duhamel, 8 is Tyrese Gibson, and 12 is Matthew Marsden. Of note is the gap for 4 (John Turturro), 6 and 7 (one of them is Jon Voight) and 9 - 11. Could some of those be the rumored casting of Nina Dobrev or Aaron Hill?

Vehicles Used
As far as vehicles used the 3 Can-Am Spyders, an Ice Cream Truck, Bumblebee (not in Shanghai), Ironhide, 3 NEST Hummers, 2 Trikes, Go-Kart, 10 Shanghai dressed police vehicles, Audi R8 and a NEST semi. Also a Chinese Police helicopter and 2 Blackhawks all equipped with spotlights.

Smithsonian Air and Space Museum
Production's location is the Smithsonian Air and Space Mueseum. The schedule is June 5 to Sunday June 6. The cast will include Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, John Turturro and Ramon Rodriguez. Based on the scenes it appears they are hunting for something Decepticon related at the museum after hours involving the SR-71 Blackbird (with a Decepticon insignia) that is there.

There is also a mention of "Splinter". I am not sure if that is a TF or an Autobot artifact for the film. As someone in the comments noted, this could be the piece of the All Spark that Prime removed from Megatron at the end of the movie.

Transformers
Known Transformers at the sites was Ironhide and Bumblebee (at the Smithsonian). Additional NEW Transformers from what I can tell is Arcee (combines from 3 Can-Am Spyders or 2 Trikes), The Twins (the Ice Cream Truck), Stinger (a Porsche I think), unknown Decepticon (Audi R8), Wheels or Wheelbot (the Go-Kart?), Jetfire (the Blackbird) and a "Constructicon Earth Mover".

The rumors have been around for a while that the Constructicons and therefore Devastator could appear in this movie. Considering a theme of merging Transformers, this seems to be confirmation of that rumor.

A final note is that for the first movie Bay did use placeholder names for some of the TF cast until a final determination was made. However in pretty much all of them the names became final. The only exception was Devastator instead of Brawl.

Summary
Locations: Shanghai, China and the Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC
New Transformers: Arcee, The Twins, Stinger, unknown Decepticon Audi R8, Wheels, Jetfire, and Constructicons
Alt Modes: Can-Am Spyder or Trike, Ice Cream truck, Blackbird, Audi R8, Go-Kart, and earth mover
New Human Cast: Ramon Rodriguez (Leo)

Still no clue what the story is about but clearly Bay is taking Transformers in a new direction with the merging Transformers theme on a large and small scale in a way that Hasbro only dabbled in. I can't wait to see what the visual effects on that looks like. I imagine many future headaches making it work to the perfection that was the effects in the last film.


Updates have been made based on information in the comments.

More Day 3 At Bethlehem from the Web

Shooting is done at Bethlehem but doesn't mean the web isn't still talking about it.

Mike Panic brought to my attention his website, Randomn3ss where he posted his pictures and video of the Bethlehem preparations and shooting. The picture to the left is from him. So be sure to check them out. The full gallery is here.

Superherohype has a write-up where person spoke with Michael Bay who explained a shot that involved explosions, ratchet system for the stuntman, and other things.

Over at TFW2005.com come more images of the site (3 pages worth) both during the day and at night.

Megan Fox In Bethelem

The Bethlehem Daily Star Blog reports that Megan Fox was in Bethlehem for some of the shoot that took place over the last three days. The information comes from Hotel Bethlehem where the cast was reported to be staying. However, Major John Callahan said "They [the DreamWorks folks] were very clear to me that neither one of those stars would be there.” The mayor, who got a VIP pass onto the set along with his kids, also didn’t report seeing Fox on the set.

Maybe Bay is just slick and hid her for secrecy reasons or it could be Fox just hung out while waiting for her turn before the cameras later in the shooting schedule (whenever that is). I am leaning to the later (as is the Star) simply because it doesn't fit her character to be at a shootout in a Chinese city. Guess it doesn't matter now as the production is probably packing up and moving on to their next destination (UPENN?) as filming is officially done at Bethlehem Steel.

Bethlehem Steel, Final Day Report

Jason H and his friend Ben spent the night at Bethlehem Steel watching the action and at one point was able to meet Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, and Michael Bay. Also they where one of the few invited to see Bay shoot the final scene at Bethelem Steel.

His report:

It is almost 6AM in the morning for me and I work at 9AM. I just got back from the final day at the movie set. This was pretty much the most amazing day of my life. I saw explosions, I saw helicopters again, I saw and met all the actors, and I finally was let into the movie set to watch the last scene in Bethlehem filmed.

When my friend Ben and I arrived at the set 8-ish at night we saw Bethlehem steel fully bright and active. We could immediately tell that Mr. Bay was filming today, even though it called for showers throughout the night. Luckily for us and them, it didn't rain too much.

Randomly, my friend Benand I were standing in front of Bethlehem steel, pretty much filming with his camcorder for fun. We planned to capture the helicopters circling around the steel mill... but randomly at the right moment and time Ben captured a massive explosion effect from start to end.

Throughout the night we saw minor random explosions and various small effects not really worth noting. At around 3-ish in the morning I heard commotion at the actors’ trailers. I ran over to the location to see Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson (pics below) heading to their trailers. I was able to snap a few pictures of them and I also asked if they were finished filming in Bethlehem, and they said yes.

My friend and I didn't feel fully satisfied with the trip. We really wanted to meet Michael Bay. So we waited at one the secured filming barriers hoping he would come up from the set to greet us when he was finally done filming. An hour or so passed by, we witnessed about two more explosions on set. Finally I see a black
SUV drive up near us. I was thinking it was security either preparing to tell us to leave or inform us that Mr. Bay was coming up to say hey.

Well. Two people greeted us and announced that everyone (around 20-30 people) was invited on set to witnessed Mr. Bay film the last scene here in Bethlehem. I am not going to describe what I saw out of respect for this film. I was also unable to have my cell phone nor camera on during my time spent on the set. But I am willing to say it blew my mind away, also I saw how the scene looked through TV monitors while Mr. Bay was too.

Thank you to Ben for the video and a big thank you to Jason for his tireless efforts (literally since up till dawn and going to work a few hours later every night).

Day 3 Cast Info and New Transformers Vehicles

A source for Seibertron.com, "Chaingun" says he spoke with a guy on set and learned some information about what is being shot for Day 3 and 4 at Bethlehem Steel. He also reviewed the possible new vehicles for the Transformers in the film.

The main points:
- Wednesday, June 4th, Megan Fox is supposed to be on site for a stair chase sequence with Tyrese near a blast furnace.
- Shia Labeouf should be on site Thursday for scenes. (However, Wednesday night is scheduled as the last day)
- "A good chunk of the movie is taking place here." Not sure if "here" means Bethlehem or Pennsylvania but either way a 4 day shoot isn't enough to do more then one major action sequence.
- New vehicles seen were an Acura NSX, a grey and black Audi RS6.
- Also an old ice cream truck is actually two twin Autobots. (img source)

This might explain the various rumors that the entire core cast was supposed to be at Bethelem Steel. Some of the information may not be true but really you simply never know thanks to all the secrecy around the film.

Bethlehem Shoot Day 2 Pics and Video

Seibertron.com has scored a daily diary, images, and video of the shoot that occured Tuesday night from "Chaingun". An example video below shows a gun fight being shot in the distance but there is also images of a fireball going off, helicopters up in the air and more.

The gallery of images and videos can be found here.
The daily diary of the shoot is here.


In addition to the above, you can find another daytime day 2 gallery of images that show multiple "soldiers" walking around and prepping for the day here.

Also a YouYube video here that pretty much summarizes the day 1 sites.

Final note, thanks to "Sora" over at Shoot for the Edit forums, some of the signs have been translated. For the road and wall signs, the large five character sign says "Imperial Gateway", the 4 character sign says "Truck Entrance", and the three character sign says "Loading Area". For the police cars and helicopters, those say "Police" and "Public Safety Bureau."

Bethlehem Daily Star Photos and Ariel Shots

The Bethlehem Daily Star Blog has posted several ariel shots (one to left is an example pic) of the Bethlehem Steel while it is being used for Transformers 2 shoot. The photos where shot by Harry Fisher and give you a better idea how the site might look from the air and just the general layout of the place. The Apache helicopters being used in the filming are from the North Carolina National Guard and the Blackhawk's come from the Virginia National Guard. The photos can be found here.

Also the Daily Star reports that despite the rain last night, there was some explosions around 3AM and 4AM that "sent plumes of smoke into the air followed by short bursts of automatic weapon fire."

Jason reports that it appears that rain is on the horizon tonight so not sure what impact that will have on the schedule and that famed Bay love of boom.

Finally the Star has a few shots (and stories) of the spectators and copters in flight here and here.

Bethlehem Day 2 Rainy and Muted

Jason H has provided another set report from Bethlehem Steel. He reports that it has been raining for most of the day and night so they where unable to shoot the planned explosions for the film and probably effected helicopter flights. The NEST Hummers where seen driving around and some filming occurred at the site (things where lit up and movement all around) but Bethlehem residents probably had a good nights sleep with little noise.

More Bethlehem Set Images and Information

It has been a busy day with galleries of the first day and night of shooting of Transformers showing up all over the web (and here of course). In addition it appears that two new cast members are coming on board soon, with Aaron Hill and Matthew Marsden.

As far as additional information, according to a report from the local news station WFMX-TV (video here), the Bethlehem shoot represents the opening of the movie. This info was revealed in an interview with Ian Bryce and Lorenzo di Bonaventura. Sounds like the movie will open with a bang.

From the Bethlehem Daily Star Blog comes the above pic of Bay on set and verification that Josh Duhamel is on site but considering the military nature of the scene and lack of sightings of other stars I am thinking they are the only two core cast likely to show up.

As for vehicles, reports have said the three wheeled bikes are being ridden by soldiers so probably not Transformers (or Arcee) Also there are 2 Apache and two Blackhawks being used.

Final note - the explosions are expected to begin today.

Now on to galleries. Below are more pictures taken at the site, the ones with "WireImage" watermark where found on the gettyimages.com (I like the first two day vs night images). Thanks to Roxygr for telling me how. Also further below are four pics from George K that show copters chasing each other for a scene. Thank you for the pics.




In addition to the above, you can find a gallery of pics that show the helicoptors and more flying around here and here via Allspark.com. Finally AICN has their own pics here.

Night Production Pictures at Bethlehem

Jason H. has provided a few more pictures and video of Bethlehem for the first night of Transformers II production. For the shoot all the Chinese signs where lit and below are a few shots of that. He also provided the video below recorded with his camera that shows a helicoptor (and had seen both the Chinese coptors and Blackhawks in the air overhead) giving off large amount of dark green smoke. Possible faux damage from an attack for a scene?

He stayed in the area until 4AM, saying that the streets around Bethlehem Steel is closed so can "freely walk around like was Disney World." He even walked over the cast and crew trailers and saw Michael Bay. Also he is reporting that Josh Duhamel was on the set. Sadly most of the filmmaking is occurring deep within the factory so it’s not possible to pictures of the shooting in action.

Be sure to check out Jason's daytime and Tyrese pictures.

Bethlehem Steel, Copter "Damage"



Once again thanks to Jason H. for the images. The video above is my first time using the blogger video system but hopefully it will work for everyone.

Bethlehem Steel At Night; NEST Vehicle

From the Superherohype forums comes the below pictures that show Bethlehem Steel lit up for the shoot of Transformers 2 going on the next three days. Also there is a new military vehicle (Decepticon?) that has the phrase NEST stenciled on its side and a cannon on top. A quick Google search suggests that NEST stands for Nuclear Emergency Search Team but that is just a random guess on my part. Further below is also the various helicopters (seen on ground here) in flight from CinemaBlend.

Update: The 4 beautiful night shot pictures of Bethlehem Steel come courtesy of Christine (here) and can find more photos of the Bethlehem area (non TF related) here and here. Thank your for the use of your pictures.