Duhamel, Bay Talk TF5 With USA Today

In video interviews with USA Today Josh Duhamel talks about how he learned part of what is involved in making the Bayhem explosions while Michael Bay and Mark Wahlberg discussed working with Anthony Hopkins. The site does not allow videos to be embedded click the links: Josh Duhamel | Bay/Wahlberg.

Brief Josh Duhamel Toy Fair Interview

The lack of any meaningful Transformers: The Dark Knight movie news continues. In the meantime here is a brief interview with Josh Duhamel as he sells the movie while at the New York Toy Fair a few weeks ago. Per usual, no story details are revealed. Thanks to Feris O. for the link.

Josh Duhamel Talks To ET In London

Below is a new interview with Josh Duhamel where the actor was filming Transformers: The Last Knight. There seems to be a mix of mostly behind the scenes footage from Arizona filming (I think), but hard to tell what may or may not be London footage. Sadly nothing was revealed about the film itself was revealed. Thanks to Feris O. for the link.

Laura Haddock, Barricade and Odd Costume on TF5 Set

Tuesday seemed to bring some new additions to the Detroit set for Transformers: The Last Knight. Michael Bay posted an image of the lovely Laura Haddock, perhaps in her character costume. The official TF5 Instagram account posted to short vids (below).

The first is a look at the new Barricade vehicle with a shiny pretty shade of blue that I want on my car. The second gif is interesting due to the costumes that Josh Duhamel and Santiago Cabrera are wearing. I have no clue what to make of them other then they just seem really odd. I almost thought of them as motion capture outfits but the huge volume of weapons and lack of tracking markers makes them something else, just no idea what.

Josh Duhamel Talks Joining Transformers 5

In two new interviews, Transformers: The Last Knight actor Josh Duhamel comments on joining the cast. With the AP (video below thanks to Feris O.) he comments on how his experience on a Michael Bay set makes a difference. Over at the Observer.com the actor has signed on as spokesperson for GMC's Building for America's Bravest armed services charity.

Mr. Duhamel was stationed to film his scenes 70 miles outside of Los Angeles in El Mirage, California. “I had never been there and it’s a trip,” he said of the far flung locale. “It’s this giant, flat lakebed with 40 MPH winds that didn’t stop all day, but Michael [Bay]’s set is unlike any other set. He has all of the gadgets and the coolest stuff, and the energy of that set is just really – well, it’s a spectacle, and it’s really changed my career. It’s helped me to pursue other little creative things. I love the big Transformer movies, but I also love these passion projects.”

Josh Duhamel Joins Transformers: The Last Knight; Tyrese Too?

Lieutenant Colonel Lennox returns for Transformers: The Last Knight as the TF Facebook account and Michael Bay welcomed Josh Duhamel to the movie. Meanwhile on Bay's Instagram account he teased the possible return of Tyrese Gibson. The pair were last seen in Dark of the Moon and were not in Age of Extinction. Last below is the teaser vid that was used to reveal the official name of the movie in case didn't see it yesterday.

Josh Duhamel Not In Transformers 4

Josh Duhamel has made it official. He will not be in Transformers 4, not even in a cameo role. He tweeted the news today: ""@mrtekmn: @joshduhamel Hey Josh! do you making a new #Transformers movie?" Nope. I'm not in the next one." The actor, along with Tyrese Gibson, were willing to return to the franchise it seems the story did not need them. While set pictures indicate the movie does have soldiers in it, so far there is nothing to prove that NEST has a part in the movie. (via TFormers)

Josh Duhamel Returning for Transformers 4?

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Josh Duhamel suggested that Michael Bay is considering having him reprise his role of Captain Lennox for Transformers 4. TF4 takes place 4 years after the end of Transformers: Dark of the Moon and the character didn't die in the film so no reason can't be recalled to service depending on the story needs. Besides Bay loves to work with the US military for his films, so there is likely going to be a strong military aspect to TF4 similar to the previous films so finding a spot for Lennox, either in a major role or just a fun cameo, would probably be very easy to do.

The happy news earned a congratulatory call from Michael Bay, who directed Duhamel in the first three Transformers films, and is currently readying a fourth. And while the franchise is looking to reboot -- "They're going younger," the 40-year-old actor says -- that doesn't rule out a cameo.

"[Michael] said he wants to put me in it someplace. I don’t know if he was just saying that because he had me on the phone and he felt obligated or what, but you know what? I got to do three of those. It changed my career, it changed my life getting to be a part of something that big, so I’m grateful for even doing the first three of them," Duhamel said.

Josh Duhamel Out of Transformers 4

Despite the fact that Transformers 4 just re-hired its director, no writer has been writer, no script exists and Michael Bay is off prepping Pain & Gain, it has not stopped Josh Duhamel from speculating on the casts' lack of future in the franchise to E! Online.

"I don't think anybody's doing it," Josh Duhamel told us last night at the launch party for Sony PlayStation's new PS Vita portable entertainment system. "I know Shia [LaBoeuf]'s not doing it. I don't think Tyrese or Rosie [Huntington-Whiteley] or anybody else is doing it."

"Whenever these movies make that much money they're going to make as many as they can," he said. "[But] I haven't heard anything about it. They haven't called me."

Of course they have not called him. Casting for the movie is probably more than a year away. I doubt filming of any kind will even start until mid-Summer 2013. I am not saying he is wrong but to me it’s just way too early to give any thought to casting or for previous cast members to have any expectations one way or the other. Until at least a rough draft script exists (so pre-production can begin), my advice to previous cast members hoping to return is to express nothing but interest in returning just in case.

Transformers Linkfest - Micro Change

Another year, another linkfest. This one covers a fairly wide range of Transformers news. To start, a walk down memory lane with a look at some of the very first Transformer toys including a line of gun robots. Also news on the return of TF cartoons, more 3rd party toy galleries and a tease of a new Transformers comic. Also there are videos of Kre-O stop motion, Oscar trailer with Transformers cast members and 5 toy reviews of a 3rd party add-on, 4 G1 inspired 3rd party toys and TF Prime toy.

Micro Change Gun Robots and Micro Change Italy
It turns out that Megatron was not the only Transformer to have a gun alt mode back in the G1 era. Takara actually had an entire line of Diaclone (TFs) based on real guns. The link above gives you a little background with a whole lot of images of the various Gun Robos that were produced. Sadly various toy laws make it difficult to re-create this line as I am such a sucker for TFs that are based on actual real world objects. The other link is a kind of part 2 as it expands to other "Micro Change" (aka TFs) that was released in Italy around the same time, most of which should be very familiar to fans.

Transformers: Prime Season 2 Starts February 18th
The Hub has revealed that Transformers: Prime and Transformers: Rescue Bots return on February 18th. Rescue Bots will air at Noon EST while Prime is at 8:30pm EST. No idea how many consecutive new episodes will follow.

Transformers 3 Cable Swing Comparisons

Last August, Transformers: Dark of the Moon was filming at a Chicago parking deck and Wabash Avenue that thanks to the Iridescent trailer (among others) we know was where they filmed the confrontation between Starscream and Sam. At the time the images shows Shia LaBeouf and Josh Duhamel (along with stunt doubles) flyng around on wires along with Sam wearing a "power glove" of sorts, which Jeff of Pixel Rally managed to capture. From that trailer and the pictures he has now created another gallery of images that compare what he saw last year with what is now on camera. Some of the comparisons have been tweaked to help with the imagery.

The left and two images below is a mix of his photos from then mixed with the trailer images. The fourth images is a track-move diagram. Jeff wrote, "Michael Bay set up a stereoscopic 3D camera that moves along a rail, and goes underneath two flipped cars... It was used to follow soldiers running, as it tracked along with them, and ended up at a 3rd overturned vehicle, where it filmed close-up on Shia LaBeouf and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (who were hiding inside the flipped truck)." The last image is the spot Jeff took many of his pictures from and it is possible that during the scene when Bumblebee "catches" Shia and Josh, a speck of his head can be seen in the background. If you want Jeff's gallery of images from the parking deck filming and more, click here.

Stills from Dark of the Moon & Chicago Comparisons (Updated 2)

Yahoo! Movies has posted 8 new stills from Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Most focus on the human characters but not all. Sadly the image sizes are not that big but still some cool shots. Thanks to Brendon for the link.

Speaking of still images, Jeff of Pixel Rally has posted more images from the Chicago set from when a lot of those stills were filmed. He also put together a comparison shots from the trailers & TV spots with what his camera captured last year. One of his observations is the building that gets squashed by the 100% CGI glass building (it was "built" on the neighboring empty lot) was changed between trailers, "they've made it look like there's a patio table instead of a person, and changed the styling of the building itself." He also has an image of Shia attacking a blue head while in Chicago which thanks to the TV spots we now know is Starscream so Jeff did a little Photoshop to the image to make the case. The comparison images are below, the full larger sized gallery can be found here.

Update Two need comparison images added by Jeff. One shows the "Power Glove" which actually appears to be a safety contraption as he swings around so can be "caught" by Bumblebee. The other gives you an idea of how cardboard face can be come more with Michael Bay and ILM doing their magic.

Update 2: Jeff, who was on site at the time it was filmed, argues that the glove is not a safety device, but "I think it shoots some grappling hook that Sam uses to climb up on the Decepticon, rides on it's head as he attacks it, and falls off, at which point Bumblebee catches him. There's other shots where the Josh Duhamel stunt double is trying to cut Sam free from the cable, and maybe he succeeds, so that's when they fall and Bumblebee skids in, Transforms, runs up the wall and saves them." He then provided a college to show the sequence of events (last pic below).

Duhamel Pumps Up the Troops in 2nd DOTM Clip

A new clip is out via a tweet from the official Transformers: Dark of the Moon twitter account that focuses on Josh Duhamel's Lennox as he prepares his troops for their parachute jump on Decepticon invaded Chicago. Thanks to Ryan and Richard for the heads-up.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon ET Report

Entertainment Tonight has posted their article of video of the behind the scenes report from the Chicago set of Transformers 3. The video includes set footage, explosions and the sales pitch of the movie from Michael Bay, Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Tyrese Gibson, and Josh Duhamel. Pretty much no spoilers are revealed but the title does drop a "the" with official title being "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" which oddly enough does make a difference. If want to get a little meta, thanks to Colin Hinkle for the picture of behind the scenes of ET filming behind the scenes of TF:DOTM with Samantha Harris in the yellow dress. Also thanks to Teddy83 for the link.

"I think what we were lacking in the second movie was heart," says Shia about the last installment of the blockbuster franchise, 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.' "But, I think with the addition of Rosie and new characters … you still have the magic of the first film, but you have depth in the ending of the third."

"Sam's coming out of heartbreak," explains Shia about the film's emotional center. "He's looking for a rock. He's looking for stability. He's looking for a person who doesn't love him because of his involvement in the wars, or because of his involvement with the robots. … And, so he's looking to define himself and find a person who understands the definition and loves him for him, and he finds it in Rosie."

"The story, I think, is really rich," says Michael. "This is kind of a good old fashioned, kinda espionage 'Transformers' movie." He adds, "I just told Mayor Daley that I'm sorry about messing up his city."

Road Home, DC Video and TF Trailer Call-back

Even though current, but limited knowledge, indicates that Transformers: The Dark of the Moon is no longer filming in the states, the image taken by Denise T. shows Ironhide and Ratchet as they were transported on Monday around noon through Phoenix, Arizona in Eastbound lane. More than likely the destination is wherever the TFs are stored when no longer being used for filming or promotional use but maybe more is being done in LA.

Speaking of production, below is another video from Washington, DC filming. This one is shows more of the filming at Lincoln Memorial and what else Shia and Josh were up to after they ran across the lawn and what the flashing lights might have been for. The last video is the teaser trailer for the upcoming movie Skyline. Mostly posting it because found it amusing the use of the Transformers 1 trailer music queues and font designs complete with glowing light in the background. Thanks to Mauricio and and Jakenbocker for the links.

TF3 DC: Even More Videos, Images

To my knowledge, production in Washington, DC has come to an end. It is also possible the United States side of filming has also completed. This doesn't mean that more images and videos from DC are still not popping up online. Thanks to Topherlyon who posted a nice gallery of images from filming, including confirming it was Julie White, Kevin Dunn, Shia LaBeouf, and Rosie Huntington-Whitely filming at Constitution Hall on last Sunday. The full set can be found on Flickr.

He and his brother also posted two videos (below) that they edited together of the first two days of filming in the area. The 1st video is filming at Constitution Hall, the second is a look at some of the pre-prep before the Bayhem along Pennsylvania Avenue. Overall they report seeing 4 fire fights and 1 explosion with multiple takes.

Below is also a link to a 20 minute video on Facebook (no embedding available). It shows some of the Lincoln Memorial filming including a close-up of Michael Bay, Josh Duhamel, Shia and others doing their various tasks including filming a scene of them running together towards flashing lights (probably representing a distant fire fight) along with Shia finding various ways to kill time between takes. Part of it is various amusing ways to get himself going to make it seem he has been running for a while. Speaking of, for additional amusement Shia also got busted throwing coffee on paparazzi while in DC. Thanks Adam for Facebook link and rumah for coffee video link.

Videos: DC Facebook | Throwing Coffee

Duhamel About Rosie Casting

Shia LaBeouf and Josh Duhamel recently spoke with MTV while promoting their respective movies of Wall Street 2 and Life As We Know It. In both cases they had nothing but glowing comments about Rosie Huntington-Whitely who replaced Megan Fox on Transformers 3 and some of the Chicago footage they have seen. Thanks to Katie for the links.

"I think there's positives and negatives to her not being [in the movie]," said LaBeouf, who was at the Toronto Film Festival to promote "Wall Street 2." "It's awesome that we get the discovery again. I think when everybody's vetted and everybody's been through these wars, then that discovery of the first film is nonexistent. It's kind of beautiful in that we get a new set of eyes, a fresh set of eyes for the audience to vibe with. So you get the discovery again, which is something that wouldn't happen if Megan came back."

LaBeouf said she's "doing great," though there's little he could do to prepare her for the experience of working with famously fiery director Michael Bay.

"You can only do so much," he laughed. "Fight or flight. A tap on the back and a 'Good luck!'"

"I've seen about 10 minutes of it — just the stuff we shot in Chicago — and it's pretty awesome," [Josh] revealed to MTV News.

TF3 Detroit: Final Day Report

Closing time for Transformers 3 in Detroit as production finished its final scenes in the city today. The clean-up has begun as the caravan is moving to Florida and the Space Center area for a week of filming from September 29th to October 5th. In the mean time J1000 has provided his final set report with gallery that includes meeting Josh Duhamel, news the set jet prop might be a Decepticon (more fuel for the Shockwave theory) and a continued reminder that the Transformers 3 crew continues to treat fans with nothing but respect and kindness that is appreciated. A huge thanks to J1000 for the last few weeks of images and video for bringing the Detroit shoot to the rest of us.

Well, the smoke is settling in Detroit. Filming wrapped here this morning, with some final scenes shot around the various sets. They are breaking down the sets, and going into clean-up mode, and getting ready to head to Florida tomorrow. I met a really cool girl that works with the locations department over the weekend, who invited us down to check out one of the sets. Just before we ran into here, we got to get some pics of/with some NEST soldiers, then with Josh Duhamel himself! A few minutes later, a crew member saw us and gave my son an ILM/TF3 Crew hat, and another gave him a yellow TF3 sticker like the ones they handed out in Chicago. When we met up with the girl I mentioned, she took us back on the set where the jet was filmed against the skyscraper section and bluescreen, and described some of what we would see in the movie regarding it. She said it would take place 18 floors up, when Sam would jump onto the ship, and the bluescreen would be replaced with Chicago skyline. Another crew member said "Did you guys see the Decepticon ship?".. soooo sounds like it may be Decepticon after all (unless he was mistaken). She described what a lot of the props were for, and pointed out a lot of prominent members of the production that were nearby, such as Simon (Assistant Director), the director of 3D recording, the lead sound editor, etc. Just before we left, Shia walked by about 10 feet away in costume; they were getting ready to wrap up, so we left at that point, with a bunch of awesome memories, pics, videos, and souvenirs. Everybody we met involved with the movie was extremely friendly, very cool, and very gracious with their time, and I thank them all for that! Well, that's it from Detroit everybody; can't wait to see what Florida brings!

J1000

TF3 Chicago: Sam Goes Flying

Transformers 3 production is winding down in the Chicago but that doesn't mean the hard work is over. Wednesday at the Lake and Wabash Parking Lot involved a busy day for Shia LaBeouf's stunt double who was flung all over the set by his arm. My best guess is maybe captured by a Decepticon or something to do with the power glove but really I can't figure it out. They also filmed a brief firefight involving Josh Duhamel and NEST as things went boom. It should be interesting to see what the flinging around becomes once the editors and ILM have a go with the footage.

The pic to the left and first four pictures below are thanks to Colin Hinkle. The next five are a small sampling of pictures from Jeff at Pixel Rally's huge 326 photos that he has posted on flickr. Along with the photos, Jeff also posted 10 videos that show off the various stunt work that was filmed. Hit the links below for both.

Update: Jeff created a third gallery, not new images but if you don't have time or inclination to flip through 300+ pictures, then hit the "Selects" link for 52 pics that give you the highlights from the larger gallery.

Pixel Rally Gallery | Pixel Rally Videos | Pixel Rally Selects

TF3 Chicago: Bus, Cars Experience Some Bayhem

Transformers 3 production continues at the Wabash and Lake Parking Lot. The current Bayhem includes a bus getting flopped over from an explosion and a few cars tumbling off the top desk. To the left is another picture from Jeff at Pixel Rally of Sam's power glove with Bay assisted broom power to clean up after the Decepticons. As for the bus and top deck cars, thanks to Colin Hinkle we have a great look at the action including confirmation that Josh Duhamel's character shows up to help Shia and Rosie in some form or fashion.

Also below are two videos, both from Tuesday but not 100% sure. The first one shows the Bus flip that Jeff's friend Bill W. recorded and below that is a video found by Mauricio of the cars going off the top deck. If those pics are not enough, Chiphoto has a sky high view of the carnage on the set that is worth checking out. Thanks to John for the link. No idea if today was the last day at the site or not.