Update: Below are some additional pictures from the Princeton set as Shia and company prep for various scenes. Based on the books Shia is holding, I assume those where taken before another PhillyFilmGirl video, similiar shots also here. Thanks to Mauricio for providing the pictures and the photoshopped Megatron on the right as he towers over the Bethlehem set extras.
The Prox Blog has posted a picture from the final day of filming that shows Megan Fox getting kissed by Shia as they film a scene for Transformers 2. The red bike is the same one this blog reported about, an Aprilia RS125 or RS50. Considering she was at one point filmed arriving on campus in a taxi, it’s curious to know how she ended up having a motorcycle. Thanks to Ann for the links.
After about an hour of watching the crew unload equipment, Shia LaBeouf came on set around 8 a.m. to film what appeared to be a "move-in" day scene right next to the Princeton University Chapel. After several takes, the crew moved out onto the street to shoot a few stunt scenes on Washington Street. Most of the cars looked brand new (there was no futuristic Chevy Camaro in sight, which was a bummer) but after a few takes, one of the cars had bullet holes and a smashed windshield, which led me to believe they were filming a chase scene. Shia's stunt double nearly got hit several times by another car, and the crew shot the scene from different angles up and down Washington as if all of the shots were going to be pieced together later. And even though the stunt drivers went really fast, you could tell that they speed it up even more in the editing process.
After the first stunt was over, we saw our first sighting of Megan Fox. They were getting a shot of her driving from inside the car but she lost control and slammed it into a curb. Don’t worry, she’s perfectly fine. She got out of the car smiling and laughing and walked it off. Shia, on the other hand, hadn’t stopped chain smoking since the end of the first scene and every time they broke from filming he seemed to have a really bad attitude.
When the stunts got wilder the crowd was forced into nearby buildings where we got to watch from the second story. As we were leaving we were hoping we would be able to see Megan Fox again through a window or something, but we were even luckier, -- when we got to the end of the hall, Megan was chilling at a snack table.
Shia had turned us down when we asked for a picture earlier, but after seeing Megan take a picture with another fortunate group of guys, we walked up to her. Her people immediately shot down the request, but she very graciously and kindly agreed to take one more. We took a picture with her and proceeded to ask her a few questions about the movie. Shia was also there but added nothing to the conversation.
The crew is going to be shooting for another two days in Princeton. All in all, a really, really cool experience.
--Cameron Busacca, 19 years old
As reported, all of today (and even right now @ 7:30) was shot in a corner lecture hall/classroom in McCosh & Dickinson Halls. Rainn Wilson aka Dwight K. Schrute was 100% on campus and in the scene as the professor. At one point he was wearing a formal outfit with a sash around his neck but he came out a half an hour later with a pair of leather pants and button down shirt (pictures below). No sign of Megan Fox (sigh) at all today.
Didn't feel like sticking around but all the trucks were definitely packing up to go and some were already gone. I did ask a lady who was on set where they would be going next - she said they are taking a "short break" and then production will head to the west coast.
I found a map of shooting locations etc. on the ground which was interesting - I'm sure not too many people knew about the base camp on the bottom of the map or the second street location located all the way to the left of the map.
You haven't signed up for anything else for your next hiatus, have you?Thanks to JD for the pictures and report.
No. I mean, this hiatus, there really was nothing shooting, because there's this potential SAG strike happening. So there are not really any movies happening right now. But I have The Rocker to promote and I'm doing a couple days on The Transformers II.
Oh, really? As whom?
As a robot. No. As a professor. But maybe he's a robot. Maybe I'll just pretend he's a robot, or I'll play him as a robot.
Have you ever worked with Michael Bay before?
I have not worked with Michael Bay before. And I think that is a hilarious, hysterical match-up. Is Rainn Wilson and Michael Bay.
I just got back from the set so I thought I'd shoot you a quick e-mail. There wasn't really too much to report. My girlfriend was an extra and she confirmed that the bulk of what was shot in the morning/afternoon were some lecture hall scenes. I can confirm that I saw Rainn Wilson and it appeared as though Shia was the only principle actor on the set. I'm sorry I couldn't get any good pictures, but everything was indoors. It was almost 90 degrees out and Michael Bay still wears the button-down shirts. Today is the last day of filming in Princeton.Rainn Wilson has finally popped up on set and probably playing the Astronomy 101 professor for a class Sam is taking at unknown Ivy League school. Princeton isn't playing Princeton but some other school, according to Bay. Below are three videos that Russell found.
-Ben
"I thought the school was going to freak out and did a little" before accepting the crash shots, Bay said yesterday during a brief interview.Not much is revealed but now know how Mikeala and Sam hook up before the latest Transformers adventure kicks off. Interesting ivy league Princeton is not actually going to be Princeton in the film. Thanks to Jeany for the link.
In one scene shot inside one of Princeton's large lecture halls, LaBeouf's character attends an Astronomy 101 class, Bay said.
In another shot at Princeton's Dillon Gymnasium, he and co-star Megan Fox are among dozens of students fleeing the building into a courtyard and parking lot ahead of some yet-to-be-revealed menace.
And while filming here is officially a closed set, hundreds of onlookers for the last two days lined the perimeter of some of the scenes -- though they were periodically instructed to keep quiet and take no pictures.
For a time yesterday afternoon, the area outside Dillon Gymnasium was the place to be for a glimpse of the celebrities and a chance to see the cameras rolling.
The university angle to the plot "is all about Sam growing up and going to college ... a teenager growing into a man," Bay said.
As the battle continues in the second film, LaBeouf and Fox reprise their roles. Although both characters have grown from high school- to college-age since the first "Transformers" installment, only LaBeouf's Witwicky is off to college because Fox's Banes can't afford school, Bay said.
With Witwicky enrolled at a fictional East Coast school with an Ivy League feel, Banes comes from Los Angeles as a visitor to her friend's new campus, Bay said.
In another post, a robot that looks a lot like Frenzy is seen chasing after a Saturn Astra, with Sam and co. inside, on the streets of Princeton. In many descriptions and pictures you can see a hole in the windshield. As the picture (from TFW2005) and the video (from PhillyFilmGirl) shows, now we know why that hole is there. Is that the return of Frenzy? A different Frenzy-like Decepticon? If so who? Possible Soundwave minion? The options are many. Feel free to debate and discuss in the comments.
In a report from Ben:I just got back from the Princeton set and I thought I'd fill you in on what I saw there. The scene I saw had Shia, Megan (who was driving), Ramon, and I think Isabel in the silver Saturn [Astra] as something that appeared to be Frenzy attacking them. Also, I've included a picture. You may notice a certain Beetlejuice from the Howard Stern Show on the set. I don't know what that means...I don't know what it means either. Lester "Beetlejuice" Green (on the steps in the background) is a frequent Howard Stern Show guest and Wack Pack member with a small film career that includes voice work. Does he have a role in Transformers 2? Doing a voice? Maybe he was just visiting the set? Many questions, no answers.
-Ben
Mark has provided another set report for filming at Princeton University's Holder Hall. Sadly it appears that Sam's Transformer problem has followed him to school and chaos ensures. Thanks for the report.The TF2 crew was shooting at Holder Hall this morning until about 1:30. The scene they were shooting today ended with Shia, Megan, and Ramon running out of the building into the courtyard, which they shot several times. Once, they ran out into the courtyard, hooked each others’ arms at the elbow, and did a little dance (clearly trying to alleviate some of the boredom of doing the exact same thing over and over). Isabel Lucas was visible at one point, but I couldn’t tell if she was involved in the shot.
Once the principals were done, the crew shot a group of about 20-30 student extras running into and out of the dorm’s western entryway (the same one that Shia, Megan, and Ramon had run out of). It was pretty funny to watch the extras run, because they were being funneled in and out of the doorway in a big circle, so the kids that had just run out of the building would circle around and run back in until the shot was over. In both cases the crew used a smoke machine in the dorm’s southwest hallway, which was visible from one of the windows.
While the extras were being shot, Shia and Ramon threw a football around in the building’s courtyard for a while. The security guards and local policemen who were guarding the main archways of the building (where the rest of the gawkers and I were standing) were very strict about pictures today. They waved off anyone who even took a cell phone out of his or her pocket. Around 1:30 the crew broke for lunch and relocated to Whig Hall, where catering had been set up.
Michael Bay walked into the building with Isabel, then came back out and sat on the building’s front steps drinking a Diet Coke and talking to one of the crew. A few minutes later Isabel came back outside with some food and Michael joined her and one other crewmember for lunch on the steps. Not long after that security started dispersing the small crowd that had gathered on the lawn opposite the front of the building.
-Mark
Update: Russell has found additional pictures (like above) on Just Jared that show Megan Fox and Shia Labeouf on campus. Of note is the picture of Shia that shows a tattoo or some marking on his lower arm. Part of the character or just a personal choice?
I work in Princeton and just watched the TF2 crew crash a silver Saturn Astra into the installed lamppost on the corner of Washington Road and William Street around 2 p.m. today. Before the crash itself they ran a few "test crashes," where the stunt driver screeched to a halt a foot or two before hitting the post, with the camera (on a boom) following the action from above. The actual crash knocked the ground-level cover off the post and ripped off the car's front bumper. After the crash the driver backed up slightly, then drove forward again for a few feet with the bumper under the front wheels, then stopped, opened the driver's side door, and fell to the ground. After the shot was over, the driver put the bumper in the car's backseat and drove the car down Washington Road (headed south), and as it passed me I could see that the front windshield had a hole the size of a baseball in it (with the appropriate spider webbing pattern in the surrounding glass). I'm not sure if that was there before the crash or not (I was about two blocks away from the crash itself). According to one of the PA's the next shot won't happen until tonight, though she didn't say where.
