Motor City Bumblebee "Interview"

StylinOnline.com has posted an "interview" (via TFW2005) with the Bumblebee Camaro while at the Motor City Comicon. The voice is provided by Mark Ryan who voices the character for the movies and related video games. It’s an amusing tongue in cheek interview with a Transformer but sadly no info about Transformers 3. Bumblebee's choice in favorite websites could use a little improvement, but I am biased. Thanks to Christopher for the link.

Shia Hated Revenge of the Fallen

In an interview in the new issue of FHM Magazine, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen admitted he was "confused" by the movie and "hated it." I just didn't enjoy it."

He said: "There are a lot of people that liked the second one, but I hated it. I just didn't enjoy it. "I thought we missed the mark. I got confused, I couldn't see what the f**k was going on, you know with certain robots... I couldn't decipher what was happening. There were storyline paths that I just wouldn't have gone down."

He added to FHM magazine: "I know that directors Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg are dedicated to making the best movie we possibly can, and we're not going to miss next time."

He said: "We were making our second movie in the middle of the writers' strike. We had no script. We had to work with nothing. We literally had like 40 pages. And everything was sort of made on the fly. But I think this time we will be more concise, and in a definite direction where we want to take it."

I really like the blunt and honest way Shia and Megan express their opinions. They don't sugar coat it. I really can't disagree with his blunt analysis. While I enjoyed many of the action beats, the film suffered in writing, plot and humor that can be attributed to the rushed writing process due to the writers’ strike. Normally a script gets multiple drafts with plenty of time to polish it but Revenge simply didn't have that kind of time. Transformers 3 will hopefully benefit from the nearly year long time frame in creating a solid script.

ROTF Home Video Roundtable

Last week Paramount Home Video held a press conference with Q&A to promote their upcoming slate of home video releases including Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. As a result Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman were on hand to field some questions. Also some members of the voice cast participated including Kevin Michael Richardson (Rampage/Prime #2), Jess Harnell (Ironhide), Mark Ryan (Bumblebee/Jetfire) and more. Below are snippets from the writers with the full transcript and voice actor write-up here.

Question: What was your approach to the special features, on Star Trek and Transformers.
Orci: We tend to sit down and talk very loosely about the experience of making the movie, and the differences are in the way that the movies were made, but not necessarily in the approach to the DVD extras. What’s really cool about the DVD extras is that in both cases they documented the things that we were all doing together from the minute that production starts until the day of release.

Kurtzman: We try to be very open as possible (on the commentaries) and avoid comments like “I remember that day” We grew up having nothing like this at all. For example, there was one screenwriting book when we were growing up. Only one. Now there are dvds, you can go online you can see everything. There is so much out there, I think we feel like “how cool is it for people to actually have the thing that we didn’t have. So we try to give as much to the dvd extras as we can.

Question: Do you find it easier to write dialog for sequels considering you have returning actors such as Shia and Megan Fox, and you already have experience writing for them?
Kurtzman: As in knowing their voices? It’s a huge help, it’s a great thing to have. Like we said, Shia is an incredibly fun actor to work with and he can do dialog at any pace. Not every actor can do that. He really can run through things. Shia has a really good, I’ll call it a cheese alarm. If he thinks something is cheesy or inauthentic, he won’t want to do it. So when we are writing we rely on kind of knowing where his instincts tend to go in terms of scene work and what he likes to do. I think for him he can not act a scene unless he feels the truth somehow. It has to be truthful. Even if it’s a scene about giant robots, there has to be some truth to it. And if there isn’t, then he can’t do it – so that’s very helpful in knowing what to look for in any given scene.

I think Megan was really interesting in the first movie because she was very surprising. There’s a sweetness to her, and now I think that’s what made their relationship dynamic work really well. And I think for us knowing that it (the sequel) was going to be about whether or not the boyfriend that was going off to school and leaving her behind, and whether or not, that relationship could survive. Thinking about how that relationship was going to play out over the course of the movie, was what we needed. We talked to Bay and Megan a lot. We had a couple meetings where we would all sit in a room and we would all talk about the script, and the scenes and we’d rip stuff out. That’s where the actor’s voices become really great because, you’ve been living in your head for so long, and then you bring it to them and you can start rewriting once they get their hands on it. Like Shia and the parents, those kinds of scenes really benefit from the actor’ input. “see dad, that’s how you’re supposed to treat a child leaving for college”

Question: What was the hardest scene for you guys to cut from the script?
Orci: Actually, with Transformers, since they animate the robots after the fact, you can continue playing with their dialog up until the last minute. Scenes can be created after the fact, scenes that weren’t in the original script at all.

Question: How do the two of you work together? Do you have specific roles?
Kurtzman: Our writing is a dialog; it’s a process of debate back and forth. We sit across the table from each other with our computers and we decide what’s the right line…

Orci: And I think that process ended up in the Star Trek script moreso than any other project we’ve done. I think Alex is Kirk, I’m Spock. For Transformers, Alex is both Sam and Bumblebee.

Kurtzman: We write everything together. We might tinker with our own stuff on the side, but we go over every line together, in a room like an office.

Orci: We started writing together, pre-internet, so we’d be on the phone like this (mimes cradling a phone and awkwardly typing) And that’s how we’ve developed our voice. And that voice became the way we still write.

Question: Why aren’t you working on Transformers 3?
Kurtzman: We have been working on Transformers longer than I was in college.

Orci: I think we have a degree in Transformers now. And I think we’ve given it a lot, but…

Kurtzman: The Franchise is so wonderful it deserves to stay fresh.

Interview with ROTF Designer Hisashi Yuki

Takara-Tomy recently interviewed Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen product designer Hisashi Yuki about his work for the toy line and some of his past work on other Transformers. From the ROTF toy line he designed Sideways, Scapel, and The Fallen toys. Below are excerpts, but click here to read the entire interview that was translated by SydneyY.

What was your first impressions on "the Fallen", who is the key character in the story?
Yuki: When we first heard that the Fallen would appear in the movie, we thought of the American comic character with the same name right away and wondered if he would be in the story, but the robot design we were given was different from what we imagined. His design looked like something from an ancient civilization. I understand while he is a homage only hardcore fans would appreciate, his design is completely original for the movie.

With the Fallen design, which part did you have trouble with, or put the most thoughts into?
Yuki: For the most of the TFs who appeared first in the second movie, we were only given the images of the front and the back views of robot and vehicle modes. We had to develop (the toys) without any knowledge of what roles those characters would play.

As for his robot mode, I tried to re-create the images as closely as possible. When we started (with ROTF toy development), the rise of the crude oil price was at its worst. Also to make the re-creation of the robot mode easier, I was not able to allocate many parts to the vehicle mode. Those were the difficulties I had.

As for the characterization ideas, we hardly had any information as to how he would be featured in the story, which made it very difficult for me to come up with a character-based gimmicks. Among the small amount of information we had was a tidbit that there would be a scene in which the Fallen crushed a primitive man under his foot. That's how I came up with his toe gimmick, and it made me grin when I actually saw the scene in the movie.

When developing his "Mech Alive" mechanism, I thought his could be different from other characters' since his body is made with more exoskeleton. We reached an agreement among the members of the staff, and I designed the protruding clear red parts, which is a homage to the flames the Fallen wears in American comics.

di Bonaventura Talks Transformers 3

In an interview with Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura (who is promoting G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra) he discussed some of the possibilities for Transformers 3 with Rotten Tomatoes including Paramount possibly moving forward without Michael Bay, criticism for the movie and Unicron.

So based on the box office returns, are you guys already talking about Transformers 3?
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: We've started talking about it now. We're debating the right time for it.

Did the harsh critical reception for Transformers 2 surprise you?
LdB: The first one took a pretty big drubbing too -- that's what people forget. There's something about [director] Michael [Bay] that the critics just want to have at him. I think in a funny way it worked for the movie. I think people are fed up with critics. I think in a way it's making people contrarian. I think it was in this case, because a lot of people came up to us and said, "fuck the critics." I don't normally get that - you don't normally get people coming up to you and talking about the reviews - they normally just want to talk about the movie. But that was a point for a lot of those fans. It was fascinating - there's a major disconnect going on between the fans and the audience.

How do you feel about the criticism levelled against Skids and Mudflap being racist stereotypes?
LdB: Everybody has to put their own lens on these things. The intention was certainly not how some people perceived it... I'll put it that way. We didn't think of it that way, and we certainly didn't set out to offend anybody. I've been involved in a lot of movies that people have seen things in them that we didn't intend. I did a movie called Executive Decision a long time ago, and we were picketed by the Arab Americans and American Muslims saying we portrayed Islam incorrectly. And we were sort of like 'Well we don't see a lot of African-Americans or White people or Chinese people taking over airplanes in the sky', but we got into that conversation, and then you start to see their point. But they have a prism that they are looking at it through.

There's been talk of Michael Bay not returning for Transformers 3, so would you be prepared to make one of these movies without him?
LdB: As the producer I'd certainly love to see him back. I can't imagine Transformers without him. I guess the studio will see it sometime as such a big asset that they are forced to do it, but Michael has never intimated anything like that - the timing is the big question for him, not whether he is going to do it or not.

ROTF Writers Talk Racism and The Twins

One of the things I have noticed in recent interviews with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman is a small degree of distancing from the more crass humor in the movie, especially from the Twins and "testicles" on Devastator. The duo spoke with Film School Rejects about The Twins and completed the "don't look at me" transition.

Cole: I heard that the gold tooth was Michael Bay’s idea, but do you have any response to those who found The Twins offensive?
Orci: Number one, we sympathize. Yes, the gold tooth was not in the script, that’s true.
Kurtzman: It’s really hard for us to sit here and try to justify it. I think that would be very foolish, and if someone wants to be offended by it, it’s their right. We were very surprised when we saw it, too, and it’s a choice that was made. If anything, it just shows you that we don’t control every aspect of the movie.

Cole: Were you offended by them?
Kurtzman: I wasn’t thrilled. I certainly wasn’t thrilled.
Orci: Yeah, same reaction. I’m not easily offended, but when I saw it, I thought, ‘Someone’s gonna write about that.’”

From what I have read, pretty much the source of most of the humor that people have groaned about and found offensive came from the mind of third ROTF writer of Ehren Kruger and director Michael Bay. I am sure there is some mix and match from all four but based on the duos previous writing efforts the rumor has validity. I guess depending on your view of the movie's humor, this makes Kruger a new writer to watch or one to avoid. (via TFW2005)

Dark Horizon Interviews Transformers 2 Writers

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman continue their online promotion of the movie in an interview with Dark Horizons as they contrast working on Star Trek with Abrams and Transformers with Bay and their writing carrers. Snippet below, full interview here.

Question: How seriously do you take the good with the bad? I mean, Star Trek received over 90 percent rave reviews, while Transformers, not so much. Do you take it seriously? Do you ignore it? Why do you think this is?Orci: We take it seriously, in as much as a real fact of a media blogosphere dialogue. And as its own phenomenon, that’s a fascinating thing to engage in one way or the other. We tend to separate that from what an audience feels. And we tend to go by the audience. You know, you always want to make sure that you don’t overlook a valid opinion that has something constructive to say, merely because it’s negative.
Kurtzman: Nobody can honestly say that they don’t care about reviews. Like, nobody. But we knew the minute we agreed to do Transformers 2 that these were gonna be the reviews, no matter what we came up with. And that’s just a fact of life that you accept going into it.

Question: Let me ask you this. You’re working with two very, very filmmakers, with Abrams and Bay. And I’m just wondering when you’re working on a Bay film, what the different process is in writing a script, for a director who has very different visual sensibilities to somebody like J.J. Abrams?
Kurtzman: I mean, it’s a very different process. They’re very different directors. They look for very different things.
Orci: But part of that difference comes from the fact that they’re different franchises. They require different things.
Kurtzman: Yeah. That’s right.
Orci: You know, it’s not just that we’re writing for Michael Bay. We’re writing for Transformers. And Michael Bay is perfect for Transformers. And J.J. is perfect for Star Trek, because what Star Trek requires is something else. So, we tend to look at it as, the show is the boss. All of our boss. And we’re servicing that more than anything. You know, in terms of differences in the experience. Obviously, Transformers 2 was unique, in that it went down in the middle of the strike. We were writing the movie three months before it was about to be shot, therefore we were handing Michael pages that night. You know, every night, so they could be prepared. Which was different than Star Trek, where we had six leisurely months to go write two drafts.

Question: Right. And Star Trek is very much a character-based film. I mean, you’re dealing with both iconic characters, but also you’re developing relationships in that particular movie. This one, you’re really creating, I guess, a lot of set pieces for Michael to work with. And I’m just wondering, how frustrating is it for you when you do have such limited time? And does that affect the final product, as screenwriters?
Orci: In terms of “frustrating,” we try to think of it as just an interesting challenge. I mean, putting together a movie of this size, coordinating with Michael and production and the military and Hasbro, is a fascinating thing to do. You know, we try to sort of learn and enjoy, and not be paralyzed by the fear of it. On the other hand, it’s not to say – it’s just a different experience, going off to write a script for six months, you know?

Question: What do you do differently as a writer, when you’re doing something like a Transformers 2, that you don’t have to worry about when you’re doing a Star Trek, or any other initial film?
Orci: Well, one is, we’re making more room for the action. Because we know that Michael is going to want to push that, and get every dollar on the screen. You know, you don’t just go to Egypt for a two-minute sequence. If you’re going to be at the Pyramids of Giza and be one of the first people to be allowed to shoot there, you really want to maximize that. And we know that that’s going to be the case with him. So, of course, there’s a different kind of a pacing.

More Transformers Talk from Writers

SciFi Scanner has posted an interview with Transformers 2 writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci as they talk about writing scripts and fandom. Snippet below, full interview here.

Q: Do you think you would have ended up with a different screenplay were you not writing under the pressure of the strike?
AK: No. We had a fairly long postproduction time. We literally finished writing the movie two weeks ago. We were writing robot dialogue right up to the last minute, until they locked picture and sound and they took the print out of our hands.

Q: Do you write a screenplay differently for a director like Michael Bay than you would for J.J. Abrams?
AK: Absolutely.
BO: It's half that and half you're writing to what the franchise is. We're not writing big because it's Michael Bay; Michael Bay is right for Transformers.
AK: With a director like Michael, who's extremely specific about what he does and does not like to do, our job is to backstop him to a large degree and keep on him about plot and logic and emotion. We very rarely get resistance on that. He has such an innate understanding of what audiences want to see. Where he'll push back is if he thinks logic is somehow overriding the fun for the audience.
BO: You've gotta have a pretty damn good reason to tell him why he's gotta lose one of his awesome sequences.

Q: Are Transformers fans as ravenous as Trekkies?
BO: Transformers fans taught us how to deal with Star Trek fans. And they're both heavy-duty. But Transformers fans taught us how to interact, how to turn the conversation constructive a little bit, and not just have it be, "You suck. Go jump off of a building, please."

Q: So when a fan says the Autobot twins are the Jar Jar Binks of Transformers...
BO: My favorite was someone called them Car Car Binks.
AK: Look, I can tell you that Michael designed those characters to reflect what he thought would be funny for kids. And we go with the ride. Literally.

Q: Did you learn anything from writing Transformers 2 that's been helpful in formulating Trek 2?
AK: They're so different. You're putting on a different hat. And the choices that you make in Transformers with Michael as the director versus Star Trek with J.J. couldn't be more 180 degrees in the opposite direction. So I don't know that for me there's a natural corollary between them.

SectionTV LaBeouf, Fox Interview

Another stray interview found from the Seoul Premiere of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, here is a video of an interview with Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf that was rather amusing as Megan confesses a crush on Rain, a pop star in the region (and also in Speed Racer last year). Shia gets a birthday cake that he apparently enjoyed.

The video has been removed for public viewing.

Above the Line's Bay Interview

Variety's Above the Line blog (found via MB.com) interviews Transformers 2 director Michael Bay about making blockbusters, piracy and working with studios. Snippets below, full interview here.

BFD: How do you spend opening night?
Bay: I always go to Mr. Chow’s for dinner with my producers, studio and marketing execs, my agents and lawyers. We get our first numbers there and then we hit the theaters. You’ve got to go there. And hope you see happy, smiling faces walking out. Last night, I tried to sneak in the side, but somebody noticed me and then they’re lining up for pictures. At the Arclight, somebody yelled “speech!” and I found myself talking to 900 people.

BFD: So you deferred on “Transformers” and the sequel, and the L. A. Times predicts you might make more than any director on a movie. How do you feel about these deals, which are becoming the new economics of Hollywood moviemaking?
Bay: Okay. I run my sets and my pictures tight and we came in $4 million under budget. There is so much waste in this business, directors who have big shows like this one, who keep a second unit for the entire time. We were able to make this for $194 million, instead of the $230-270 million that the average sequel of this nature seems to cost. I work with one of the best crews in the world, we work efficient 12-hour days. We don’t build $3 million sets and then the director walks in and says, “Fuck it, I’m not going to use that set.” The stories I hear from my crew members, of waste on other pictures, of directors shooting a six- or eight-hour day, it’s just staggering. Some directors will look a studio executive in the eye and say, “Sure I’ll come in at this budget,” and then they behave like terrorists. By then, you’re committed and screwed. The thing that “Pearl Harbor” taught me was you’ve got to become a partner with the studio and deferring makes you more invested in that. I think it’s important and I think you need to be honest with your partner.

BFD: Days before the release of your film, Paramount restructured its film group. How did that impact you and what does it mean going forward on the next film?
Bay: It doesn’t affect anything, really. Paramount has literally said, “Here’s your budget, see you later.” It’s staggering, really, but they trust me to come in on budget. I don’t ask for money when I’m shooting and stay on course. I’ve never even given them dailies. I’d assemble real rough cut scenes, sizzle reels, cut to music, so they can enjoy it and get what the movie is.

BFD: Considering your development on this movie was interrupted by the writer’s strike and you risked being shut down any moment by shooting after the expiration of the SAG contract, what was the hardest thing about making “Transformers: The Fallen?”
Bay: That could have been the hardest thing. With an impending strike, we had 12 pages of a treatment. I worked very closely with the writers, great collaborators, who suddenly went on strike. I said, “We’re going to start prepping this movie at full force, scout places I think are going to be in this movie and try and put this together as best we could.” There might be an actor’s strike, but I told the studio we’re going to shoot this on June 2, come hell or high water. We took a gamble that the writers would come back from the strike in time and we just made it. At one point, we were the only movie shooting in the country. But I had to gamble. I have a loyal crew and my job gives 2,000 to 2,500 people jobs. It was scary because so many people were out of work and you hear your crew say, “Wow, I might have to move out of my house.” You feel responsible.

R2-D2 In Transformers 2 and Other Easter Eggs

MTV provides some Easter Eggs thanks to the folks at ILM that can be found by eagle eyed viewers. It turns out that Star Wars' R2-D2 makes an appearance, a Terminator reference and more. In addition, here is a video of Shia talking about cool things in the movie.

The Force Is With Him
"There's an R2-D2 flying around in there somewhere," revealed Scott Farrar, the film's visual-effects supervisor, who also worked on the "Star Wars" episodes "Return of the Jedi" and "The Phantom Menace." "There's a little bit of space junk thrown in there; see if you can find it. It's a scene in the desert." Interestingly enough, George Lucas' charismatic droid also had a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in "Star Trek," which shares the same writing team as "Transformers." Is it a coincidence? "Perhaps," screenwriter Alex Kurtzman grinned mischievously. "Perhaps not."

Playing Footsy
Look carefully and you'll see some continuity errors involving Megan Fox's footwear. "There's a few scenes — if you look for it — my shoes always change," the actress laughed, revealing an error they discovered after shooting the film that has her character's shoes switching during various takes. "I go from wearing high heels to ballet flats. It's crazy!"

Rapper's Delight
It's no secret that Shia LaBeouf is good friends with Chris "Cage" Palko, a New York rapper the actor hopes to someday portray onscreen. Cage hung out on the "Revenge of the Fallen" set with his actor friend, and LaBeouf even talked the "Hell's Winter" rapper into filming a cameo. Look closely during one of the college scenes that has Shia's Sam Witwicky on the quad, and you'll see Cage's acting debut.

A Hair-Raising Moment
"We made history in this movie, doing an action scene that included the biggest amount of practical explosions ever in a [scene] that included actors," beamed a proud Tyrese, telling fans to watch out for the action scene that had him endangering life, limb — and many follicles. "[The scene has] all four of us in the cast — me, Shia, Megan and Josh [Duhamel] — we're all runnin', and it's [behind us] in big, beautiful slow motion. Still, to this day, I went to four different dermatologists — the hair that grew in the back of my neck has not grown back in because of this explosion. I'm a little concerned."

Hasta la Vista, Bumblebee
"I hope Michael doesn't get mad at me, but there's a T-1000 imprint on one of the Decepticons," revealed Farrar, risking the wrath of director Michael Bay while explaining a wink to the "Terminator" franchise — and one of the main summer '09 competitors to Bay's blockbuster. "[You can see] the letters T-1000 [on a robot]. We do it because we like to give a nod to the competition. It's OK; we're all friends."

That Sneaky 'Butt Cam'
Bay has spoken previously about Megan Fox's sexiness in her first "Revenge" scene, but according to the beauty, she didn't even know that the sneaky director was using a camera to shoot her from behind. "I'm bent over the bike, airbrushing the bike, and I'm wearing these really short shorts," Fox said of the scene. "I thought I was performing the scene with the camera on my face! I was playing to a camera [in front of me], but he had a multiple camera going that was on a dolly — sliding in and out from behind me. My dialogue isn't even on camera!" Grinning, she said she forgave her director's sneakiness: "I don't find it sexy. He's trying to get people in the theater. I guess he thinks it's sexy."

Megan Fox on Letterman

Megan Fox turned up on the Late Show with David Letterman on June 25th. She looked stunning as usual. The interview itself actually little to with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as they talked about Megan when she was a kid, early career, and not being ready for marriage. Of note is the explanation of why the scene used in all the TV interviews (Sam and Mikaela jumping off a building in the desert) has the stunt doubles being engulfed by the explosion (gas bomb went off early).

WSJ's "Master of Machines"

Found via MB.com, here is an interview with Transformers 2 director Michael Bay with the Wall Street Journal as he talks about some of the decisions he made while filming the movie and "corrects" Megan Fox on her perception that he don't do a Bay film for acting reasons.

This film features even more talking robots—based on the Hasbro toy line—than the first “Transformers.” Why add in more robots rather than humans?
Mr. Bay: That’s what fans wanted. The first film was really about us setting up the situation, and this movie is about us discovering what we could do better with that situation, how to make this most out of these special effects and these characters.

Did Hasbro force you to conform the aesthetics of the robots to match the style of its toy line? Did you have to make any compromises on characters for the sake of promoting Hasbro’s stable of pre-existing Transformers characters?
Not at all. I told [Hasbro] that I was going to do my own thing, and they really let me go off on the designs. They gave me carte blanche—it was pretty phenomenal. But I still listened to people who were in that world when they asked things like, ‘Can we make Optimus’s ears a little longer so he appears more in character?’ That’s easy to do. And a lot of the artists and people that we hired were fans of Transformers growing up, so having so many fans working on my crew really kept me on point. There are things that I invented—the creaky geriatric robot that is always grumpy, for example, or the little wheelie guy, he’s not in the Hasbro lore. But kids love that stuff—this little guy as a pet on a chain. They gravitate towards it.

Did you add testicles to the robots, too?
No, those are construction balls.

Shia LaBeouf on Today Show and Regis & Kelly

On June 25th, Shia LaBeouf popped up on NBC's The Today Show (a morning show) and later Regis & Kelly to promote Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. He talks about filming with Bay, nonexistent machines, Fox and more both personal and professional. There is also a cute segment on Today Show with a star-struck fan with a game Shia. Thanks to Hanna for the link.

Turturro, LaBeouf, Fox Talk Transformers

In a new article on Examiner.com, John Turturro, Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox talk about Transformers, "trickiness of fame" and more while at the London premiere of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Snippets below, full interview here. Thanks to Hanna for the link.

John, did you actually climb one of the pyramids in Egypt?
Turturro: Yes, that’s why they hired me after the professional stuntmen. I kept climbing and I went a little too high one day, and I heard all this screaming in Arabic. I thought they were worried about me, but they were worried I was going too high and I was going to injure the pyramid. It was interesting.

Shia, your hand injury was written into the "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" script. How did you deal with that injury while filming the movie?
LaBeouf: When you break your hand, it’s hard to button your pants, but you’ve got to do it. You just buck up and get through it. There’s only so much you can fake. We had three cameras going at once. It takes a long time to rig some of these stunts. You’ve got to do it. I also had fantastic stuntmen. Vladmir [Tevlovski] took the brunt of the abuse.

Shia, Megan and John what was it like working with Michael Bay again?
Turturro: [He says jokingly] Dreadful.

LaBeouf: It’s not dreadful at all. Me and [Michael Bay] have a big brother/little brother type of thing. We get into it sometimes, and John [Turturro] becomes the liaison between us. He [Michael Bay] is like a football coach. He just doesn’t coddle you. That takes getting used to. Actors are used to being coddled. You get that in a sense. There’s a real masculine energy on these movies. I enjoy the hell out of it. It’s like skydiving for five months.

Fox: It’s like constant chaos. The crew named it Bay-os [as in chaos] and there’s also the term Bay-hem, which is an everyday thing working with him. It is exciting. He is rough on his actors on purpose. I think he likes the legend of being a tyrant.
Turturro: I just based my character on Michael. The key to making any movie is that you have to key into the sensibility of the guy [the director] who’s going to be there every day and who’s going to be working on the film after you’re long gone. And it took me a while to understand that when I first started out. But you really do have to look at that person and connect with their sensibility.

I had a lot of fun. He [Michael Bay] lets me try things. He has a lot of energy and he works very hard. You know the shots are going to be interesting, so you just have to be open to moments in working with him. I had a good time the first time, and I had a better time this time.

More Interviews with Transformers 2 Cast

More interviews keep popping up from the main faces of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Below are more from Serieasten.tv and iheartradio.com.

More blue carpet interviews from the Berlin Premiere of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with Michael Bay, Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf. They actually answer Transfans type questions, like Bay is not a fan of the animated series, Megan and Shia are. Unable to embed the videos so click the links below to view.

Michael Bay Megan Fox Shia LaBeouf

Five videos from iheartradio.com with Fox as she talks chemistry with Shia and apparently not so good at grocery shopping. Shia talks about Sam evolving; Josh picks Ironhide as his favorite Transformers and Tyrese Gibson about his impression of the final product.

Click here to view, the segments follow one after the other. Thanks to Dave for the link.

More ROTF Talk From Writers

Transformers 2 writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman spoke with TrekMovie.com (but sadly not me) about Revenge of the Fallen. Topics include how they almost didn't write the sequel, how used sequels for inspiration, working with Ehren Krueger (due to writer's strike), Transformers history, and more. As usual some of the article below, rest here.

TrekMovie.com: Speaking about that mythology, the first film felt like it was about a war amongst alien robots playing out on Earth. This time there are links to ancient Egypt and more. Is there an attempt to make this more about us Earthlings, with the mythology tied to our history?
Roberto Orci: Yes. That was always part of the G1 (Transformers Generation 1) idea, that Transformers had crash-landed here in prehistoric time. We didn’t exactly stick to that, but there is a rich history of they’ve been here a long time and they are somehow wrapped up in our ancient history.

Alex Kurtzman: We are trying to stay true to the spirit of a story that delves into the idea of going beneath the surface of both the history of the Transformers and our own race. The thing Optimus Prime is always talking about is how similar our races are, and the idea is that there is a reason for that.

TrekMovie.com: For these movies, there seems to be a big amount of fan interest in what Transformers make it in and which ones don’t. How do you make that cut?
Alex Kurtzman: It is a mix actually. Our side of it is that we end up putting in Transformers that fit into the story. Certainly there some that we wanted in the first that we couldn’t put in, that we ended up getting in the second. The decision is about how we can do it organically. There is also a mandate from both Hasbro and the car companies to put certain robots in. What we say to them is ‘great, if we can find a way to do that in a way that makes sense, then let’s do it.’ And Michael certainly is very specific about the kind of cars he likes to put on screen and how he wants to use them.

TrekMovie.com: You guys are also creating a lot more of your own new Transformers for this one. Is it more fun for you to branch out and create your own characters instead of just using the original characters?
Roberto Orci: Not particularly.

Alex Kurtzman: I think weirdly we always find a way to love who ever we are writing about. Certainly, it was not hard to find ways to love Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. So we feel a lot of ownership over the direction of those characters already. So we don’t make a huge distinction between them and the new ones, but that said, Optimus has a voice that was distinct and pre-established that we did not want to veer away from.

TrekMovie.com: Looking back at the first film, there was a lot of broad humor, like the robot peeing lubricant. I note this time you guys have Rainn Wilson from The Office playing a part. Does this film have a more high-brow kind of humor in it?
Roberto Orci: It is the most sophisticated low-brow humor there is.

TrekMovie: So in the end, what is the biggest difference between the first and second films?
Roberto Orci: Obviously the theme is different. The first one was about stepping into adulthood by getting your first car and how that leads to sexuality and freedom. This one is more about being away from home, with Sam going away to college, while the Transformers are away from their home, and what are the responsibilities as you leave your nest. Cosmetically, this one is bigger. I think it is more tightly plotted, just as a result of getting better at it and understanding the universe better, and it benefits from the lessons of the first movie, both from fan interactions, and our own interactions of seeing what we thought worked and what different.

Orci, Kurtzman Talk Testicles and Transformers 3

Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have stepped out of hiding recovering from their Star Trek marketing to start talking about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. In an interview with io9.com they talk about Devastator's testicles (yep he has them) and possibilities of the third movie. Snippets below, the full article here.

Although they couldn't remember the origins of Devastator's testicles. Orci thought that Bay had demanded "a big pair of testicles." But Kurtzman reminded him that it was actually co-writer Ehren Krueger's idea, when the three of them were holed up for a few months writing the script after the writers' strike. "The testicles are in the script," Kurtzman said. "Well, it's a construction machine, so you of course have wrecking balls. And Michael, immediately, of course, loved it."

It's been widely reported that Orci and Kurtzman are definitely not writing the script for Transformers 3, but actually they sounded pretty open to doing it. "We never say never, but since the movie's not even out, it's impossible for us to go, 'Yes, we're in,'" Kurtzman said.

As for the photo above, I am guessing it is Starscream's head but really have no clue what or where from. Just grabbed it from the article because it was cool looking.

Another French Shia, Megan Interview

Below is another interview with Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox as they talk about the Transformers. They talk about being grateful for getting the job, working with the demanding Bay, and course how much bigger the second movie is over the first. Thanks to Adrien for the link.

Five ROTF Interview Videos

Found via TFormers.com and ENewsi.com, below are five interviews with Producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Tyrese Gibson, Ramon Rodriguez, Shia LaBeouf, and Megan. They talk about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on a variety of topics all designed to make you excited about seeing the movie (just in case not yet convinced).

Shia LaBeouf


Megan Fox


Tyrese Gibson


Ramon Rodriguez


Lorenzo Di Bonaventura