Wednesday, July 22, 2009

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.

There was a poll on IGN asking the audience which Transformers they'd most like to see in part three, and the big winner was Unicron, so what are the chances of his making it into the next film?
LdB: Unicron worries me because it's so big that it dwarfs emotion. It's so hard, because when you're working to that scale, it sort of becomes outside any kind of human reality you have. It's obviously a great character, and one that we're definitely going to talk about, but for me personally - and I'm not the only vote here - that one scares me. Because of its size, it becomes sort of impersonal when it gets to that scale. I remember seeing the second Fantastic Four and Galactcus, and suddenly I was in another world and it took it away from the human characters. One of the tricky parts about Transformers is you've got these five-to-six foot things called humans, then you've got the 32-foot Transformers, then you come to Devastator and you've got 125-feet. You become increasingly small on a physical level, and I think that's true on a story level. I think if you go to Unicron, you're going to end up sacrificing your human characters. And for me that worries me because I like the human characters.

Is he not the kind of character IMAX was designed for?
LdB: Well Devastator covered it from foot to top so I don't know what the hell else you'd do to tell you the truth. Don't get me wrong - Unicron is an obvious and great character, I just worry about it from the experience of the movie.

Are there any Transformers you'd like to see that?
LdB: I love the Mini-Cons actually -- I think they're very cool. I love the lore -- every time we approach one of these movies, we go back and read everything we can about it -- that's how we came across the Fallen. I thought that was such an interesting idea -- that there's sort of a Judas within the mythology. For me, I like the surprise of that. Each time I sit down to give my vote, I like to re-read it and discover what I think. But I think the Mini-Cons are really cool.

24 comments:

  1. Typo in the title. Unicron not Unicorn lol.

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  2. no man!!..i even can't imagine transformers without bay..he's d man for this movie..

    and

    in d 3rd movie i want to see d main characters like ultra magnus,wheeljack,kup,hot rod,road buster and more..not d comic relief characters like mudflap and jolt in TF2.and i wud prefer galvatron as d main villain along side with soundwave(comes down to earth) than unicron.unicron is cool to see in d next movie,but d scale is just too much.

    and i hope d next transformers it'll be totally autobots vs. decepticons in d final battle.i don't want human entervention in d end 'coz d movie is about d war between d autobots and decepticon,it's just all about them and nothing more.

    =gunsmoke45=

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  3. Brandon Avery7/22/2009 9:52 PM

    Sounds great! In a way. Unicron would be amazing to see but I'm worried too. Maybe not in Transformers 3 but part 4. He should be mentioned alot for the build up to part 4. Studios make mistakes sometime with the 3rd movie trying to fit in so much. Michael Bay is great but he needs to stick to G1 as much as possible. Example JAZZ not being a porsche, Soundwave not having a vocoder, Ratchet being neon grenn/yellow instead of white, and I can go on. Yes some changes are necessary like with bumblebee and opitmus. Thats fine. I gave transformers 2 a 6 outa 10. Here's why. FOUR MAIN REASONS SO I TOOK AWAY FOUR POINTS OUTA 10 RESULTING IN a 6 outa 10
    1. Extremely WEAK STORY-there was to much left unanswered. When it was mentioned in the movie I was like ok, i cant wait till they explained that. And they didn't
    2. HORRIBLE INTRODUCTION to The new CHARACTERS- Sideswipe transformed once, Jolt never spoke, I don't even know the three bikes name except RC. I love Jetfire tho. The fart thing coulda been left out. Like wheelie too. Except humping megans leg. Maybe a hump or two but he just kept going.
    3. To CRUDE FOR KIDS!!!- the movie was hilarious but I kept looking to my left and seeing an 8 year-old next to me saying unnapproapriate. Michael said the twins were for the kids but they said PUSSY ans some other stuff. CONTRADICTING!!!
    4. TOO MANY PLOT HOLES AND BAD CONTINUITY!!!

    Also I dont just blame michael I blame the studio. The budget was not nearly enough. In the commentary to the first film they said they didnt have enough money to pull the camera back. I just knew they were gonna fix this but they didnt. 145 million for 12 robots then you only increase to 200 million for 40 plus robots. WTF!!! Thats crazy. Im thought it was gonna be around 350 million. Thats around spidey 3 and pirates. I could go on. It was still great but could've been MUCH BETTER!!! If everything was ironed out properly theres no reason wny the movie couldnt have grossed worldwide 1.3 billion dollars. That wont happen now.

    MICHAEL BAY YOU'RE STILL MY FAVORITE DIRECTOR!!! FUCK THE HATERS!!! Tho this time you did make mistakes

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  4. I want UNICRON!!!!!!!!!
    It would be hard to do yes
    but if any movie was ever going to attempt something of that scale, TF3 would be the one

    Bay better come back too

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  5. unicron is my fav but as a fan of him its just 2 big i rather just leave him out i couldn't imagine all the work there put through just 2 get unicron rite i say leave him out

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  6. Michael Bay Has To Return!! Too Often They Change Directors And That Changes The Direction Of The Film And The Atmosphere Of It!! All They Need To Do Is Take They're Time Writing A Proper Script And Not Rushing It Like They Did For The Second One, Which Clearly Was The Reason Why There Were So Many Holes In The Story!! They Should Bring In Some Writers That Write For Steven Spielberg Or Ron Howard, And Even Ridley Scott!! They Seem To Get Really Good Scripts For They're Films, Writers That Know How To Tell A Great Story And Also Know The Way The Action Needs To Go With It!!

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  7. I do love Transformers and Transformers 2, 10/10 for both because they are so much fun and so awesome in my opinion, but the 3 needs to:

    1. IMPORTANT, not rush the script, take A LOT more time in writing it and make it more appropriate for a child to watch. It is PG-13 but it also has a toy line that CHILDREN would buy so the movie was to vulgar for something directed for kids along with other people.

    2. Bay should either become a director or he has to leave. I do love his explosions and action, but he doesn't do anything else that well, he could, Spielberg could probably whip him into shape, He isn't doing anything about it though.

    3. Control the camera, I didn't have a problem with understanding what was happening in the fights, but the internet sure does.

    4. More screen time for new robots. Most of the robots were just cameos and the new robots that atually had screentime were completely unessecary(Skids and Mudflap). Put them in, but not as main characters. To much controversy.

    5. Skids and Mudflap should be in it less, either as a small amount of comic relief or not in it at all. They are way to controvercial, them being major in the 3rd will not make anything go away, unless you 'clean' up the characters. Whipe away that controversy. George lucas had Jar Jar major in the first, but only cameos in the 2nd and 3rd.

    6. More robots, less humans. More robot fight scenes and Transformers stuff and less of Sam and Mikaela's lack of any chemistry. Put them in just less. MORE ROBOTS!!!!!!

    IMPORTANT: Take more time on script, and more robots and less humans, it is called Transformers afterall, not Humans with Robots in Background.

    The critics and a lot of people dislike this movie. It is a love/hate relationship, you either love the movie or you hate. We want to get those people that hate it to love it so the 3rd can make more money than the 2nd. If the people hate this movie they probably won't come back for the third.

    I'm done ranting.

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  8. by any chance would they make a movie out of transformers defiance? wouldnt anybody want to know how megatron became evil or how the war broke out?

    as they now say these days.. the best sequels are prequels...

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  9. Unicron would be an awful decision. Please to god don't let him be in the next one.

    Loved RotF by the way.

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  10. $769 million world wide as of 07/22/2009. And that's with a 15% increase in sales on Tuesday July 21st as compared to the previous day.

    What does this all mean? They have GOT to green light more money for the sequel. The money wasn't there to give TF2 proper justice, so let's learn from our mistakes.

    TF1 did very well.
    TF2 did amazing well.
    TF3 ... let's hit it outta the park!!!

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  11. Unicron would be very cool... but what bothers me is the people in charge keep forgetting what this movie is about. Robots... not humans.

    Unicron being so big, the only way to go near him is space, a place humans can't go. So I can see why they're "worried" about a lack of the human characters. I like them, too but I want the robots to shine. Sam shouldn't be the main focus with Robots in his life. It should be the Robots with Sam in their lives.

    Unicron doesn't have to be in the 3rd movie but I think he should be in one of them if it goes on past 4 which is seems like it very well will. Thing is, once you go Unicron... that's it. He feels like the final to me and he shouldn't be shoved in so quickly. Everything after him will feel so unimportant.

    We need more character development first. I just wish the Transformers weren't being used as a cheap way to make big bucks with lots of explosions. I love action and things that go boom as much as the next person but I also like to see my favorite characters. I like to see them move, talk, interact with things. I just want to see them as much as possible.

    Also, don't be afraid of space, people. It's beautiful and the Transformers are in it a lot. Show more scenes in space and show them for more than 3 seconds...

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  12. how about steven spelburg get off his ass and direct the 3rd one

    that way it has a good story

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  13. My personal rate is 9.8/10.If I would not be transformers fan I would rate it about 5/10. 9.8 is becouse I love action of michael bay,for example forest fight,I just felt sooo cool and even I want to cry how cool it was:D.

    about why not 10/10

    Twins,lets face the truth,where 2 necesary pieces of s*it.Secondly,the storyline was pretty good for action movie,but I would completly redo some things,some locations were so wrong to film...The robot screentime was good acctualy for me,but human role was completly necesary sometimes.All alice scenes and half of movie coud be cut off and it dont infact the story much.

    Anyway I would hate to see smth like unicorn...Bay must back...Ant keep those lame G1 things away from transformers movie...Transformers shouldnt die without energon thats so disapointing...

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  14. No No No No

    Don't be mistaken, the first move was good and enjoyable. The second was a terrible story and more than disappointing. They have to redeem themselves in part 3, which means don't check your brains at the door.

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  15. you need a good directer to direct the story and you need a good story from great writers to make the movie. of coures theres more to movie making than what i said but inorder to call some people great or good directers you need a great story from amazing writers.

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  16. maybe they humans and the autobots go into to space to fight Unicron but the humans die from lack of oxygen?

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  17. Please, no more "Pretenders"...no more stupid comedy and no more holes in the story. Do your good research and put together a great script for the third. And more importantly: TAKE YOUR TIME IN THE EDITING ROOM!!!!!!

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  18. ...people came up to us and said, "Fuck the critics".

    Yeah...people...or all of the filmmakers underlings. Who are these "normal people" who know who the hell di Bonaventura is and know that he produced Transformers? Such crap. Their internal dialogue's saying "fuck the critics" because they made a crapload of money.

    Anyway....great blog. Keep doin'!

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  19. i wanna see Shockwave and Laserbeak in the third film

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  20. First off, in response to Di Bonaventura's comments, I agree that Unicron would not be a good idea for the third movie. He was a fine character for the G1 cartoon series, but he would not translate well to the big screen adaptations of the franchise. If you're going to introduce Unicron you'd also have to introduce Primus. Two planet sized behemoths, or even one for that matter, would simply be too much and would really take the movie too far into the corny realm where the main stream audience that has helped fuel the success of the first two movies would probably be lost.

    The idea of mini cons in the movie would be terrible. I think in order to be successful Bay and the writers need to stick to the G1 roots for inspiration and characters. An example of the importance of keeping to G1 for the base is The Fallen. Although he was an interesting character, his story was not that convincing. The story would have had plenty to focus on, and would probably have been better, if it had instead concentrated on Megatron as the main returning villain, expanded on the characters and roles of the other Decepticons that were already on Earth, and spent more time on fleshing out Devastator as the BIG BADDIE (both literally and figuratively) of the film. Putting the Fallen in there was just too much.

    As far as plot, I think that the third film has to have the Autobots returning to Cybertron in one last ditch effort to restore life to their planet and save it from the Decepticons.

    As far as what I would like to see in the movie....

    New Characters:

    Autobots: Wheeljack (the Autobot engineer/inventor), Omega Supreme (their transport home and key player in movie finale), Alpha Trion (the wise, old, mysterious bot that possesses secrets to the planet Cybertron that have been passed down through the generations that only a select few bots know), Ultra Magnus (Autobot general who has remained in Cybertronian space on the front lines of the effort to track down the scattered remnant of the Decepticons who joins up with the other Auobots as they return to Cybertron), and the Dinobots (a more powerful groups of bots designed and constructed for the imminent final battle with the Decepticons by the scientific and engineering duo of Ratchet and Wheeljack. After all, you can't have a Transformers movie series without at least a few of the Dinobots).

    Decepticons: Shockwave (Megatron's loyal protector of Cybertron in his absence, Laserbeak, and Cyclonus

    Returning Characters:

    Autobots: Prime, Ironhide, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Jolt, and the Twins (in a reduced presence).

    Depepticons: Megatron (could possibly be rebuilt into Galvatron when he returns to Cybertron), Soundwave, and Starscream.

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  21. James Cameron should direct he made the Terminator movies famous.

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  22. Please dont bring Bay back.

    Transformers 3
    1. Stick to G1.
    2. More simple car chases (planes as well) with transforming throughout the chase... WHERE are these scenes?!?! ITS THE TRANSFORMERS... geez.
    3. Who cares about the humans? Seriously.
    4. Learn to stick to telling a flowing story.
    5. Develop some interaction between robots that dont make them retarded or human-like. etc, "I'll rip out your optics" "We're all going to look like burned out toasters"
    6. Make this for adults, we the G1 fans are older now. Go back to stricly G1 with the voices*** of all the old characters who are still alive and make them look comprehendable(not this twisted scrap metal look, its just awful already).
    7.Make a cartoon with newer Transformers story/lore for the children, give us older fans our true G1 back.

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  23. Oh, Primus PLEASE not the minicons! I freaking hated that whole deal! Besides, the minicons only lead strait back in to Unicron anyway, just via a detour of retardation and idiocy!

    Bring back more G1!
    I want THUNDERCRACKER AND SKYWARP for frags sake!
    I want Ratchet throwing wrenches. I want Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. I want Powerglide, I want Wheeljack! Come on!
    I enjoyed that Armada had a solid story line, but I want my classic Transformers back! Give me the original G1!

    Ultimately what I want the MOST is MORE ROBOTS LESS HUMANS!
    I would LOVE it if humans were pushed out of the limelight! I want to see Transformers, not Sam and Mikaela's relationship issues! I think the Powers that Be in this movie need to realize that the Transformers universe is, and always has been, about the robots. The humans were always there just enough for the sake of giving a basis for understanding. I would be PERFECTLY happy if Shia LeBouf NEVER crossed the screens in a Transformers film EVER again.

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  24. I agreed with Flamewar!

    Bring intro of More G1 robots!

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