Transformers 5 Depends on Four, Introducing Ji Pei-hui

Chinese website M1905.com as posted two new interviews in relation to Transformers: Age of Extinction. Normally I probably wouldn't bother posting about either since nothing of substance is shared but they are TF4 related and news has been very light so better than nothing (but barely). In the first article Paramount Executibe Rob Moore (who spoke about product placement) states that Paramount Pictures has not made a decision yet on Transformers 5 and 6 as they are waiting to see how well Transformers 4 does. This isn't actually big news as all studios "plan" on sequels by signing actors to three picture deals but with the rare exceptions, no sequel is guaranteed until after the studios have some hard sales numbers to work with when making a decision.

He also indicated that part of the reason Michael Bay signed up for the fourth film is because he was going to get the chance to film in new locations with a new cast. How much a difference that made compared to the around $100 million Bay will likely make once back-end points, merchandise percentages, etc. are calculated is not mentioned. While he talks for nine minutes, really nothing of substance is said. It can be summarized down to 'its great to work in China, we learned a lot, we hope to depict their culture accurately and make a great movie'. Which could said for any location shoot, just swap "China" for "France", "the South", whatever. The video of the interview is here. Note the ginormous site logo on the microphone. I am hoping the site is an outlier because if this is how normal Chinese advertisement is handled, it could be a bit of concern considering the Chinese heavy advertising planned for scenes in TF4.

The other article focuses on actress Ji Pei-hui who seems to have two roles in Transformers 4. According to the site she has a the role of Tour Guide for a Great Wall of China scene and later is part of a Minister of National Defense scene. It isn't entirely clear if the the roles are related or she was simply cast twice for the movie. A video of that can be found here. Again the huge sign, this time made more obvious as its literally bigger than the woman's head. The Google translate of the article made little sense to me (so used TFW2005's info) but I doubt her role is much more than the equivalent of a cameo.