Transformers: The Last Knight Set Visits Reveal Movie Info

A press day event was held on August 5 while Transformers: The Last Knight was filming at Raleigh Michigan Studios in Pontiac, Michigan. As is the tendency for such invite only events where the cost of going is picked up by the studio, the press enter a kind of gentleman's agreement to not post about the visit until a certain point in time as decided by the studio to help with their promotional push. In this case, that means the embargo wasn't lifted until until the first teaser trailer was released. From what I can tell it looks like the interviews and set visits were conducted as one large group as most of them shared the same experiences and quotes. Below are the main highlights from Collider and i09.

Highlights:
- TF5 is set several years after Transformers: Age of Extinction

- A scene involves a crash landing on an alien surface via a V-22 Osprey loaded with the core human cast of the film.

- Lorenzo Di Bonaventura: TF5 will focus on the mythology of the Transformers, how "were created, where did it start, where did they go from being a sort of a slave-race to a sentient race–we’re delving into that aspect of the mythology, so the characters that are involved in there are Megatron before he’s Megatron, Optimus before he’s Optimus, the Librarian, the Quintessons, there’s a whole group of things that have to do with how, in a sense, the Transformers were birthed, and also with how they were divided. What brought up the division, and what were the jealousies involved." This will include exploring more of the "Primes".

- Film will have two stories that converge at the end according to Bonaventura, "They’re part of the same mythology, but the fact that these two pieces could interrelate, and have quite a span in time in which we’re trying to draw from–one is, in the Transformers’ mythology, billions of years ago, and one is hundreds of years ago, so in that sense, those two ideas came together. At first, we thought maybe they were two different movies, and then they came together."

- TF5 is not made with the goal of setting up other movies like the Bumblebee one. Bay (probably as a joke) said he had an R-rated idea for the Bumblebee movie that Hasbro didn't go for.

- There are outlines for TF6 and TF7 but waiting until TF5 is completed before working on scripts since the story could change during production.

- Cybertron set animated movie is still in the works and it will be in continuity with the films.

- Seeing the previous four Transformers movies isn't a requirement to understand the fifth one.

- Grimlock has a larger role in the film: "He’s funny. He’s like a naughty dog in this movie. He’s really sheepish when he does something wrong. He’s a great character. He’s really–we’re bringing out a side of him that you’re going to like–you’re going to relate to."

- Bay: "We have Mini Dino’s. Those are really fun. We’ve got little mini T. Rexes. He’s just learning to spit fire. He’s just come into his powers. It’s pretty funny."

- There is a submarine Transformer.

- The Department of Defense vetoed a story point where the US military accidentally kills an Autobot, saying "we cannot let kids see that this has happened."

- Cade Yeager (Mark Walhberg) is on the run, his daughter not being in the film is explained away as being in hiding.

- Laura Haddock's character is named Vivian Wembley, related to another character (my guess is Merlin), who does not get along with Cade.

- Santiago Cabrera plays a retired SEAL and team leader of the TRF (Transformers Response Force) who see all Transformers as the enemy. They are hunting Cade thinking he knows the location of other Transformers. NEST is not part of the film.

- Josh Duhamel's Lennox is a member of TRF but he doesn't agree with the all Transformers are the enemy mandate creating conflict with Cabrera's character.

- There will be a lot more real IMAX 3D scenes then in previous films with the use of the new Red 6k Weapon Dragon, IMAX Alexa 65 cameras and other state of the art rigs.

- To make sure the 3D works, a special van was built that allows specialist's in real time to make sure the 3D cameras are set up properly and to avoid post-production conversion.

- Isabela Moner's character, Isabella, is homeless after the Battle of Chicago (in Dark of the Moon) killed her parents, joining Cade along with her broken TF friend Sqweeks.

- Sqweeks isn't able to transformers. According to DiBonaventura, "he's a pretty seemingly inconsequential Autobot [that] is going to rise to a really great fucking moment. It’s incredibly great from a story point of view, but you’ll laugh so fucking hard, because it’s a great way for him to finally show his mettle."

- Hot Rod has a French accent because, according to Bay, "he just likes the accent."

- Filming at speed remains key for Bay which is why all the high tech cameras, frequent setups each day, the special 3D vans and other tech brought to bear to keep a relentless pace so he can get all the shots he needs each day. Bay: "Pump a little harder you can just shoot a little more efficient. These movies sometimes have a tendency to get bloated. I’m talking about all big movies, there’s a lot of wasted stuff, equipment, and people."

- Bay is also looking forward to "breaking" ILM's computers as the special effects demands (especially transformation sequences) tend to stretch the capabilities of their render farms.

- Quintessons are confirmed to play a part in the movie, as is Megatron. Neither have been confirmed as the film's big bad. (Yeah minds immediately go to Unicron but so far no evidence for or against this theory)

- There will be scenes involving "early forms" of Optimus and Megatron. (Seems like there will be scenes set before the Cybertronian War started).