AICN Interviews Peter Cullen

As part of the promotion for the upcoming September 2nd release of Transformers on Blu-Ray, AICN spoke with the voice of Optimus Prime, Peter Cullen. The full interview is here and below is some choice bits. Thanks to Chris for the link.

Beaks: As a working voice actor, I can't imagine that you know, one show to the next, whether your work is going to make a deep imprint in the popular culture. Was there any inkling when you took on the role of Optimus Prime that this character was going to leave a deeper groove than the others?
Cullen: I think so. When I saw the character breakdown, I said, "This is indeed a real hero. This is not like any hero we've ever seen before." He penetrated different zones. There was a sense of him. He wasn't just muscle and strength. He went beyond that. There was dignity and courage, and a soft spoken honor and integrity about him. Very well written. So to apply those traits... they weren't necessarily implicated in the script; I just did an impression of my brother Larry, who served in the Marine Corps, and lowered the voice. I think we nailed it. The scripts were wonderfully written, and there was so much to absorb in a half-hour. Don't forget, Jeremy, that was how many years ago? 1984? '85? Gee whiz, I was just a child! (Laughs)

Beaks: And the Blu-ray is only going to stoke more anticipation for TRANSFORMERS 2, which is shooting right now. Have you had the opportunity to visit the set, see any footage or chat with Michael Bay?
Cullen: I've had one work day with Michael. We did the opening. But I didn't have the opportunity to see any real footage - until I was leaving. I hate to use the word over and over "knocked out", but I was stopped in my tracks. "Whoa! Can I see that again!?!?" It's going to be huge.

Beaks: Just when you thought they couldn't top the spectacle of the first movie?
Cullen: No question. He's excited, too. Bay is really excited. He's animated. He's such a creative guy and a perfectionist. He's got a high energy level that's really cool.

Beaks: He gets a bit like a little kid when he's working.
Cullen: You can see his brain working. What goes on in that head of his is indescribable. (Laughs) He's amazing.

Beaks: How much of a connection have you been able to form with the human actors? Now that the first film was a hit and you know you'll be making more, have you had the opportunity to interact with Shia or Megan?
Cullen: Nope. None of the above. I have not met anyone. I know Charlie Adler [the voice of Starscream], but aside from the voiceover people... I didn't even meet Hugo Weaving. I admired his work, but... I haven't had an opportunity to be with the real actors. During this year, I'm sure there will be a time where I'll be able to go to the studio and see some of that. I'm looking forward to that.

Beaks: But I watching TRANSFORMERS over the weekend on HBO, and I was noticing how you subtly changed your vocal performance from the cartoon. You gave Optimus a little more lightness. We get to see a funnier side.
Cullen: Right. I think you'll see more of that. His relationship with humans demands that he be more human. When he's one-on-one with Sam or the other characters, there's an opportunity for more humor and sensitivity, not just stone-cold metal. Coming into that human element... it's different; it's a little challenging because you have to be more conversational without stepping out of his character or losing any of his ingredients. We'll see more of that, I think. I don't want to speculate, but it seems to be going that way.

Orci Talks Script, Injury with MTV

Roberto Orci spoke with MTV the other day about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen storyline and Shia's injury. As usual he remains silent on details. Thanks to VAWitch for the link.

“You want to make a different movie, not just a repeat,” Orci said. “It’s a different kind of film that the last one. It’s not a disaster [movie] paradigm.”

What he means is that “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” won’t have multiple storylines told from different points of view all converging in one place for the climax. Instead, expect a different kind of narrative with a different emotional centerpiece.

“We didn’t have to reshoot anything,” Orci said, “but we put [an injury] in there. We wanted to make sure that we put it in so he could be protected, because he’s running around a lot and bashing into things, and he needed something to hold it like a sling [after his hand surgery]. So we wrote it into the script to explain it away.”

“I think there’s an expectation that there will be a deeper mythology where the Transformers came from,” Kurtzman said. “The key is not to get so mired in the mythology that it can’t propel the movie forward. We just touched the tip of the iceberg.”

Peter Cullen At Work On TF2

In an interview with Reading Eagle, Peter Cullen confirmed that he is back at work on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen to reprise his role of Optimus Prime.

"Optimus is my favorite character because it's been so well received and it's had such an effect on so many people," Cullen said. "Because of that, I hold it closer than any other character I've done - outside of maybe Eeyore, who's had a considerable effect on younger children too.

Right now Cullen is happily juggling a variety of projects. He's penning a novel with autobiographical elements and continues to voice Eeyore for the Playhouse Disney series "My Friends Tigger & Pooh." And he's logging time in a studio to record his lines as Optimus Prime for the "Transformers" sequel, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

"I have started," Cullen said. "I worked with Michael a few weeks ago and we did some of the opening dialogue, the opening speech and then a couple of scenes with Shia LaBeouf. Shia wasn't there, of course. I just worked from the script."

So what happens in the sequel?

"They're very secretive about the story," he said. "I only know the lines I've read, and I'm not allowed to disclose any of those. But the amount of success that 'Transformers' had on a financial level is providing a lot more screen time for Optimus Prime. It's very expensive to do all these robot characters because of the 10,000 moving parts.

"Thankfully we were a hit, so there's 'Transformers 2' and maybe 'Transformers 3.' I think 'Transformers 2' is going to be an incredible, incredible picture. I can see the excitement in the faces of the people involved, and it generates quite a bit of excitement in me too."

Tyrese Talks "Angrier" Transformers

Dark Horizons spoke with Tyrese Gibson about Transformers 2 as he was promoting his upcoming movie "Death Race" (which looks pretty good). Tyrese elaborated more about his "more angry" Transfoermers comments and indicates where shooting will go next.

"I like doing one-offs, but I'm more excited about franchises. We're doing Transformers 2 right now. It's crazier, it's angrier, it's bigger explosions, more robots."

"The conflict between the robots and the humans [is more angry]," Gibson adds. "The stakes have been brought up to a whole nother level. The conflicts between the humans and the Decepticons and then the conflict between the Autobots and the Decepticons. It's just more angry."

"Michael Bay is just in rare form right now."

Tyrese is careful not to reveal too much. "More robots. I'm not saying bigger. You're trying to get me to give up the size." (Laughs)

What Gibson will say is that his character's role is expanded this time around. "I am at the top of my class. I am the highest-ranking officer of my class. So it's exciting. I can just say this. Michael Bay is definitely giving Epps a lot of love in this one. It's going to be special. I've been interacting with robots. Most of the conversation with robots [in the first film] was with Shia's character. I've had a few conversations [in the second film] with robots. It's real interesting."

"We rolling. I just did a night shoot. That's why I was so tired yesterday because we shot until about 6:30 in the morning. We're doing the night thing right now and then we're going back to Alamogordo, [New Mexico] white sands to do some more of that rock star stuff out there. The stakes is just a thousand times higher. Crazy."

"We've got about two and a half more months of filming. We've got to go overseas. "I'm hearing Jordan and a few other locations. It's full-throttle."

Writers Reveal Transformers Theme; No Dinobots

MTV discussed Transformers 2 with script writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Sadly the interview pretty much confirms what we all knew was probably the case - no Dinobots. "We couldn’t quite figure out how to justify a robot that would pretend to be a dinosaur" Orci said.

When asked about the return of Megatron, Orci responded "That would be silly" suggesting maybe the "Fallen" is not Megs as many believe. Of course this could just them having fun with providing a little misinformation and hiding plans that they plan on the "silly" return of Megatron.

They also revealed the theme of the sequel. Where the first is about a boy and his car, the second according to Orci is "It’s about being away from home. It’s a few years later and Sam is going to finally go to college and he’s going to face being away from home just as the Autobots are having to deal with being away from Cybertron."

"Oh, and what about that title? Why “Revenge of the Fallen”? Orci deadpanned, “Because ‘Transformers 2′ sounds stupid.”"

The picture is from KNX1070 that shows the San Diego Comic-Con display for TF2. Link provided by JFuller.

Rainn Talks TF2 With MTV

Rainn Wilson, who plays a "strangely comedic" scene in Transformers 2: "Tomb of the Phantom Emperor", as a college professor, briefly discussed his role and working with Michael Bay with MTV. He "reveals" that Michael Bay is a "furry meerkat" and "a big hugger." So if you see him and interested in a little jail time, be sure to give Bay a big hug on the advice of Rainn Wilson.


Thanks to Chris for the link.

Rainn Talks TF with AICN

AICN spoke with Rainn Wilson about his upcoming projects and plans including Transformers. Below is the TF segment where he discusses working with Michael Bay and click here to check out the full article.

Quint: So what are you working on now? You have some stuff coming up?
Rainn Wilson: Well, I just did a very small cameo in TRANSFORMERS 2.

Quint: Cool.
Rainn Wilson: That was kind of a blast. I got to work with Michael Bay and I was a big fan of TRANSFORMERS.

Quint: I spent a few days on the set of the first movie and something I noticed was that Michael Bay, I think he has an AD, but he doesn’t need one.
Rainn Wilson: He does everything himself.

Quint: He does everything and he’s not afraid to be the task master on a set.
Rainn Wilson: I saw him and he was literally giving the focus puller notes. The focus puller was like “No, you have to do it like this…” and Michael Bay is like “No no no, do it like this and hook this here and you can turn this here and you can get the focus this way…” Somehow I believed Michael Bay knew more than the focus puller. He even ran camera a couple of times. He did his own camera work.

Quint: Yeah?
Rainn Wilson: Yeah.

Quint: That must have been fun. I don’t imagine that you are in any scenes with any robots, but it would still be fun.
Rainn Wilson: No, I wish I would have had scenes with explosions, but yeah the only other thing is I have a bunch of film irons in the fire out there.

Fox on Budget, Story

Megan Fox spoke recently with IGN about Transformers 2 and Jennifer's Body during the Television Critics Association press tour. I can't help but appreciate a women that is willing to let her geek flag fly every now and then.

Q: How is Transformers 2 going?
Megan Fox: It's going good. It's gigantic!

Q: Compared to the first, you'd say it's way bigger?
Fox: It's twice the budget, so yeah.

Q: Can you say where this movie picks up for your characters?
Fox: It's two years later, so when it comes out it will be present day. Shia [LaBeouf, who reprises his role as Sam Witwicky] and I have been dating for two years, so it's kind of like old news. There's no big love scenes or anything like that – you kind of get into the couple bickering now. That stage, like the old married couple. That's all I can say!

Q: Have you been keeping in touch with your Transformers buddies in those two years?
Fox: With Shia, yeah.

Q: (Referring to her Star Wars t-shirt, complete with Darth Vader picture) Are you a Star Wars fan?
Fox: I'm a Star Wars fan. I'm a Star Trek fan. I'm a big nerd. I'm a big, giant comic book nerd.

Q: Are you going to go down to Comic-Con?
Fox: Yeah.

Q: How do you think it's going to be to go down there after the first Transformers?
Fox: You know, I was at WonderCon and nobody really gave a (expletive), so we'll see. I think it's gonna be fun though. I've always wanted to go.

Q: Have you learned more about Transformers factoids than you ever thought you'd know?
Fox: I can't retain all the information. There's so much information to that cartoon with all the different types of bots there are. So I still know way less than I should I guess.

There is also a video but its from promotion of the first film last year where she talks about Bay and filming the movie. As for the movie being twice that of the second film, therefore $300 million, I have my doubts. I hope its true because that means lots and lots of on screen Transformer action but I am thinking the budget is in the $200 million range.

Orci: "Stakes are a little higher"

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen writer Roberto Orci spoke with Sci Fi Wire about Transformers 2 and the story. Pretty much Orci just re-iterated information we where already aware of. Thanks to Chris and Moriah for the link.

"The humor will be similar, but the structure of the movie is a little bit more like many sequels, which is, the stakes are a little higher and the tone is a bit more sci-fi," Orci said in an interview at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif., on July 14. "It's got a little more of a sci-fi element. ... The bad guys are little more coherent in terms of what their plan is and what they're attempting to do. So it feels like more of a sci-fi battle."

The sequel will also offer a better balance between humans and robots, added Orci, who was promoting his upcoming Fox SF series, Fringe. "Maybe there's less humans," he said. "The first movie was predicated on the structure of a mystery, at which point, at the midpoint, the Transformers are revealed. This movie is structured differently in that you now know there are Transformers in the world, and therefore you can get right to them. As a result, there's kind of more Transformers throughout the movie."

Orci, who co-wrote the first movie and the sequel with partner Alex Kurtzman, remained coy about what new Transformers audiences will see. Arcee, the female Autobot who transforms into a motorcycle, "was in an early draft of the first movie, and she may make an appearance," he said. "We'll see."

But expect to see Soundwave, the Decepticon who was cut out of the first film. "Yes," Orci said. "Soundwave's in it." It's unclear whether he will transform into a tape deck, as in previous incarnations, or into something else.

Orci also declined to comment on rumors that the film will spend a bit more time on the Transformer homeworld of Cybertron.

But Orci promised that fans won't be disappointed. "If you liked the first one, you'll like this one," he said. "But if you were a genuine fan of what Transformers was and felt a little bit left behind by the first one, I think this one's going to be more for you."

Megan Fox Discusses Transformers

Megan Fox spoke with Sci Fi Wire recently about the Transformers 2 shot.

Megan Fox, who reprises the role of Mikaela Banes in Michael Bay's upcoming sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, told SCI FI Wire that the movie is crazier than the first one in terms of action "by like a hundred."

"I'm doing good," Fox said in an interview in Santa Monica, Calif., on July 14. "I've had like four injuries so far. So I'm accumulating the injuries and just going on with it. It's fun. It's what it is. It's a Michael Bay movie."

Part of that is being tossed around in the same yellow Camaro as in the first film, Fox said. "There's a different Bumblebee, the yellow one that you see in the movie, that we drive," she said, adding: "I don't drive it, but it drives at like 120 miles an hour, and we're in it with no seat belts or harnesses or anything. It's, if we die, we die, all in the name of Transformers."

The sequel picks up the story of Mikaela and Sam Witwicky (again played by Shia LaBeouf) two years after they met. "It's sort of like a jump," Fox said. "It's two years from when you last saw us, obviously, because it's matching with when the movie comes out. We're college age, and our relationship ... we just get together in the last one. And so you miss all of that new relationship. There's no love scenes, no big hookup in the end. That's all, sort of, in the past. Because we've been together for years now. So we're just together, hanging out, doing what we got to do to ... That's all I can say!"

Fox allowed that Mikaela has remained in Los Angeles while Sam has gone off to college in the east.

"We're shooting in L.A. for the next few weeks," Fox said. "We were in Philadelphia and New Jersey on the East Coast. We're only now in our fifth week of filming, so we're here for a few weeks. ... I'm not in college. Shia's character's in college. I'm back home."

But do they eventually wind up in the same place? "Yeah, we do," she said with a smile.

The two years jump we already knew about since Sam went from a sophomore in high school to a college freshman. At least now know they are in LA (and probably Edwards which is very close by) for the next few weeks so hopefully some interesting stuff will come out. The article link is thanks to Chris and also to Jeany for the photo of Megan on set from Megan-Fox.net.

Shooting Hiatus Ended

Roberto Orci has verified on the Don Murphy message boards that the shooting hiatus (if there was one) has ended. From his post, "we never stopped -- shooting been going on all week and last week". This has been further verified in an article at Entertainment Weekly where they spoke with Michael Bay who is at a "remote air force base." He is probably at Edwards Air Force Base and since Bay likes secrets and the Armed Services are good at keeping secrets, we don't get to enjoy the same flow of information as we did from the previous month.

In the EW articles, Bay spoke about Transformers while avoiding revealing much of anything. He re-iterated that the sequel will "stand on its own" and is not a set up for a third movie. He also said "There are a lot of rumors out there, but we’ve released a lot of fake stuff. We’ve done a really good job of keeping things secret." Considering the wonderful world of special effects, pretty much anything and everything can be "fake" since it pretty easy to change things out as needed. Bay has a cool TF hat though.

So the main takeaway of all this is filming has been officially verified as resuming, Bay likes secrets and stuff will not be verified until the movie comes out (duh!).

Thanks to Esther and Rich for the links.

MTV Interview Matthew Marsden

MTV has scored the first interview with Matthew Marsden since he scored a lead role as SAS Graham in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The full interview with video is here. Thanks to Chris for the link.

The highlights:
- Avid comic book reader who collected Transformer comics (probably UK version written by Simon Furman) as a child. "I was an avid comic book reader as a kid; I used to get literally one every day. I'd get Spider-Man,' 'X-Men,' mainly all the Marvel comics, and Saturday was 'Transformers' day. ... I was a real big fan of 'Transformers,' and I went opening day to see the first [Michael Bay movie]. I loved it. I thought Shia was amazing. He's a very talented actor, and I think they did all the Transformers justice."
- His role of Graham is member of British Special Forces attached to Lennox's (Josh Duhamel) team, "there's two of us initially. And we're battling the bad guys."
- "I just try to be real," he said. "My character is not an amusing character. He's a soldier, so all the stuff that I did is very much rooted in reality and what I know from the experiences of my friends [who are in the military]. So, it's just very real and nothing über-spectacular."
- ""We went to Pennsylvania and shot at the Bethlehem Steel Plant, which was really amazing," he recalled, discussing a moment when the soldiers battle a Decepticon. "We had this scene where it's, like, 'That's where he is!' and you have to shoot at him. 'He's going that way!' It's quite a far distance away, so we had to use a laser pointer [to stand in for the robot]. It's all fun; I love that stuff."
- So far has not met Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf since his scenes has intersected with theirs yet.
- He has not received the entire script to the film; I am assuming he has only seen the pages for the scenes related to what he is doing.
- "They're going to be bringing more Transformers in," Marsden revealed. "And there's definitely [some] in the scene that we do, different Transformers, so fans should be very excited."
- Hit it off with Michael discussing the military (both fans) and that led to the role of Graham being expanded and "I know I don't die...so that can't be bad, can it?"

Transformers 2 Is Voight-less

In an interview with Collider.com, Jon Voight said he will NOT be in Transformers 2, contradicting a statement that he would be from Tyrese. I guess at that point Tyrese thought he was still going to be in it but that changed as since then Voight accepted the role of the villain for season 7 of 24 which will occupy an unknown amount of his time. This begs the question of who his "replacement" will be for the purpose of access to military assets.

The interview was conducted after the 2008 Saturn Awards where Transformers won Best Special Effects. The video interview is here. Thanks to Russell for the link and post title.

The highlights:
- "I am not in Transformers 2."
- Started 24 work that day, joined the show because fan of the show and Kiefer Sutherland.
- Knocked out by the finished work on Transformers and not surprised by its success.
- Impressed by the CGI, "fantastic, just fantastic."
- Praised Michael Bay for his work, "attention to detail...impressive imagination, a great sense of humor. He's got enormous personality on the set. It gets great results, gets everyone going..."

Megan Talks Re-Writes

MTV interviewed Megan Fox the other day where she discussed Transformers 2 and the script. Thanks to Russell for the link.

From the article:

“As big as the first movie was, this is 10 times as big, 10 times as many set pieces, explosions, and acrobatic stunts,” she told us about “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. “Shia and I make out a little bit; I don’t know if anyone wants to see that.”

Something tells us that Shia LeBeouf wants to see it.

Regardless, Megan insisted that the blossoming romance between Sam and Mikaela is only one of the many plotlines Bay will be juggling for the June 2009 flick. But according to the actress, some last-minute scrambling has been taking place to make sure their romance can hold its own among all those Autobot vs. Decepticon showdowns.

“You know, we’ve been having script meetings, and we’ve been reworking the script, because they wrote it fast because of the writer’s strike,” she explained. “And, we’ve just been going through and trying to do some character stuff for Shia and myself in the middle of this crazy world that they’re in.”

“I can tell you that we’re on locations in some really exotic places,” she added. “It’s just going to be a badass movie. It’s just going to be a popcorn-visual-spectacle, summer film.”

As for Michael Bay’s main directorial input to his lead actress, Megan had this to say: “His main note to me is just to look hot; so I try my best.”

Orci: Soundwave in Transformers II

IGN is reporting that Roberto Orci, one of the writers on Transformers 2, has verified that fan favorite Soundwave will be in the movie. Orci remained mum on details such as what form he will take, the role in the story, and whether Ravage (rather then asking about Laserbeak for some reason) will show up.

From the interview:

Q: What's the status of Transformers 2?
ORCI: That starts shooting in three weeks.

Q: What do you want to do that builds from the first one?
ORCI: We want to follow some of our lead characters which we thought were so successful. Shia's character; where is he two years later? His girlfriend, where is she two years later? But for fans, I guess I'll address this more for the fans, because I think if you didn't know Transformers at all and you came in and you liked the first movie, you'll like the second one. However, some of the die hard fans, which we were a member of that group, felt, well, maybe it's a little light. Maybe it wasn't science fictiony enough. And I think the second one will deliver on a true Transformers story. You know, the first one, we had a limited budget for what it was. Every second of Transformer time is a million dollars or whatever the heck it is, so this time, because we were able to prove through the whole thing that it's a viable live-action movie, we have a little more freedom this time to actually learn about the Transformers, see them, hear them. It's a better balance between the humans and the Transformers.

Q: Is there one particular Transformer, good or bad, that you absolutely had to get into the sequel?
ORCI: Yes.

Q: You're not gonna tell us.
ORCI: I'll tell you. We had to get Soundwave in there.

Q: Nice. Where Soundwave goes, will Ravage follow?
ORCI: Perhaps! Who's Ravage? ... I'm kidding! You know, we had Ravage in an early draft of the first movie and Soundwave, and we couldn't do it right and I think this time hopefully we'll have the ability to do it.

Bay: No Hill, Palmer

Michael Bay peaked out from his Transformers 2 prep and posted on his blog:

No we have stopped negotiating with Jonah, and Teresa Palmer was not considered for a role - you have wrong info.
M

I suspect that Jonah Hill being in the movie will continue right up to the release date but I think between the EW article, Bonaventura, and now Bay we can all breath a sigh of relief that that bullet has been dodged. As for Teresa Palmer, that is based on the rumor that started based on a post from her talent agency. I am betting there are some red faces around that office. That leaves Isabel Lucas in the casting rumor list. On a side note, isn't it time to have a teaser trailer rumor get started? It would be great to have a teaser come out July 4th weekend.

Bonaventura: No Aircraft Carrier

MTV recently interviewed Transformers 2 Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. He confirmed that Jonah Hill will not be in the movie (yea!) but that "ultimately, we'll have a couple of casting surprises for everybody soon." He also confirmed that shooting starts June 2nd with shooting in Philadelphia and Bethlehem.

Finally, he shot down the long standing rumors of a transforming aircraft carrier.
“A transforming aircraft carrier?” Bonaventura repeated, denying its existence. “We saw a Japanese film that had something like that, so maybe that’s where that comes from.”

“We never really talked about that, practically speaking,” he said of the character who might or might not have been known as Broadside, and who Bay has said was simply too expensive to create. “There was some Japanese animated movie we saw where that occurred, and we were like ‘Wow! Look at that thing!’”

So to sum, no Jonah Hill, no transforming aircraft carrier, shooting starts next month.

Shia Talks Transformers 2

Shia LaBeouf discussed Transformers 2 with Empire magazine. From Shia, "It’s going to be bad-ass. We’re not making another one unless it is, and Mike is definitely not resting on his laurels — he’s doing insane shit again. And the pre-vizes that I’ve seen… it’s just massive. If the first one was any indicator of how massive massive can be, this is going to blow that out of the water. It’s insane. Mike’s mind was just kind of made for this — it’s amazing. There’s going to be a lot more characterization with the robots, which I’m excited about."

They tried to get more details from him but “There’s gonna be new robots on both sides. I can say that the war isn’t over… It’s hard to do interviews when you’re not allowed to talk about the movies. It’s like I give two or three things away and then I get reprimanded for it. It’s never fun to get reprimanded by these people”. Stupid secret keeping.

More From Bay on TF2

Bay held a Transformers "Tech Show" where he discussed the behind the scenes of Transformers and also gave some non specific details on Transformers 2. Shia LaBeouf and members of the sound and VFX crew where there as well.

The full article is here.

The highlights:
- Doing pre-production on TF2, still on track for June 2nd start date for filming.
- His script draft was about 60 pages long. (In general, a page equals a minute so this supports the idea that he created a detailed outline versus a full blown shooting script).
- Meeting planned with the writers on Monday to start hammering out a finalized shooting draft.
- "Transformers 2 will deepen the different robot characters as well as the humor"
- Also indicated that a "geriatric robot" will join the robotic cast. (I assume this means Kup but could be an original creation.)
- If even writer's strike occurs, will "make our date" of opening on June 26, 2009.
- Bay believes sound is "50% of the movie, while the visual effects are a whole other movie unto itself."
- Transformers only had two days of blue-screen shooting, the part where Shia and Fox climbed on the robots.
- Mentioned that there was "30 animators on 16 characters and 47 transformations, each one unique."
- Sound mixer Kevin O'Connel is up for an Oscar, hopefully the 20th time will be the charm.
- "The sound designers had to come up with characteristic personalities for the different robots, and make the large robot sounds work" (Beats me but sounded interesting).

Bay: No Dinobots

IESB has posted a brief interview with Michael Bay during the Visual Effects Society Awards (Transformers won four), where he provided an update on Transformers 2. The video is here. Basically, "Transformers 2 is coming along great." He also mentioned that in making TF 1, he did listen to the fans, but not everything they said. "Listened to my gut...[and] certain people" close to Transformers.

When asked specifically about whether the Dinobots would be in the movie he said, "You are going to see a lot of different new stuff. Tip of the iceberg of what you saw last movie in terms of characters and different type of species I guess....This time we're really good at keeping stuff under wraps."

Bay intentionlly avoid directly answering the question about the Dinobots, but later on his forums, his admin Nelson wrote "He said no Dinobots."

So there you go, no Dinobots in the movie. Sad for fans but considering the realistic angle that the Bay has pushed from the first movie, it does make a lot of sense. While Transfans would wet themselves at seeing transforming Dinosaurs, I think the average audience would just groan and roll their eyes at it. Hopefully in their place we will get a gestalt such as the Constructicons. Also he mentioned "species". Wonder what that means?

Except for the race of the Headmasters race and the Quintessons, I am not really aware of that many species in the Transformers Universe since most of the various planets, except Earth, where all Transformers in some form or fashion. This done for practical reasons since not considered as violent to show, say a robot planet and its citizens being consumed, then it would to be showing the same done to humans or the equivalent. Maybe a new species specific to the movie franchise? Or it could mean nothing where "species" is referencing the sub-genres within the Transformers mythos (Gestalts, Triple-Changers, etc). As always, time will tell.