Magazine Confirms Seven Constructicons

TFW2005's Dinobot Nuva has posted a scan from an article in the current issue of Nick Magazine that has comments from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen lead animator Shawn Kelly were he talks about eyes and the complexity of Devastator and merging seven vehicles. This is, to my knowledge, the first time someone directly associated with the movie has confirmed that seven vehicles combine to form Devastator. Previous mentions were second hand information in articles, a toy, and novelizations.


Devastator

Says Shawn, "Devastator is easily the most complicated character we've ever done because of his size, which is absolutely gigantic. Just trying to figure out how he might form into this giant thing and then walk around was a huge challenge." Animating Devastator required so much computing power that one artist's computer overheated and its insides melted!

"We tried to make a scary transformation for [Devastator] where things are slamming together and getting pulled around. All seven vehicles are shoving themselves together and clicking into place as he grows into this giant, scary dude."

Emotion via the Eyes:

An important part of making the robots look real is their eyes. According to Shawn, "We had to pay a lot of attention to the robots' eyes because a lot of them don't have much more to their face. As long as we can bring the eyes to life, it works pretty well." To do this, animators spent time studying real eyes to see how they move and blink. They also filmed each other and studied the eyes of different actors as they recorded their lines.

LA Times Profile On Bay

As part of a sneak peek of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the LA Times also wrote a profile on director Michael Bay where he discusses his career and working on TF2. Below are a few highlights and the full article can be found here.

"This one," he said, "is barely going to make it to theaters. You have no idea how complicated my life is."

With this new film, he describes the "huge canvas" of its visual effects in terms of computer memory -- at Industrial Light & Magic, the San Francisco effects house, the first "Transformers" movie took up an astounding 15 terabytes; the new one required 140 terabytes. "That breaks every record," said Bay, who is far more Barnum than Bergman.

"The way I do it, we work hard, we work fast," Bay said. "We shoot 12-hour days. . . . One thing I can't stand about Hollywood is waste. I've gotten to be a very, very efficient shooter. On average, these type of sequels run in the $230-million to $240-million range and we're shooting this for a flat $200 million. A lot of these directors have second unit the entire time, that's millions of dollars just wasted. We do it all ourselves."

Bay likes to conserve his budget so he can film in exotic places that other directors find too difficult to access and, along with emphasis on pyro work and stunts, gives his productions the vibe of daredevil tourism. On this new film, he "weaseled" his way into the Giza pyramid complex in Egypt ("We were the first movie in 30 years to shoot physically on the pyramids") where he shot with a 150-member crew for three days and, a few days later, he took his team to the top of the rock-carved architecture of Petra in Jordan, where military helicopters ferried 36 loads of gear to the perilous perch.

The choppers, by the way, were thanks to a Jordanian prince who loved Bay's first robot movie, while in Egypt it was Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, who turned out to be "a big fan of 'Transformers,' " Bay said, sounding surprised himself.

"We're still not quite sure how he does it when he's directing," says screenwriter Alex Kurtzman, who worked on both "Transformers" films. "People who work closest with him call his method 'Bay-os' because it feels like wartime chaos. There are explosions going off in every direction and half as many cameras flying all over the place, and you stand there thinking none of it's going to make any sense, then you watch the scenes cut together and realize something shocking: He's choreographed a ballet. He knows exactly which pieces he's going to use from each camera and he'd already cut the scene together in his head."

"To make a movie like 'Transformers,' " he said, "you have to shut out everything that's out there . . . we work on it every single day for two years."

He sounded skeptical about directing a third "Transformers" and still surprised that he made the first two. Steven Spielberg came to him with the pitch 3 1/2 years ago, but Bay, no fan of superhero cinema, thought a franchise about alien robots sounded like "a very bad idea." He changed his mind when he considered a dark, realistic tone instead of a shiny, cosmic tale.

In recent weeks, Bay has been in a public spat with McG, whose "Terminator Salvation" has giant robots that Bay feels look too much like "Transformers." Bay has had a number of feuds (because, he explained, "I say what I think") but it turns out that sometimes the explosions are fake. With a wink, he admitted that he phoned McG to turn up the volume. "I told him, 'We're like boxers going at it this summer,' " Bay said. "We have to have some fun with it."

Personally I always liked a realistic tone to Transformers. It has always fit the franchise like a glove; just see last two seasons of Beast Wars and pretty much all of Machine Wars. It just takes creators with the right approach and open mindedness to get the full potential. Shoot the comic films and the like that work best (Spider-Man, Batman, X-Men, etc) work best when writers and directors approach it as very real rather than tongue in cheek. If they are unable to take the material seriously then they are no appropriate for the job, thankfully something Steven Spielberg recognizes. As for the McG/Bay thing, it was essentially two guys comparing sizes ("my movies is bigger", "no mine is", etc) and contained no Transformers 2 information so I just chose to ignore it.

Orci, Kurtzman Talk Ehren, Lack of Trilogy Plans

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, while taking about Star Trek, also discussed Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with Newsarama. Below is a few segments with the full article here.

Did the success of the first one allow you to go even bigger with this installment?
Kurtzman: Certainly the movie is bigger, but that is definitely not how we thought about it. We feel like the action scenes in these movies are a given to some degree, but they always have to have a serious emotional context or they mean nothing. That means you have to have a small character story at the heart of whatever movie you’re making. For us, it was really coming up with an emotional story that we believed in and felt was sequel worthy.
Orci: And yes, it’s bigger. We have more resources for effects and some of the locations which are just gorgeous and amazing.

NRAMA: With all the destruction they caused, how does the government view the Autobots?
Kurtzman: The Autobots are in partnership with our government, but not everybody here at home trusts them. There’s the question of whether the Autobots are really welcome on this planet, or aren’t they? That’s part of the story that plays in the relationship with the military and soldiers they met in the first one. Because Mission City was under a communication black out, the world is not fully aware of The Transformers. It’s become like the Area 51 which is something that plays out in the movie. Can the secret be kept?

NRAMA: Ehren Kruger is also credited on this script. How much input did he have?
Kurtzman: He was our partner. We all wrote it together. Two weeks before the writers’ strike, we all agreed to do it and literally had a short time to come up with an outline.
Orci: We lived in a hotel room together for three months. Director Michael Bay would come every day to check on our progress. Ehren was on one side of the room. There was a dividing door and Bob and I were on the other side. At noon, we would meet in the middle and trade pages, go back and forth to our respective sides, read each other’s work, and give notes. We were a partnership of three on that one.

NRAMA: Do you see these Transformer films as complete stand alone stories or a trilogy?
Kurtzman: That was not our conscious intent. And Michael was very clear too. We just wanted to make one big gigantic Transformers movie at the time.

Bay Talks Shia, Fox; New Voice Cast Member

LA Times has posted an interview with Michael Bay has he discusses his ongoing work editing the movie and working with Shia LaBeouf. The writer, Geoff Boucher, was even able to view about 25 minutes of footage from the film. We also learn that Tom Kenny (the SpongeBob Squarepants voice) has been cast in the film. As who is not specificed but it sounds like Wheelie. Below are snippets from the article, which can be found here.

He showed me a comedy sequence with the Witwicky family getting young Sam (Shia LaBeouf) ready to go off to Princeton University. There was a lot of "empty nest" humor with Sam's mom, Judy (Julie White), and dad, Ron (Kevin Dunn), and then the house is all but leveled by an unwelcome metallic visitor. The scene has a lot of humor in it but Bay said the film, overall, is darker than its 2007 predecessor. "This one," Bay said, "is less quippy."

There was the first scene in the film for the nubile Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) and of course she was wearing very little and posed like a grease-monkey hottie on a garage pin-up poster. "Of course we had to get that out of the way," Bay said with mock resignation. There was plenty more of Fox in seductive mode and a romantic rival as well -- at Princeton, a curvy mystery girl [Alice, played by Isabel Lucas] pounces on Sam in his dorm-room but there's something a little alien about her. Maybe it's the nasty steel tail that suddenly emerges from under her skirt like a scorpion's stinger.

"People I've shown this to instantly feel like, 'Hey, I know that family, they’re fun to watch.' It’s like when you watch a favorite TV series, there are things about familiarity you like and it can be satisfying. There are other benefits from doing it a second time. Movies do take a life. Things spark and take a life, things you thought would be important drop away and a tone is set. With the sequels, you know the tone. That’s a huge thing."

There was also a section of the film in a Princeton classroom with a leering Lothario of a professor (Rainn Wilson) who has a run-in with new student Witwicky, who is suddenly a sputtering genius thanks to his encounter with a powerful shard of alien technology. Bay based the sleazy Wilson character on a randy film instructor he remembered back at his alma mater, Wesleyan University, who wore leather pants and had a whispered reputation for seducing coeds.

He showed me a sequence with a cranky new Autobot [Jetfire] with a lot of stylized personality (think of a windy old geezer with the metallic equivalent of a braided beard) and he mentioned that the smaller robots will be a key part of this film. Tom Kenny (the star voice of "SpongeBob SquarePants") and ubiquitous voice veteran Frank Welker are on board and I think little kids in particular are going to seize on this movie. "Jeffrey Katzenberg gave me advice once. He said it's great to have little characters with these big huge voices," Bay noted of some of the manic little bots.

"Shia came in and auditioned and he was this little skinny kid. ‘Dude you’re like this action king!’ he was so giddy and he wanted to be in action movie so bad. I told him, ‘All right, all right, just calm down.’ I instantly loved his acting because he is disarming, he is great at improv. He’s got this everyday kind of guy that thing. He’s much more charismatic in this movie, too. He’s coming into his own. He’s a smart actor. You sometimes have to push him when he doesn’t believe it. He’ll go through a dark period. With actors you’ve got to be a psychologist. You have to see the darkness coming, especially with funny actors. I can see it coming on and I have to say, ‘Shia…’ and pull him aside. I explain it to him and he’ll come out of it. And then he’ll say, ‘You’re right, you’re right, I was in that mood…’ The reason is they're scared of things sometimes. It’s not easy being an actor and putting yourself out there.”

On Fox: "I brought Megan in when I was producing a different movie and she auditioned for a two-day part. We gave the role to someone else but I remembered her when it came to this movie. There were a lot of young women that auditioned for ‘Transformers,’ but she got it. She was very junior as an actress. There was a chemistry thing, though, between her and Shia. She’s vastly improved over the last one."

Thanks to Mcat and Austin for the link.

LA Transformers 2 Trailer Premiere Video

It is now past 12pm PST/ 3pm EST, so sadly the trailer delay seems to be correct. In the meantime enjoy Entertainment Tonight's report from the LA screening of the new Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen trailer that included Shia LaBeouf, Tyrese Gibson and Michael Bay. Don't forget that E.T. plans on airing the trailer in tonight's show and it will debut online at Yahoo Movies! around 4:30pm PST, 7:30pm EST, or 12:30am GMT. Or just keep an eye on the blog because soon as I know its up, I let you know. Thanks to wickedweezl and migiuman for the link.

Megan Fox Talks With USA Weekend

As part of USA Weekend's Summer Movie Preview cover picture with Seth Rogen, Transformers' Megan Fox discussed her career, kissing Shia LaBeouf and working on Revenge of the Fallen. The full interview is here.

Before landing high-profile movies and magazine covers, you were [a] TV sitcom sidekick. Did you ever doubt you'd wind up where you are now?
Megan: ...I started acting as a way to make money and avoid college. I sort of fell into it having no idea what I was doing ... in "Transformers" as well.

Is it true that you didn't know you were the female lead in "Transformers" until the end of filming?
Megan: Yes. Everything was on lockdown. The script wasn't released to anyone. The director, Michael Bay, was the only one who'd seen it.

Megan, you and "Transformers" co-star Shia LaBeouf are good friends. Were your make-out scenes uncomfortable?
Megan: It's always weird. That's not something that's ever romantic or sexy. Doing an on-set kiss is just strange, and knowing Shia so well makes it even more strange.

OK, but the ladies want to know: How is he?
Megan: [Laughs.] Very good.

In "Revenge," you flee evil Decepticons for just about the entire movie. At least your male co-stars hauled butt in comfy sneakers -- you were in heels!
Megan: Stilettos -- and for the last part of the film, motorcycle boots. I had major shinsplints and threw out my back a couple times. Beyond that, Michael likes everyone freakishly tan, so we were painted maroon, like in the old Westerns when they hired Caucasians to play Native Americans. I had on fake eyelashes, running through the desert with sand stuck in them, and I'm sweating off all the makeup. It looked like we were making a tragedy.

For many young actors, Megan, being in "Revenge" would be like the pinnacle of their career. But you've hinted that, in the end, movies about shape-shifting robots are nothing to write home about. How do you define success?
Megan: I'd like to develop my skills to where I can be recognized as a good actress. That's my end goal. It has nothing to do with the box office. It's about peer recognition and critical acclaim, even on a small level. I mean, I'm not trying to take Cate Blanchett down. I just want to improve.

Paley Festival Interview With Writers

IGN has posted a video with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci at the Paley Festival (from last weekend I think). The interview asked them about Transformers they wanted to add (Soundwave, Arcee, Ravage, etc) and they also discussed their goal with the movie's main villain. Thanks to The Chad for the link.

More Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen News & Previews

Writers Talk Transformers 2 Action and Comedy

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman dicussed tone and balancing the action and humor of the sequel with SciFi Wire. Thanks to DeceptiFreak for the link.

...the sequel remains tonally consistent with their first giant-robot movie. Early teasers suggest a darker or more somber tone, but the writers said that is only one element of the new story.

"Actually, I think you'll find that it has all the same tone of the first movie," Kurtzman said in an exclusive interview on Thursday night in Hollywood, where he sat on a panel at the Paley Festival on his Fox series Fringe. "The story's a little smoother, and it's a little bit darker, so it does dip in there a little bit, but it has all the same humor, if not more than the first movie."

If the first Transformers shifted between action and comedy with some darker undertones, Orci thought the duo did an even better job balancing those elements the second time around. "I think it's a little smoother, actually," Orci said. "We had the first movie for practice. So we were able to hone in on the tone a little bit more sharply in focus on the second movie."

One of the spectacles visible in the teaser is a scene in which a transforming robot brings down an entire factory. The writers hinted at the consequences of that event. "It could be a trap, that scene," Orci teased.

Bay Talks Favorite Transformers

MTV has posted another snippet of their interview with Michael Bay. This time he discusses his favorite Tranformers in the movie.

"The Fallen is the ultimate bad boy," Bay explained of the mysterious evildoer glimpsed briefly in the trailer for the June 24 film, whose vengeful mission gives the film's title its double meaning. "He goes way back in the Transformer world. He's one of the first Transformers."

"The twins are quite fun," Bay said of the comedy-relief duo, remembering his inspiration for including them. "I just kept thinking, 'What if we have two dumb Transformers that are young and dumb?' ... They are just irreverent, dumb Transformers."

"[Devastator is] the most complicated model that George Lucas' company has done in 30 years," Bay marveled. "In all the 30 years of [Industrial Light and Magic] making movies, it's the most complicated digital model — and it's tenfold in terms of the most complicated. It's taken a long time to do.

"There's a lot of great new characters in this movie — some funny ones, some devious ones, there are some little teeny ones that are a little irreverent," Bay said of a robot group that includes such newbies as the four-legged Ravage, sleek Sideswipe and others. "You know what is better in this movie? The acting of the robots. It's just evolved from the last one, and in terms of the animation we are able to put these robots' [emotions] in."

Such acting innovations have also helped a big breakout robot from the original "Transformers" film, who Bay insisted remains his favorite Transformer of the group. "Bumblebee is great in this movie," he promised.

Shia Updates EW On Hand Injury

Entertainment Weekly has posted an article that provides an update on the condition of Shia LaBeouf's injured left hand from a car accident, working on set with the injury and another near miss. The full interview is here.

What's been going on with your hand since the first surgery?
I've had screws and plates put in. They put a screw in one of my knuckles. And they shaved a piece of bone off my hip and made a [bone for my] finger out of it.

Was your hand out the window of the vehicle when it got injured?
Yeah.

How is the hand now?
I'm on my third surgery. That's coming up in a week or two [from April 2]. My middle finger is still crooked as a f---ing noodle, so they've gotta straighten it out and put a screw in it.

How long will it take to recover from this third surgery?
I imagine like two months and I'll be back on my feet.

How much usage will you get back of your left hand?
Probably about 80-something percent. I'll be able to make a fist again. There's a knuckle I'll never be able to move again, but that's probably the only permanent damage, other than the scarring.

What do you remember of the initial surgical procedure?
The first voice I heard when I came out of surgery was Harrison's. Harrison [Ford] called me on the phone and said, "Hey, are you okay?" I said, "Yeah, I'm good." He said, "Well, then you need to get back to work." I said, "Are you serious?" He said, "That's the way this cookie crumbles." So I went back to work. The show doesn't stop for anybody.

And of course Harrison, your costar in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, shot most of the second Indy movie with a seriously screwed-up back. How soon did you go back to work?
I was only down for two weeks. The average bone healing time is six months.

Did you consider postponing your return to the set at all?
When I came back it was just out of the guilt that I had. I pride myself on my professionalism, and this is the first issue I've ever had where I wasn't able to come to set, and it's f---ing heartbreaking when you gotta look at your crew. You know, what can you do? You just gotta grab your balls and move forward. There's nothing else to do. The thing that cut deep to the core of me was knowing that there were 65 human beings [in the crew] who are like family to me, waiting for me to come back. They were sitting on their asses doing nothing because of my...you know, my situation. It's the most intense s--- I've ever dealt with, and am still dealing with. I mean, if people look at me like a drunk a--hole, that's okay. But I know my family looks at me like a whole different person, and I know my crew respects me immensely. And at the end of the day, I can't do much more.

How debilitating has it been to have no use of your left hand all these months?
It's hard to do anything. It's hard to button your pants or brush your teeth, let alone jump off a three-story building into a pad. This movie was the most physical thing I've ever had to do, and I had to do it with a broken hand. It's the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. Constantly having to take hits and fall and run through explosions and get hit and beat up all day. Aside from my hand, I also got 25 stitches making this movie, in various parts of my body -- stuff that had nothing to do with my hand.

In October, there was a report that you got hit with a prop just above one eye and needed stitches.
I basically stuck a f---ing sharp object through my eyelid.

Michael Bay, your director, says it was a large prop of some kind that caught you, which he didn't want to identify or describe because it's a plot spoiler. He also says he dropped to his knees as soon as he heard someone on the set say, "There's blood."
They stitched me up in a military hospital. The doctor looks at me and he holds his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart from one another. I said, "What is that?" He said, "Blindness." This is the most insane s--- I've ever been a part of.

More Transformers Tidbits from Bay

MTV has posted more of their conversation with Michael Bay at ShoWest. In their first post, he revealed that Arcee annoyed him enough that she just had to die. In this second part he discusses the IMAX Experience, Megan Fox, and no car chases.

The video portion is below but so far I have not had much luck getting it working, may just be server overload.

Highlights:

- "There's no car chase in this movie. There's a lot of different types of action. In some movies, it's the same action throughout the entire movie. There's a lot of different types of action in this one, and that makes it interesting."
- "You will see Devastator in IMAX. You heard it here first. [Several scenes] are going to be on IMAX, which is awesome. Some of our main scenes were shot with IMAX cameras, so the screen will pop wide [if you see the film in an IMAX theater]. It's the first movie to do serious digital effects in IMAX quality."
- On Megan Fox: "Wait until you see] the very first shot in the movie," he replied when we asked whether Megan gets a moment as memorable as her hood-opening flirtation with Bay's lingering camera in the first film. "You'll see."

Removed video since still not working on the MTV website so embed isn't going to work either
The main takeaway for me is unlike most IMAX Experience movies, Transformers 2 will actually be worth the travel time and ticket cost since its doing more then just showing an oversized scene. As Bay points out, this will be the first movie to make real use of CGI elements for IMAX scenes something previous movies have not spent the money on to create.

Orci and Kurtzman Video Interview

The Hollywood Reporter has posted a video interview with Transformers 2 writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman as they discuss working on the sequel and their decision to return. The goal was to top the first movie and show how the government and sentient robots would interact and maintain secrecy. The scope is "absolutely bigger and a lot more robots."

Orci and Kurtzman Talk Transformers

Sci-Fi Wire has posted a brief interview with Transformers writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen using many of Orci's recent Q&A responses to attempt to get more detail. I am guessing this an add-on of the much longer Star Trek interview the website has posted earlier in the week. Thanks to middlerealm for the link.

Below are select portions with the full article here.

You guys were not originally going to write the sequel. Is that right?Orci: Correct.

What changed your mind?
Kurtzman: Well, we resisted it for a while, because ... the first movie was so ... tough to find, you know? ...the story was not immediately obvious to us. And ... they really wanted us to do it. And we said, "We just can't do it until we know what this is." ...We spent a lot of time thinking about the sequels that we really loved as kids. You know, Aliens and Terminator 2 and Wrath of Khan and Empire Strikes Back and Superman 2. The thing that all of those movies had in common were that they stood on their own as films.
Orci: Yeah, it was both that and we were afraid we were not going to have literally the time to do it. The [writers'] strike was looming, we were in the middle of [writing] Star Trek, etc. So when they agreed to give us help in the form of Ehren Kruger [The Skeleton Key, The Ring 2], who is fantastic, we realized the three of us really could do it and not just phone it in.

And you had a mandate to develop a bigger movie?
Kurtzman: That doesn't really mean anything to us, honestly. Like, we always get to the action last. The action is born of whatever challenges your characters are facing...
Orci: The theme started coming out of Sam leaving home, now. It's two years later, he's going to college. ... What are the responsibilities and the cutting off that goes on when you leave home? And that mirrors the fact the Transformers themselves are away from home. And in a new home. And what are your responsibilities as you kind of step out into the world on your own without your support system? ...

There are so many [Transformers] that you have to pick from. How do you winnow them down, how do you add the new ones, integrate them?
Orci: Well, the easier one, obviously, is the fact that we inherit certain ones from the previous movie and from the fact that Prime and Bumblebee are kind of the two front-and-center relationships. ... In terms of villains, it was again going back to all the source material. ... We got a bunch of the comics again, we got a bunch of the old cartoons, and just started looking for kind of the most elemental bad guy that kind of jumped off the material, and we found one in the Fallen.

And you've got to bring Megatron back.
Orci: Exactly. ...But then many of them were also selected during the strike while we couldn't do anything, as a matter of necessity, by Hasbro and by [director] Michael Bay for some of the action sequences. They literally had to start designing somebody.

What's the name of the gigantic first one that you see?
Kurtzman: Wheelbot. ... (Temp name for Demolisher from call sheets)

Jetfire, RC, Mudflap on the Autobot side?
Orci: Yeah, right. Jetfire was in the treatment. Mudflap might have been one of those in-betweeners. ...

On the Decepticon side, Starscream, Soundwave, the Fallen and then the Constructicons, which are several different ones: Demolisher, Hightower, Long Haul, Mixmaster, Rampage and Scrapper?
Orci: That's them.

So they're all there?
Orci: Yeah.

There's still more, right? I mean, there's others?
Orci: There are. ...

You've got a girl robot for the first time, Arcee. Do you ever deal with why she's a girl robot, or is that just one of those things?
Orci: We may still, as we go through and see the final finals, but we've gone back and forth on that. ... Some of the fans debating, "Oh, man, if there's some lame explanation I'm going to hate it" versus "They'd better explain it." So. We'll see how it ends up. We honestly have things in our back pocket; we'll see which one works better.

And you, Bob, were quoted as saying you were trying to get Leonard Nimoy to do the Fallen?
Orci: He originally was the voice in the animated movie, and at one of the conventions, Alex and I actually spoke to him about it, and he's like, "Yeah, I'd be open to that." But it'll be Michael's decision.

Have you talked with Michael about that?
Orci: Oh, sure. ... He's like, "Hmm." And we're like, "You know you're cousins, right?" [Nimoy's wife is Michael Bay's cousin.]

There was also some talk about Frank Welker, the original voice of Megatron, and whether he'd actually end up in the movie after all?
Orci: Exactly, and I think they're in the middle of hashing that out. We'll see who we get.

Frank Welker Interview

TFW2005 has posted a two part interview with Frank Welker, the one true voice of Megatron and future voice of Soundwave for the movie. The interview was done before Bay's annoucement of his intention to cast Welker as Soundwave and covers Welker's work over the decades including Transformers, how he prepares, advice for future voice person's and some memories he has. Sadly nothing specific about the movie and nor his G1 years other then he enjoyed the work. Below are some highlights and links to the full interview.

Part 1
Part 2

Highlights:
What was your reaction, when you heard about the out-pouring of support from the fans for you to reprise your role as Megatron in the recent movie?
Well, I was absolutely blown away. I really had no idea how big the Transformers were, let alone the size of the fan base. Their passion and knowledge of all things TF is pretty awesome. For me, knowing the fans felt my G1 Megatron was original and important to them and should have been included in the feature production was humbling. That loyalty has pretty much increased my hat size about two fold. Of course I realize it is "Megs" ultimately...not me.

How did you feel about the role of Megatron in the recent transformers movie going to Hugo Weaving?
Hey, if it can't be me or an immediate member of my family playing the role of Megaton, Hugo Weaving is not too shabby. He is a superb actor who always brings interesting interpretations to his work. His agent Smith from the Matrix series was an example, he used a very slight robotic twitch and underplayed it so nicely...top notch. The clips I saw of his Megatron seemed to work just fine, but it was pretty heavily processed and made the voice sound typical of what you might expect of a 40 foot mechanical villain. I think it would have been more interesting to hear less process and more Hugo.

Have you been approached at all for any further work with the franchise, either with the movie(Soundwave?) or another incarnation, such as Transformers: Animated?
Well it is a little too early to be specific but I will say yes and no. No, I have not been approached by the movie folks but yes I am still involved in the franchise...more on that later.

What differences do you find in voicing animals, as opposed to "speaking" characters?
I think people have more of a preconceived idea of what a human voice's should sound like but when you do animals there is more freedom of artistic movement. You are creating sound the listener hasn't pigeon holed ....directors are more apt to leave me alone with my etch-o-sketch and I like that.
(Welker is the "god" of animal noise work for Hollywood. If an animal makes a noise in a movie, Welker is probably the voice behind it.)

Where do you draw your inspirations from in creating a voice? What inspired you to come up with Megatron's voice?
I find that I respond more visually than verbally and looking at a drawing or seeing pictures of the characters evokes an automatic reaction which suggests a voice or attitude. If there is a description and history it helps form a point of view that adds to the overall voice. I think I enjoy looping to picture...looping is the process where you record in a studio with the film or project on the screen and you voice over to what you are looking at...because you see the action on the screen and you just go for it. The character is there and it helps the director as well since he just has to show you the scene, it is a very liberating and creative process. When I auditioned for the Transformers show, there was a sign at the door that said “pick three”. There were piles of drawings of the characters on this table so I just picked up a bunch of the Autobots and Decepticons and had at it. I was drawn to the evil characters since a lot of my work had been mixed with way too many good guys. When I saw Megatron he stood out and I liked the fact that he was the leader of the Decepticons. I tried to make his voice different from what I thought the other actors might do in hopes it would stand out. In the case of Megatron it was the first voice that came to me and the powers to be said "Hello Megatron."

As it turned out I got seven of the original parts...Autobots and Decepticons. I think Wally Burr the director was so busy doing other shows plus working this one he didn't realize he cast me in all those parts...hey, I was lucky!!

Could you cite some other notable examples?
Well, Soundwave was a very bad impression of Barry White but again I wanted something different and it was another weird sounding voice. I think now I was not going with visual as much as trying to create a voice that was different from what I had already done and from the rest of my fellow actors. I didn't realize until the middle of the season that Scotty, our engineer, had processed the shorts off that voice and added large amounts of that "vocal harmonizer thingy bobby"...that's tech speak for "lots of sound stuff." So anyway, it really was fun to do but I could have done Snooky Lanson and it still would have sounded the same. The younger folks will need to look Snooky up on Wikipedia.

What are some of your fondest memories working on the original Transformers series?
I know it is cliche, but as I mentioned above, it was a hoot working with Mike Bell who loved to pick on Peter Cullen. Peter is such a good guy and has the best laugh in town. We all tried to get his number and he was pretty easy. Of course he could dish it out too and was very funny with great stories of the Great White North. He does a French Canadian that puts me away. It was an odd cast of characters literally...and that kept it fun.

You've played a lot of villains over the years, what was your favorite "evil" role?
Probably would be Megatron because he has been the longest running and most widely known. He is fun to do because there are no limits...he can be over the top and still work, or low and subtle and make wee ones have nightmares. And note, around this voice there is controversy, that is a good sign. I think it is important that you don't sound like people expect you to, always good, unless you are running for public office!

More Ask Orci Stuff

Roberto Orci continues his dedication to the transfans by occasionally dropping in the Don Murphy forums and answering questions. For those, like me, just a little tired of the same toy news, here are the latest that seemed worth posting about. As usual, my comments in parenthesis.

Is Ravage the only minion palling around with Soundwave this time around?
not exactly...
(Perhaps he is referring to the robot thing seen on the Princeton campus set)

Any truth to the rumor that Starscream is an independent player in ROTF?
no
(I think this is in reference to the Reign of Starscream comic where he did try to take over the Decepticons briefly.)

Any chance of another full trailer which might reveal more to the story than it's tone? It did a great job of showing off the frantic pace and darker vibes, but very little by way of story. Any revelations coming?
Yeah, I'm sure another trailer is in the works that shows more of the story. Don't know when it'll be out. Maybe in front of Trek?
(Honestly I will be absolutely dumb-founded at the stupidity of the decision makers if a new trailer doesn't debut with Star Trek considering both are Paramount projects and summer tent pole movies.)

Hey Roberto, an admittedly long-winded question here. When I watch TF1 now, it always feels like it's split into 2 movies, the first half being more grounded in day to day reality, and the second being a little more high concept sci fi. I would call the Autobot arrival scene the transition between the 2 halves.
My question is do you think that TF2 will have a similar transition? Because from what I've seen so far, I think it might, but you just might know better than me.
Interesting question. In a sense, yes, because both movies have a structure where the world changes at the midpoint. In the first movie, that meant the full arrival of the autobots. In this movie, there is also a mid point that changes the movie. Very perceptive.

So when was the last bit of writing done for TF2 or are you still doing bot dialogue and such?
Oh yeah. Last bit was last week! We'll be working on it until the bitter end.

Having fun?
Yes. Except when we fight with Bay. But in retrospect, that's also part of the fun.

Haha fighting with Bay? that must be intense... Does it happen a lot?
Every time!

Who wins?
50/50. But only because there's three of us against 1!
(I posted the bit about the fighting as found it amusing. That there can be fights at all means that Bay is receptive to ideas. After all he has the position to simply say "I don't want to hear it, just do as I say" like most bosses tend to do.)

GM Cars Picked By Bay, Influenced Movie

In an interview with GM VP of Global Design Ed Wellburn, MTV blog reveals that Michael Bay hand-picked the various Autobot alt modes from their concept designs and those designs influenced the movie.

"With the first movie, there wasn’t a whole lot of dialogue back and forth between Michael Bay and myself,” GM Vice President of Global Design Ed Wellburn told MTV News, reflecting on how GM’s relationship with Bay began. “We were building the concept in secret we didn’t want anyone to know, and he was building the movie in secret. He was looking for something special from us, and we showed him a couple of cars.”

“I didn’t want to share with him Camaro unless he told me more about the movie,” Wellburn said. “There was a little negotiating, and then there it was.” The success of the Camaro’s appearance, which helped GM by raising awareness of the newly redesigned car, literally opened some big doors for Bay in “Revenge of the Fallen.”

“When it comes to the sequel, it was different because the relationship had built quite a bit,” Wellburn explained. “Michael came to Detroit, and he and I just walked the studios. He was looking for one, maybe two new vehicles. He came here, and he pretty much had it in his head what the sequel would be. I’ll never forget it. One third of the way through the tour he said, ‘I need a notepad. There are just too many designs that we may want to use in the movie.’”

Some models, like the Beat and Trax, which will appear as the Autobots Skids and Mudflap for “Revenge of the Fallen,” even affected how the characters functioned.

“That day that he visited us and walked the halls of the studios, the movie developed and in some ways changed,” he revealed. “[Bay] was inspired by things like the two small cars that maybe could work together in some way. That’s all I can say right now.”

A question I have is how many concept models did Bay have to choose from? I wouldn't imagine there were not that many, near ready for market, models on the list limiting his options (may explain how Audi entered the picture).

Of note is that near last line "...two small cars that maybe could work together..." From what I have been reading, people have interpreted this to mean the twins might merge together. I guess that could be possible but so far none of the leaked toys and images shows it. However, the Devastator toy has shown that Hasbro is happy to step away from the norm and present merging and non-merging designs for the same character. I think "work together" means less "merge" and more "teamwork". I would think the Twins could work together better than the other Autobots making for some dynamic fight/chase sequences.

The Fallen Poster Again, ToyFair Q&A

Along with the true visage of The Fallen (sadly pic is that small), The Transformers Club has posted the results of a Q&A held during Toy Fair 2009 buffet held for executives and toy retailers. The Q&A was with Brian Goldner (Hasbro CEO), TF Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Tyrese Gibson, and TF Director Michael Bay.

The Q&A didn't allow recording devices so the results are paraphased so for those that like to parse every word for meaning, tread carefully. Below are a select answers but the full post can be found here.

WC: Michael, the first movie was such an amazing success how is Revenge of the Fallen going to be different?
MB: From learning the mythos, to figuring out how to make the robots transform on the big screen, the first movie involved a lot of discovery. In addition, it was a story about a boy getting his first car and finding his first girl friend. The second movie is a coming of age story, encompassing global issues, and bringing the robots to a new level. If every boy in the world didn’t want a Bumblebee in his garage from the first movie, they will from the second. All of the robots in this film are superhero tough. I’ll tell you I am very passionate about this film.
LdB: Yes, in the first movie, boy gets car, boy finds girl, but this one really explores the idea of responsibility as Sam leaves for college. He thinks he wants to lead a normal college life but finds out some of his decisions don’t work out so well for not only him, but also the whole world.

WC: ...how does this film evolve the mythology?
BG: We all know that everyone is hungry for the next level of mythos, so we really want everyone to wonder what Revenge of the Fallen means.
LdB: It is a very deep mythology and most people just don’t know how deep it is.
MB: Yes, this film will satisfy all types of fans as I have included my trademark humor, more intimacy with the humans and robots, and Moms will think it is safe enough to bring the kids back out to the movies.
TG: The humor often times is created on the spot. Something happens on the set and Michael lets us keep it in the film. I know I still get comments from kids about my “left cheek”. I don’t know if that will ever go away and that was a spontaneous comment that just came out when we were filming the first film.

RA: Special effects software and camera technology have made advancements since the first film. How has this empowered you to further realize your vision for Revenge?
MB: The developments in technology have allowed us to have the robots show emotion. This is a robot movie and this new technology allows us to explore a greater depth of personality from these characters.

RA: No other director has the kind of relationship that you have developed with the US Military. What piece of hardware did you get access to that are you most excited about for this coming film?
MB: It’s like I have a direct line to the Pentagon. This is the first movie where actual F16’s have made a bombing run on a movie set and coordinated with special effects explosions. We were on a working nuclear submarine and working aircraft carrier. The military loved the first movie. It really helped with recruiting and promoting a positive image for them. Now they are happy to do just about anything they can for my films. We also found out that in Afghanistan the Buffalo(s) (Bonecrusher vehicle from the first movie) have all been nicknamed different Transformers characters by their personnel. We also worked with tanks firing real rounds and you have not lived until you have heard an actual tank firing. We have so much access - I am appreciative and excited about all the military vehicles we use.

RA: Filming at the pyramids must have been amazing! What were the greatest challenges you faced?
MB: This is the first time in 30 years that anyone has filmed at the pyramids and the first time ever anyone has filmed from the top of Petra. Steven filmed Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade from the base of Petra. It took 21 very heavy helicopter loads to get all our gear to the top. We had all the access we wanted in Egypt as we found out that the head of Egyptian Antiquities Dr. Zahi Hawass is a big Transformers fan and was very helpful. We also filmed in the desert where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed. Very challenging conditions.

Thanks to Chris for the link.

Bay: TF2 Not Bigger Just To Be Bigger

While on the red carpet for the Friday the 13th premiere in Hollywood, a relaxed Michael Bay discussed Transformers Revenge of the Fallen with ET and Collider.com, who managed to get the longest interview with Bay yet on TF2.

ET Online has a brief interview where he focuses mostly on Friday the 13th, but at the end of the video mentions that he "is leaving the editing room [for Transformers 2] right now to come to this premiere."

Relaxed and just having fun, Michael Bay also spoke with Collider.com, joking about buying the website and how he has access to anything he wants, including the Pyramids, thanks to his relationship with the Pentagon (mostly said in a joking manner). The video is below.

The highlights:
- Transformers 2 was the first film in 30 years to shoot at the Pyramids thanks to the help of Dr.Zahi Hawass who was a fan of the first movie.
- There are three scenes shot for IMAX release of the movie. Whether they are skyline type shots of The Dark Knight Bay didn't say but he did say "...it's different when you see Optimus Prime fighting in IMAX."
- Bay: "What I like about this movie, granted it’s bigger, but it’s not trying to be bigger just to be bigger. It's a great adventure. The thing I like about it is the robots have much more personality. ...We can really get these robots to emote. ...This movie is darker."
- "This one is epic in scale. The first one had to establish everything. ...this one you get taken on a ride...the characters get taken on a ride with these robots.
- On movie length, around 2 hours 20 minutes but still editing so that will probably change.
- On doing a third movie, "I can see myself doing a third. I just want to take a year off [before] doing a third. We'll see."

Thanks to Katie, Dan, and Gavin for the links used in this post.

Julie White Briefly Talks TFs

Julie White, who plays Sam's mom in the Transformer movies, briefly talked Transformers with New York Magazine. She confirmed the presence of a big Transformer in the movie but whether that is Scavenger seen in the trailer or Devastator remains to be seen. Thanks to Josh for the link.

So it was terrific, as always, to bump into [Julie White] at the Drama League's 25th Annual Gala at the Rainbow Room last night, at which she was still excited after two of her upcoming movies (Transformers 2 and Monsters and Aliens) were advertised during Sunday's Super Bowl: "It was a first for me," she told us. "I mean, I didn't appear in the commercials, but at least I knew I was somewhere tangentially related." So, given her tangential relation to Transformers 2, we asked if she could shed any light on the continuing fan speculation over which robots will actually appear in the movie. "No. I don't know anything about a Transformer. I call them all Megadad. But the big one is called, like, Mega-mega-megger-megalomania. But I always just called him Megatron, which made Michael Bay very mad, because his name is something else," she told us, probably referring to Devastator, we guess. "So no. I'm just, I'm still not up on my Transformers."

Furman: No Dinobots

The writers and director of Transformers already said it and now Simon Furman has told MTV the same thing - there will not be Dinobots in Transformers Revenge of the Fallen.

Simon Furman was a consultant on the first film and has been writing comics for Transformers in the US and UK for about 25 years. He is also the creator of "The Fallen" concept used in comics that may or may not be part of the movie.

“I think that possibility was raised briefly and fairly comprehensively shot down,” said Furman. “Much as I love the Dinobots, I’m glad.”

“The movie-verse feels quite different to me, with its own audience and far more rooted in the real world, and Dinobots wouldn’t necessarily be a great fit. Sure, if they could come up with an appropriate rationale and integral reason for them being in there, fine, but it’d need to be good, otherwise it would all start to verge on the kitsch,” said Furman.

“I think story and character often get submerged in the crash, bang wallop, but who can argue with a $700 million plus box office tally?” said Furman, “What [the film] does best, I think, is make movie Transformers distinct from classic or animated or comic Transformers. It’s very much it’s own entity, and that’s how it should be.”

“What I love is that a new generation of kids is being exposed to Transformers in the way that maybe rivals the original ’80s phenomenon,” said Furman.

Thanks to Chris for the link.