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Frank Welker was considered to reprise his role, but according to the film's |
DVD commentary, Bay thought his voice did not fit, so Weaving was chosen |
instead. After Weaving left the role, Welker returned as the voice of Megatron |
in later sequels. Jim Wood as Bonecrusher : A Decepticon soldier who |
transforms into a Buffalo H Mine-Protected vehicle . Reno Wilson as Frenzy: |
The Decepticon hacker and Barricade's minion, who transforms into a PGX |
Boombox , and later a Nokia 8800 . Howard Stern was offered the role but |
turned it down when his agent talked him out of it. [8] [9] Charlie Adler as |
Starscream : Megatron's second-in-command who transforms into a Lockheed |
Martin F-22 Raptor . Adler had previously voiced several characters in the |
original series, most noticeably Silverbolt . Non-speaking characters [ edit ] |
Blackout: Megatron's third-in-command who transforms into a MH-53J Pave Low |
III helicopter. Devastator / Brawl : The Decepticon demolition specialist who |
transforms into an up-armed M1A1 Abrams tank. Scorponok: A scorpion -like |
Decepticon and Blackout's minion. The Peterbilt 379 used to portray Optimus |
Prime One of the Chevrolet Camaros used to portray Bumblebee The Pontiac |
Solstice used to portray Jazz The GMC Topkick used to portray Ironhide The |
Hummer H2 used to portray Ratchet Production [ edit ] Development [ edit ] In |
all the years of movie-making, I don't think the image of a truck transforming |
into a twenty-foot tall robot has ever been captured on screen. I also want to |
make a film that's a homage to 1980s movies and gets back to the sense of |
wonder that Hollywood has lost over the years. It will have those Spielberg- |
ian moments where you have the push-in on the wide-eyed kid and you feel like |
you're ten years old even if you're thirty-five. — Tom DeSanto on why he |
produced the film [10] Don Murphy was initially planning a G.I. Joe film |
adaptation , but when the United States launched the invasion of Iraq in March |
2003, Hasbro suggested adapting the Transformers franchise instead. [11] Tom |
DeSanto joined Murphy because he was a fan of the series. [12] They met with |
comic book writer Simon Furman , and cited the Generation 1 cartoon and comics |
as their main influence. [11] They made the Creation Matrix their plot device |
, though Murphy had it renamed because of the film series The Matrix , [13] |
but was later used again in the sequel . DeSanto chose to write the treatment |
from a human point of view to engage the audience, [14] while Murphy wanted it |
to have a realistic tone, reminiscent of a disaster film . [13] The treatment |
featured the Autobots Optimus Prime , Ironhide, Jazz , Prowl , Arcee , |
Ratchet, Wheeljack, and Bumblebee , and the Decepticons Megatron , Starscream |
, Soundwave , Ravage, Laserbeak , Rumble, Skywarp and Shockwave . [15] Steven |
Spielberg , a fan of the comics and toys, [12] signed on as executive producer |
in 2004. John Rogers wrote the first draft, which pitted four Autobots against |
four Decepticons, [16] and featured the Ark spaceship. [17] Roberto Orci and |
Alex Kurtzman , fans of the cartoon, [18] were hired to rewrite the script in |
February 2005. [19] Spielberg suggested that "a boy and his car" should be the |
focus. [20] This appealed to Orci and Kurtzman because it conveyed themes of |
adulthood and responsibility, "the things that a car represents in the United |
States ". [21] The characters of Sam and Mikaela were the sole point of view |
given in Orci and Kurtzman's first draft. [22] The Transformers had no |
dialogue, as the producers feared talking robots would look ridiculous. The |
writers felt that even if it would look silly, not having the robots speak |
would betray the fanbase. [18] The first draft also had a battle scene in the |
Grand Canyon . [23] Spielberg read each of Orci and Kurtzman's drafts and gave |
notes for improvement. [20] The writers remained involved throughout |
production, adding additional dialogue for the robots during the sound mixing |
(although none of this was kept in the final film, which ran fifteen minutes |
shorter than the initial edit). [24] Furman's The Ultimate Guide , published |
by Dorling Kindersley , remained as a resource to the writers throughout |
production. [24] Prime Directive was used as a fake working title . This was |
also the name of Dreamwave Productions ' first Transformers comic book . [25] |
Michael Bay was asked to direct by Spielberg on July 30, 2005, [26] but he |
dismissed the film as a "stupid toy movie". [27] Bay also admitted that he was |
also skeptical when he was offered to direct. [28] Nonetheless, he wanted to |
work with Spielberg, and gained a new respect for the concept upon visiting |
Hasbro. [26] Bay considered the first draft "too kiddie", so he increased the |
military's role in the story. [26] [29] The writers sought inspiration from |
G.I. Joe for the soldier characters, being careful not to mix the brands. [30] |
Because Orci and Kurtzman were concerned the film could feel like a military |
recruitment commercial, they chose to make the military believe nations like |
Iran were behind the Decepticon attack as well as making the Decepticons |
primarily military vehicles. [31] Bay based Lennox's struggle to get to the |
Pentagon phoneline while struggling with an unhelpful operator from a real |
account he was given by a soldier when working on another film. [26] Orci and |
Kurtzman experimented with numerous robots from the franchise, ultimately |
selecting the characters most popular among the filmmakers to form the final |
cast. [12] Bay acknowledged that most of the Decepticons were selected before |
their names or roles were developed, as Hasbro had to start designing the |
toys. [32] Some of their names were changed because Bay was upset that they |
had been leaked. [33] Optimus, Megatron, Bumblebee and Starscream were the |
only characters present in each version of the script. [18] Arcee was a female |
Transformer introduced by Orci and Kurtzman, but she was cut because they |
found it difficult to explain robotic gender; Bay also disliked her motorcycle |
form, which he found too small. [30] An early idea to have the Decepticons |
simultaneously strike multiple places around the world was also dropped. [22] |
Producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Ian Bryce, said the film cost only $150 |
million, and called it "a bargain" compared to the other tentpole films that |
summer which cost as much as $300 million. [34] According to Kim Masters of |
NPR , instead of boasting about how much they had spent the studios did not |
want to admit to their real budget and risk further cost inflation on other |
projects, and her Hollywood source said that the budget of Transformers had |
passed $200 million. [4] Design [ edit ] The filmmakers incorporated valid |
physics into their designs, establishing the necessity for a robot's size to |
correspond to that of its disguise. The layout of Optimus Prime 's robotic |
body within his truck mode is seen here. The filmmakers created the size of |
each robot with the size of their vehicle mode in mind, supporting the |
Transformer's rationale for their choice of disguise on Earth. [35] The |
concept of traveling protoforms was developed by Roberto Orci when he wondered |
why "aliens who moonlight as vehicles need other vehicles to travel". [36] |
This reflected a desire to move to a more alien look, away from the "blocky" |
Generation 1 Transformers. [37] Another major influence in the designs was |
samurai armor, returning full-circle to the Japanese origins of the toy line. |
[35] The robots also had to look alien, or else they would have resembled |
other cinematic robots made in the image of man. [38] A product placement deal |
Subsets and Splits
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