Filmonic » Transformers 3

Michael Bay says Megan Fox has a “great part in Transformers 3″

Liam — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:34:02 +0000

Megan Fox is known for saying crazy things, to the media anyway, and in recent interviews she apparently referred to Michael Bay as a “nightmare,” and “Hitler”, which isn’t a very clever thing to say to your ‘boss’. However it seems Transformers 2 director Michael Bay couldn’t care less:

“I love her,” the man responsible for the blockbuster franchise told USA TODAY. “It’s just, she’s young. Everyone’s got to give her a break, she only…23? It’s just hard. I’ve traveled around the world with her and she’s just like this world symbol now, you know?”
So he brushes her diatribes under the carpet? “Absolutely,” he said. “She called me (after the Hitler comment) and goes, ‘It’s all bullsh—t, Mike.’ The press, they just like to prey, and stalk, and pounce and find a good little juicy thing. But she’s always wanted to do these crazy comments. That’s just her. She’s great.”
He also said, “She’s got a great part in Transformers 3,” and he said he’s currently working on the script. So Bay’s not planning on getting revenge by, say, killing her off? “No, no. no,” he said, dismissing it. “She gets enough of that already.”

The role of Mikaela Banes in the franchise consists of looking hot and being Sam Witwicky’s girlfriend. She did the truck thing with Bumblebee in the first film, but in Revenge of the Fallen she didn’t really have a purpose. This time around Bay and the writers don’t have a writers strike to battle with, so hopefully they take their time and develop the story and characters. Especially the robot ones.

Michael Bay wants to go “sideways” with Transformers 3

Liam — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:09:43 +0000

If you get the right combination of vehicles on the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Blu-ray extra feature “The AllSpark Experiment” then director Michael Bay will appear on-screen and talk about Transformers 3. It’s quite marvellous. Someone has YouTubed the two minute clip which you can watch here.

In the clip Bay talks about where he wants to go with the next film. It must have been filmed a while ago as he mentions that “Paramount are really pressuring me to make Transformers 3 right away”, but we know he’s already started working on it, so it seems the pressuring worked!

Bay mentions some rather surprising but encouraging things. He says T3 can’t get any bigger, so it’ll have to go “sideways” in terms overall scope and action. He says it will develop the relationship between Bumblebee and Sam further, explore more of the robot characters, and it could go darker. Bay also says it has to be more “emotional” which, if Revenge of the Fallen is anything to go by, means we’ll have more slo-mo shots of Megan Fox looking unhappy.

I’m liking the way Bay is thinking, which I never expected myself to say. Whether he will actually deliver though, is something we’ll have to wait for. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was big but it certainly wasn’t clever. They need an actual story for the next film, instead of ‘evil robot wants to blow up the sun’.

Where do you think Transformers 3 should go? Should it be darker? Less explosions? More focus on the robots?

Roberto Orci And Alex Kurtzman not returning for Transformers 3

Liam — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:13:27 +0000

Last week Michael Bay informed the world that he had started working on Transformers 3, and that it would be hitting our screens in 2011. This means they may start hashing out a script over the upcoming months, but who will be writing it? Back in March writers Roberto Orci And Alex Kurtzman hinted that they might not be returning as it was “time for fresh blood!” and they don’t want to risk becoming “stale and comfortable”. Now they have confirmed that their Transformers days are over.

From /Film:

Producer Don Murphy maintains a pretty lively website and forum that was crashed for a bit this morning when Roberto Orci confirmed in a forum post that he and Alex Kurtzman would not return at all for Transformers 3, leaving script duties entirely in the hands of Ehren Kruger. (Well, not entirely, as Michael Bay will have his input.)

2009 was Orci and Kurtzman’s year having written the scripts for both Star Trek and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, however I’m still not sure if they are any good or not. Star Trek was one of the best reviewed films of the year with 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, while Transformers is one of the worst with a mere 19% and complaints of a bad plot and characters with no depth.

Regardless of talent, their films make money (which is good enough for some) and they will be busy working on the Star Trek sequel, as well as Cowboys and Aliens with Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau.

Transformers 3 release date set

Liam — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:46:52 +0000

A few weeks ago Michael Bay had a meeting with Steven Spielberg and Ehren Kruger to discuss ideas for Transformers 3 and to decide whether it would be released in 2011 or 2012. Before Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen burst into public viewing Bay said he wanted to have a break from robots and planned to make a small movie (Pain and Gain) before starting the next one, however from what he posted on his official forum today it looks like he’ll be going straight back into it:

Well its official: We have a great Transformers 3 story. The release date is now July 1st 2011. Not 2012.
Today is Day One. This morning started with an ILM meeting for five hours in San Francisco. Currently I’m flying with writer Ehren Kruger to Rhode Island to talk to Hasbro about new characters.
P.S. Megan Fox, welcome back. I promise no alien robots will harm you in any way during the production of this motion picture. Please consult your Physician when working under my direction because some side effects can occur, such as mild dizziness, intense nausea, suicidal tendencies, depression, minor chest hair growth, random internal hemorrhaging and inability to sleep. As some directors may be hazardous to your health, please consult your Doctor to determine if this is right for you.
Pain and Gain is right after shooting of Trans 3.
Michael

Bay has had a 3 month break which I think is long enough, but then again I haven’t directed one of the biggest movies of the year so I’m no expert on what counts as a sufficient break. Even if Bay wasn’t quite ready yet i’m sure the money was enough to convince him. He apparently made $75 million from the first Transformers movie as he decided to take a % of the film’s total revenues instead of an upfront fee. He probably made a similar stupidly high amount for Revenge of the Fallen and I bet Paramount were busy filling Bay’s swimming pool full of cash as he typed up today’s post for his forum.

Transformers 3 meetings taking place this week

Liam — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:40:43 +0000

Today a post appeared on Michael Bay’s official website that updated us on a few of his upcoming films: Transformers 3, Pain & Gain, and Bay Boys 3.

I spoke to Michael today and he had a little update on his future projects:
- He will be meeting later this week with Steven Spielberg, and Ehren Kruger to discuss ideas for Transformers 3. By the end of the week he should have an idea if Transformers 3 will hit your local cineplex in the summer of 2011 or 2012.
- In the meantime “Pain & Gain” is looking very possible as is Bad Boys 3. Either film coming to a theater near you before or after Transformers 3.

Around the time Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen came out Bay said that he “would like to take a year off” from robots and wanted to make a small movie before he heads back to the CGI explosion that is Transformers. He described the smaller film as a “dark comedy” that will be an adaptation of a Miami New Times article from 1999 called “Pain & Gain”. The true story is about a couple of steroid-abusing knucklehead bodybuilders from Florida who become criminals involved in an extortion ring and a a kidnapping plot that all goes horribly wrong.

Will Transformers 3 be 3D?

Liam — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:29:01 +0000

For Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen director Michael Bay filmed three action sequences with IMAX cameras and made a life sized Optimus Prime. Over the past few years, especially this year, 3D has been gaining steam with more and more movies are being made in 3D, and many 3D screens are being fitted all over the place for us to see them, so will Michael Bay go a step further and give us a life sized Optimus Prime in 3D for Transformers 3?

No. No he won’t.

From the Wall Street Journal:

I prefer the flat screen. I’m not jumping to do 3-D at all—it’s a pain in the neck to shoot it and I actually like the flat image. I’ve heard that some people can’t even see 3-D and, moreover, that a major side effect of watching it is feeling exhausted. Can you imagine how you’d feel watching one of my movies in 3-D?

He has a point. Spending 2 hours and 40+ minutes watching 3D robots going at it, while cool, would be enough to shut down people’s brains and souls. Bay also commented on his next project, which shockingly will contain little or no special effects.

I’ve been talking to some big actors right now about something that is totally different. A small dark comedy, a true story, with actors just acting, no effects. I’m done with effects movies for now. When you do a movie like “Transformers,” it can feel like you’re doing three movies at once—which is tiring.
I just want to take some time off. It’s been almost three years that I’ve devoted myself entirely to this world of robots. At some point, enough is enough—and I literally carried this movie on my back. I only finished it in the last week. It was a tough movie for me to finish—especially with the writers strike, the possible SAG strike. At one point, we were the only union movie in America shooting—Hollywood was so messed up from those two events.

Ramon Rodriguez will have a bigger role in Transformers 3

Liam — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:01:11 +0000

Sequels always introduce new characters to keep things fresh, and with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen the most prominent new addition was Ramon Rodriguez who played Sam’s room-mate Leo Spitz (Jonah Hill turned the role down). In my opinion the character was a little pointless and his only purpose was to join the gang up with Agent Simmons (John Turturro) and provide a little comic relief (along with the parents, the leg humping robot, the old robot, the twin robots and Agent ‘bare ass’ Simmons himself). At the end of the film he was alive and well so we can assume he will turn up in Transformers 3. Michael Bay recently spoke to the L.A Times and suggested that Rodriguez would have a bigger role next time round.

Director Michael Bay has a third “Transformers” film in mind, and if it plays out as he expects, the next installment would have a more substantial role for Rodriguez. The filmmaker, speaking at his office a few weeks before “Revenge of the Fallen” was released, seemed to have some pride of discovery when talking about Rodriguez.
“I’ve worked with big stars, people like Will Smith, Sean Connery and Bruce Willis, but casting is a weird thing, it takes you places you don’t expect,” Bay said. “We went looking for a sidekick in this movie, Shia’s sidekick, and we find this new kid who really pops on screen. I think he’s going to have a real bright career. It’s great to work with big stars, but it’s always fun to discover people.”

He is part of the gang now so he will probably be involved with whatever lies ahead. Hopefully Bay and the writers give him a reason to be there. They have enough comic relief as it is.

JJ Abrams Talks Star Trek Sequel, Cut Scenes Revealed!

Dave — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:37:02 +0000

A little burst of Star Trek sequel news for everyone, especially since there seems to be a small groundswell of journalistic activity questioning if Michael Bay is really going to step away from Transformers 3 to direct a “smaller movie.” The argument is that Transformers: ROTF stands to make Bay a butt-load of money and that a third film in inevitable. The problem is that pre-production should start in a couple of weeks to make a timely sequel, and screenwriters Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman are busy working on the upcoming Robert Downey Jr action flick, Cowboys and Aliens as well as actively being in discussions with JJ Abrams about Star Trek 2.

That’s right, stepping away from the Michael Bay question, Orci and Kurtzman have expressed interest in running away from the Transformers franchise, but have promised Paramount a draft of Star Trek 2 by this holiday season.

In a video from Collider at the Saturn Awards, Steve Weintraub asks JJ Abrams about his involvement with the Trek sequel…

[Note: You can watch the video embed, directly to the right of the title in the "media box" area, or you can CLICK HERE to check it out at the source.]

If that wasn’t enough to quench your Star Trek thirst for awhile, or if you’re still blaming Orci and Kurtzman for the failings of T: ROTF (instead of rightfully blaming the WGA Strike), check out THIS POST at TNMC that discusses the scenes cut out of the first Abrams Star Trek film, including a whole Klingon subplot…that actually makes a lot of sense.

Michael Bay wants to do a Pulp Fiction-type movie next

Liam — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:00:24 +0000

When Paramount announced that we would be seeing Transformers 3 in 2011 Michael Bay replied with “No way. My brain needs a break from fighting robots”, and insisted that July 2012 would be a better release date. Now Bay has revealed to MTV that he would like to do a smaller movie (gasp!) in-between Transformers 2 and 3, which would be a smaller, Pulp Fiction-type movie.

“I would like to take a year off,” Bay explained to us recently, tempering expectations of a “Transformers 3” production by saying he wants to get away from outer-space robots and focus on humans for a while. “I might do a small movie in-between.”
So one has to wonder: Can there be such a thing as a “small” Michael Bay film?
“There can be,” laughed the filmmaker. “I have a small little movie I keep wanting to do.”
Although Bay wouldn’t cough up details on the film’s plot and said it is currently untitled, he is making plans to film it next year for a small budget, and has had his eye on the script for some time. “It’s good,” he explained. “It’s like a ‘Pulp Fiction’-type of movie.”
“[It’s based on] a true story, and it’s very funny,” Bay added, citing another departure from his typical, action-oriented intensity. “It’s a dark comedy.”

Looking at Bay’s past films he hasn’t really done a ’small’ movie. The only low budget stuff he has done include a few music videos from the early 90’s. Seeing Bay take on a smaller movie with considerably less explosions will be both interesting and refreshing.

Transformers writers not returning for Transformers 3?

Liam — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:51:18 +0000

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, writers of Transformers and this year’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (and Star Trek) wrote on the Don Murphy forums and revealed that they may not be returning for Transformers 3.

“Time for fresh blood!” writes Orci. “The main reason we would move on is because we risk getting stale and comfortable. If you only sing one song for too long, you miss the opportunity to sing news songs. We’ll see.”

I am not really a fan of different writers or creative people taking over midway through a franchise. If the franchise gets repetitive or stale then different writers could be a good thing, although if it isn’t broken then no need to fix (or change) it. I guess it’s up to them as it is their careers afterall. If both Star Trek and Transformers 2 are mega hits this Summer then they will probably get offers to do other film, which may be more appealing than another robot explosion-fest.