Please note, the transcript is a slightly edited version of what was said, for ease of reading.
Was it important to bring sector 7 back in because it was a nice little running thing for this
Yeah, we wanted to have a foot in each world. There is the last 10 years of Transformers movies, directed by Michael Bay, which have a ton of mythology and also the original wave of Transformers which had its own mythology and its sometimes connected and sometimes not with the films and so I wanted to have a foot in each world. So we're paying tribute to the last 10 years of live-action films but also a foot in the origins of these things where we can pay tribute to the initial wave of Comics and cartoons. So sector 7 was something that he evolved out of Michael's films. It was a secret society that hunts Transformers and there is a lot of subtle nods to the stuff that Michael has done. Even if you have never seen a Transformers film you can watch Bumblebee and nothing else matters but for those were fans of the live-action series or the cartoons there are a ton of layers and easter eggs and sector 7 is one of them including agent Simmons who is a young John Turturro who becomes one of the heavies later in the series.
Witn John Cena I wanted an actor who was physically formidable and who had layers of menace and aggression and when necessary humor and pathos. For me because I had seen him as a comedic actor, I had never seen him do what we ask him to do in this movie. I was incredibly impressed by what he was able to bring to the movie and he was a real joy to work with.
Regarding the Michael Bay films, were there points of cannon and that you had to stick to? Did you feel constricted that you have to meet certain things or not contradict certain things?
Yes, there is always concern with that although I think that continuity is certainly not a huge priority of Michael's. He prioritizes other things like incredible visuals and spectacle and fun. But even within the films themselves as much as I enjoyed them there are inconsistencies, so with this film if you're going to be consistent with one thing you'll be inconsistent with another thing. But it was important that I had a degree of continuity and wanting to tell a self contained story that was not necessarily bound by a decade of mythology, which was a little bit tricky. We had to simplify it. I wanted to make sure that an audience could come to the film watch it from beginning to end and have a good time, get all the information and all the fun they can get out of it. But at the same time someone who is a Transformers fan can get other layers of entertainment. But yes there were definitely things you couldn't play around with (editor's note, see Megatron article for examples) and there were other things that we could take some liberties with.
Everyone in this reality seems to really like Alf so is that a personal favorite?
Yes that is absolutely me, nobody else cares about Alf, that was me, that was me putting Alf in there.
Alf is amazing and ALF stands for "alien life form" so it's a nod to Bumblbebee and his origins as well.
