The Energon Pub

Acting with Autobots (and Decepticons)
IGN talks to the cast of Transformers.

June 5, 2007 - Last week we brought you the first part of our Transformers set visit, where we spoke with director Michael Bay and the producers of the highly anticipated film, and today we continue our coverage with a chat with the cast of the Paramount/DreamWorks movie. But first, for those who don't know who or what the Transformers are, a quick refresher course…

The concept of the Transformers began back in the early '80s with a series of toys from Hasbro that tied directly into a popular cartoon series. Basically, the Transformers are giant robots from outer space who have the ability to shape-shift into all different kinds of objects -- usually cars or planes or some type of technology. The concept has inspired many iterations over the years, both on TV and in the toy world, but visual effects technology has finally reached the point -- Paramount/DreamWorks believe -- where a live-action movie can realistically depict these famous "robots in disguise."

But a movie is different from a kids cartoon TV series, and it was clear to the makers of the film that human characters would be needed to keep all the robot action grounded in reality. Chief among those is Shia LaBeouf (Disturbia, the upcoming Indiana Jones 4) who plays Sam "Spike" Witwicky.

"He's the liaison between the robots, at least in our script, in a way," says LaBeouf of the character. "He is the liaison between the government and the robots. Because it's too outlandish for the government to cling on to, you know, this idea of this alien, and they're too closed-minded to latch on to it. So they use me as a liaison between the idea of what these things could be and what they actually are."

LaBeouf reveals that it is chiefly with the good guy robots, the Autobots, that he liaises. But his family has a history of robot contact, it would seem.

"They make first contact with me because of my great-great-grandfather, Captain Archibald Witwicky, who made first contact with Megatron in the 1800s and had… I don't know if I should be giving this all away!" laughs the actor, before continuing. "[He] had language and maps burned to his glasses through a laser and the glasses were passed on through lineage and they wind up with me and me trying to sell them on eBay as well as his other items, his compass and his sextant and other things a 19th century seaman would use. And they come after me to retrieve these glasses, which has the directions to where the Energon Cube is at."

Other cast members along for the ride include Megan Fox, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight, Anthony Anderson, John Turturro, and more. Fox, who has mostly done TV work up until now, is ready for her transforming spotlight in the film as Mikaela, who she describes as being essentially the Carly character from the cartoon (for those who remember) -- Sam's love interest who gets pulled into the action and intrigue and winds up becoming a "little bit" of an action hero herself. And while the actress is the first to admit that neither Carly nor Mikaela are the first thing fanboys think of when they talk about Transformers, she nonetheless felt some pressure walking into a franchise of this size and with such a big preexisting fanbase.

"[I didn't feel it much] on my character, because she was hardly ever in the animated series so it's not like I'm taking on something that people are attached to and expect me to perform in a specific way," says Fox. "But for me it's just the realization of how huge this movie is and how many people are going to see it. And I actually, because the script was on lockdown and you couldn't really read it the whole time I was auditioning for it, I wasn't aware how big my part actually is and how much I'm in this film and how much people are going to see of me. So that's what's nerve-racking."

Also nerve-racking for some would be the various stunts that the actors (and their stuntmen, of course) have had to participate in during the making of Transformers. And making an action movie with Michael Bay of Armageddon and Pearl Harbor fame? That adds a whole new level to the experience.

"It's never been like this for me, especially not with Michael Bay," says LaBeouf. "Michael Bay's the fastest, most intense director I've ever worked with. The explosions are right here. They're not CGI. You know, the other day they had me on top of one of these buildings one-handed with wire, a wire here and a wire there and a cube here. It was insane, but that's stuff that you usually shoot CGI and Michael doesn't do CGI. He likes seeing the immediate, he likes being able to go into his trailer and go, 'You're never gonna believe what I just shot.' Rather than have to wait for the CGI to be put into greenscreen. He likes to see immediately, so things like explosions, I mean, it's all very real."

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