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IMDb, the well-known.. well, internet movie database, took the opportunity to conduct an interview about the Bumblebee movie at San Diego Comic Con. The interview, as conducted by Kevin Smith, features director Travis Knight alongside cast members John Cena and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. answering a few questions about the upcoming film!
Check below for the full video (note the presence of some coarse language at the very beginning) and a couple highlights from the interview, share your thoughts in the Energon Pub Forums, and stay tuned for the last few bits of news still to come out of SDCC 2018!
Smith jokes (probably?) that he "openly wept" upon seeing the trailer for Bumblebee, and describes his excitement for it far over any of the previous Transformers films.
(To Knight) How did this [movie] happen? Knight: "I'm a child of the 80's; I grew up watching the Transformers cartoons, playing with the toys, reading the comic books [...] these characters matter to me, these stories matter to me. [...] I really wanted to bring that kind of spirit to this film, to this franchise. For me the best kinds of stories, the best kinds of films [...] are the ones that have a strong beating heart - that have a poetic soul. That's the perspective we tried to bring to this film."
Knight mentions that the original idea for the Bumblebee film came from Steven Spielberg, to Smith's incredulity, and says that the movie's (and trailer's) tone was similarly inspired by Spielberg.
Extended jorts banter between Smith and Cena.
(To Cena) You've joined this movie, but have you also joined a larger universe of movies? Cena: "Just because of the subject matter, there's no way that I can say no. I can't say much more than that, just because of the things I had to sign. [...] I will say this. What drew me to this, and what drew me to want to be involved with the universe, not only was [Knight] but how passionately he feels about story. [...] I'm really excited to be part of a wonderful story."
Smith speculates on the possibility of an extended universe, beyond even just Transformers, and Cena agrees wholeheartedly with the idea. Sneaky joke about M.A.S.K. slipped in there?
(To Lendeborg) What was it like jumping into an up-and-running franchise, but a new development of it? Lendeborg: "Obviously I had a bit part in Spider-Man, but after that I moved on to Alita: Battle Angel [...] I think all those things kind of prepared me to be more of a crucial role in one of these big franchises."
Some conflict as each interviewee considers themselves the Megan Fox of their respective fields. "We're all trying to be Megan Fox."
Knight is thrilled at the "very positive" reaction to the trailer, and hopes audiences enjoy the film when it drops!
You got the live - excited - coverage of the panel itself in the story we posted earlier, and which you can see again here for detailed content of what was said during the talks - so now it's time to show you what happened in your own eyes!
There is obviously no footage of the new trailer clip shown during the panel, or the Travis Knight reel , but all the comments from the cast and crew - including director Travis Knight, actors Hailee Steinfeld, Jorge Lendeborg Jr, and John Cena, featuring cameos from Stan Bush and Peter Cullen, and all moderated by EW's Anthony Breznican. Take a look at the video embedded below, and stay tuned for more coverage as we upload more content to Seibertron.com.
Media and entertainment online publication Entertainment Weekly has posted a fairly sizeable piece on the upcoming Bumblebee movie from the Paramount live action Transformers universe, featuring some information we were already aware of, plus some new details via an interview with producer Lorenzo diBonaventura.
In the piece, which you can read in full here, they touch on the idea of moving back on the Bumblebee story, shifting gears into a more 'vulnerable' role and look with the Volswagen beetle car mode, the choice of script and human lead Charlie / Hailee Steinfeld, what it might mean for the future of the movie franchise, and what other characters we're to expect in the movie itself - three Decepticons in total, including the jet who may or may not be Starscream after all. Partnering with our own speculations about the possible success of this new venture, why not join the discussion too, and let us know what you make of this direction for the movies?
“That was probably the most hotly contested thing, simply because: ‘Wow …. um, and the Beetle can go fast? Ooookay,’” di Bonaventura says. “But I’ve screened [a rough cut] three times, and there has not been a single comment from the audience that they didn’t like the fact that we made it the Beetle. The warmth of it certainly helps us, but also, the sheer freshness of it is really fun.”
That shape creates the sense of an under dog, which is a good thing for a hero who is in a strange world, all by himself, trying to find a way home.
“Psychologically, you’re absolutely right,” di Bonaventura says. “It’s kind of funny. A metal guy made out of a Camaro, or Bumblebee … is one is weaker than the other? I don’t know, but it is how you feel. It is what your experience is of it, in a way.”
[...]
“It’s nice it’s changing,” di Bonaventura says, acknowledging that the Transformers films haven’t exactly delivered strong roles for women. “When we were debating it, the idea of a young girl seemed to us to be a real change in our direction.”
And Steinfeld proved to be the fearsome flesh-and-blood lead they needed. “I’m just amazed at how talented she is,” di Bonaventura says. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen an actor never miss a beat for the entire shoot. It was crazy. We ended up ahead of schedule because she was just so on it all the time. We could move quicker.”
[...]
Another change was reducing the sheer number of robots-in-disguise featured in this movie. That allowed screenwriter Christina Hodson to focus on the bond between Charlie and Bumblebee and tell a coming-of-age story at the heart of this epic action adventure.
“She wrote a really beautiful script that really played into the emotion of the relationship of the two,” di Bonaventura says. “So looking at the movie from that perspective, we thought, we don’t want to overwhelm one Autobot with too many Decepticons. So he has three primary antagonists.”
Two others, who take the form of automobiles, are also being kept secret for now.
[...]
Right now, Bumblebee has to pull off his own film, though.
“If Bee’s successful, we can have a Bee 2, no doubt,” di Bonaventura. “We have a good sense of where a second movie would go. For me, the greatest thing that came out of the writer’s room was the sense that we could go in any number of directions. It opened up our minds to choices.”
Courtesy of Toon Boom and an interview they published with Robert Cullen, animator and founder of Boulder Media Studios - the Hasbro partner working on the upcoming animated series Rescue Bots Academy and Transformers: Cyberverse - we have a quick look at the two designs for Hot Shot and Bumblebee from the two shows respectively (you can discussion Rescue Bots Academy in its thread here).
Cullen talks about the studio in general and the recent acquisition by Hasbro and nothing specific about the shows, but if you're curious, you can look at the relevant passages below!
Boulder went from producing three projects at most to six IPs including season two of Danger Mouse and Hasbro’s Micronauts, The Littlest Pet Shop, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and Rescue Bots Academy, all in Toon Boom Harmony. The studio is also storyboarding the latest Transformers series and its first CG animated feature film in Storyboard Pro.
With so many new productions, Boulder suddenly needed storyboard artists, concept designers and animators. The challenge became to scale up and find top talent without losing its quality and personality.
“We’ve always been quite selective about who we hire and it’s not just the talent I’m looking at; I want to know if they’re nice people and if they will fit in,” says Cullen.
Its team now includes people from around Ireland and the world, though growing from 160 to 360 seats in just over a year comes with certain concerns as well. Namely, keeping the boutique studio corporate culture it had established.
“Each project has a team with their own director and production manager — every piece feels like it’s a boutique production that people can take pride in,” says Cullen. “It doesn’t feel like we’re this vast company making random shows and we have to make sure it stays that way.”
Via a new piece on Entertainment Weekly, we have another brief comment from John Cena, starring as agent Burns in the next Transformers live-action movie, aka the first and probably last spin-off of the Paramount universe so far: Bumblebee!
The interview is about Cena's plans and wishes for future roles, but he directed the discussion onto Bumblebee instead, repeating his previous positive points about director Travis Knight, and the nature of the story. Check them out below, and let us know what you think in the Energon Pub!
After a string of comedic roles, the actor is back in the action-movie fold with Bumblebee, the Transformers spin-off set 20 years before the events of the first film.
“It’s going to be a wonderful piece of this franchise that I think people are going to enjoy,” promises Cena. “I was very intrigued being able to meet the team around the movie. [Director] Travis [Knight] is such a passionate man. The role they were talking to me about doing was very intriguing to me because it’s a road I’ve never been down before, but a road I felt like I could accomplish. And then put that together with the context of the movie, the way that the consumer will now view Bumblebee, all of that stuff was very interesting to me. And then they were stupid enough to say yes.”
Bumblebee, which also stars Hailee Steinfeld, races into theaters on Dec. 21.
Metro recently had the chance to sit down with wrestler John Cena and talk to him about his upcoming comedy "Blockers", and while they were at it, they asked him a few questions about his role in the upcoming Transformers: Bumblebee film. While Cena was careful not to drop any spoilers or any new information regarding the movie itself, he did comment on how he feels the Bumblebee film will help reinvigorate the movieverse.
Cena has been heavily rumored to be acting as Agent Burns of Sector 7, though that is still yet to be confirmed. He also makes note, inadvertently, that he and Bumblebee will come to face to face in the film, as he talks about interacting with a tennis ball on a 13 foot tall stick, which is what actors use to focus on when a character will be added in using CGI later.
Check out some quotes from the interview below, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!
I think Travis Knight did a fantastic job of reintroducing the look, the feel, the storytelling of this franchise. I think people who enjoy what ‘Transformers’ was will enjoy the movie.
.....
Here we are talking about ‘Blockers’ a comedy with a lot of improvisation. It is very difficult to improvise with a 13 foot stick with a tennis ball attached to it. So it is a different movie-making process, but one I was extremely interested in.”
It's been a little while since we've heard any major news about the upcoming Bumblebee stand alone film, but we do have a couple stories to bring you today. First, we have one of the first outside opinions on the main plot of Bumblebee, from screenwriter Steven DeKnight. Coming as a snippet of an interview from entertainment website Uproxx for his upcoming film Pacific Rim: Uprising, he shares that the story they used for the Transformers spin off was his favorite to come out of the Transformers screenwriting room that was arranged last year by Michael Bay and Paramount. Check out the Transformers-related section of the interview below.
Our second Bumblebee story is a bit of a rumor in conjunction with a recent announcement from Paramount themselves. It's been said recently (notably by reviewer and journalist Manabyte (Or Jeremy Conrad) that Paramount is planning to do an early screening of the Bumblebee movie sometime very soon, and that info collides with the announcement that this year's Wondercon Anaheim will be the backdrop to the first screening of a secret Paramount film. There are several Paramount movies coming out this year, and nothing in particular points to the Bumblebee movie being the secret screening, but there is a chance. Either way, we'll find out this Friday!
Uproxx: You were part of the Transformers writers’ room. I’m so curious: What’s a Transformers writing room like?
Steven DeKnight: It was a blast.
Uproxx: I imagine.
Steven DeKnight: It was a room full of incredibly talented, interesting, really wonderful people. I’ve got to say, my time spent in there was just, more than anything, was just so much fun. Everyone was so much fun and interesting. And we actually wrote, I think it was, I want to say 12 different movies. Every one of us took a different idea and developed it into like a full 30-page outline, so there were like 12 movies. And also, in complete honesty, my absolute favorite movie of the bunch was the Bumblebee movie that they’re making right now.
A final story from the main Hasbro Transformers day over at the Times Center in New York City, where Toy Fair 2018 is still taking place, is the group interview with the Transformers brand team - including infamous names like John Warden and Ben Montano - which our Twincaster podcaster megatronus was present for and recorded in full!
The team took questions from a varied assortment of podcasters, fansites, media sites, many of whom we've also collaborated before, on topics such as Masterpiece toys, the relationship with IDW comics, exclusives, the aesthetic of Cyberverse versus what we might see in War for Cybertron, the possibility of Unicron in a crowdfunded effort, the Bumblebee movie and its toyline, and more. We've highlighted below the questions and responses, including the more trivial and brief, for your perusal - take a read, join the discussion, and let us know what you think!
More villains in MPM line? (MPM-1 Starscream already present, but..)
Would love to do that, more MP figures to talk about later in the year, but we do want to balance out the factions.
Difference between MPM and Studio Series, in terms of character selection in particular?
Global accessibility with Studio Series so as many as possible, MPM is more selective by its nature. Trying to catch a new generation of grown kids too. Attempt to create entirely new toys for this demographic, and have fun with the line later down the road.
Bumblebee movie shift affecting the line?
Not in release (April 2018), they were supposed to come out together but only some characters have been moved later to coincide with June release. Studio Series collection will host the movie line, but not intended as a catch-all (Thundercracker an exception). Robot modes are scale-accurate, fit a collector shelf, cautious about the numbering system, a narrative woven into it, including backgrounds and cut-outs.
Future of Generations?
Power of the Primes ends in 2018. War for Cybertron starting in January 2019, no reveal of the new fiction yet so plenty of speculation welcome.
Why another trilogy?
It helps and invites new fans into the franchise, casual fans and kids. Trilogy invites to speculate, not lead to an ecosystem – it’s a storytelling universe, as per Hasbro blueprint.
Comments on unification of Takara Tomy and Hasbro?
The relationship and cooperation has always been there, this just allows for bringing multiple fandom factions – allowing things like Movie Masterpiece and Takara Tomy Masterpiece lines to be accessible to everyone. Cooperation is key, and building on the passions of both teams, in a very genuine way.
Any plans to move away from stickers, or get better?
We hear the concern, but stickers will continue in Prime Wars. Next chapter will be approached with fan feedback in mind – though cannot reveal yet. War for Cybertron is a new take on things, moving a little further away from the callbacks and throwbacks in POTP too, though story can feel a little more familiar.
Masterpiece continuing after the MPM line?
Looking at more Decepticons.
How is Toys R Us situation affecting Hasbro Transformers?
Not much of a comment, though Studio Series Thundercracker is a TRU exclusive. We hope to continue partnership.
Fan-vote: is there an IDW influence, and what is the Hasbro-IDW relationship continuing?
Fans are voting on a pair, not on singles. Yes, the pairings are inspired by elements of IDW, but each can fill in blanks in the toyline in different ways, that those guys can fill them. Fans have a way of organically to play and work in the battleground story. There is intentional conversations, pairings have love/hate elements, and may jar with some.
We are wrapping up current IDW continuities this year, Unicron is coming to devour everybody. The intention is to continue after that, whatever comes next. Towards end of year we should know more, but we will collaborate on more stories.
Do pairings have a gimmick? Are they new molds?
No. War for Cybertron line may include some previous molds, but intention is to give good representation of the characters. Fans are just voting on the idea of which character will best fit a toy.
(TLK Hot Rod, TR Scourge and Highbrow are examples of Partial Tool – technical shorthand klaxon – good deal of model making involved, plans are thought out strategically, already working on War for Cybertron.)
We’re always part of the conversation as partners, but we’re focusing on Bumblebee right now. Lots of toy concepts, lots of Cyberverse, Studio Series, War for Cybertron – we’re just pausing on the movieverse, in no way distracting us.
Bumblebee film will hopefully show what we can do collectively.
Any bets with Star Wars team on who will do best?
Hoping on parents bringing kids to the movies, that’s all. Travis Knight did grow up with G1 like I did [John Warden], so we’re expecting a new fan experience.
Cyberverse: hard G1 inspiration reason rather than RID? Female Decepticon make its way in other aspects of the brand?
Definitely yes on the latter, Shadow Striker in the series. Aesthetic is aimed to engage all generations, for robot mode at least, a currently fragmented fandom interest (BW, G1, etc) – unification of brand, of lines, of generations of fans. Opening up a dialogue and viewership, which is definitely not a G1 story, it starts in current day but there is an element of comfort for parents and older fans.
A lot of families in fan community, it’s exciting to bring them to the brand and share with kids, nieces, nephews. That doesn’t detract from Generations, War for Cybertron appealing more to the older fans and collectors.
Authentics will continue, they’re not tied to any story or fiction – just classic characters for a casual shopper, grandma buying ‘an Optimus’ or you just want ‘a Megatron’.
Exclusives?
Only TRU Thundercracker announced for now, but we do have more lined up for the year.
Would fans want to see a crowdfunded HasLab Unicron? What kind of pricing? Point fans to HasLab, talk about it, read about it, podcast about it. Talk about what you want to see, we’re listening. #Unicron
We have an additional peek into the current state and direction of the upcoming Bumblebee The Movie, thanks to an interview from Billboard magazine! They stopped Hailey Steinfeld, the movie's star, on the red carpet of this year's Grammy's to ask her about her upcoming music and her upcoming Transformers project!
In addition to being an actress, she's a talented musician, with several chart-scaling hits, so obviously one of the questions asked was about if she had any intention to produce music for Bumblebee. She revealed she might be producing some and collaborating with...Bumblebee?!?!
Take a look at the full transcript of the interview below, speculate down in the Energon Pub Forums, and stay tuned to Seibertron.com for any further updates on Bee's budding music career!
INT: You're working on some new music you told, you told Billboard about some new music that you're working on and how it's going to take kind of a different direction this time around; what can we say about it?
H: Well you know it's funny, I'm, I'm in the process, I mean I've been, I've been working on music for a while, um, and it's funny cause obviously a movie can come up and take me sort of out of the game for two, three months. Um, and so I do feel like, as much as I could say I'm sort of in "album mode" or the "next EP" mode, I'm still experimenting. Uh, and I'm still really figuring out what that sound is and what direction we might call it. So um, I'm working on it.
INT: I like the, that's a good answer. Cause you've had lots of hits already, like over the past four years you keep having hit after hit. So whatever you're doing, it's working. Um, you're going to be an advisor on The Voice this season, um, you're going to be giving great sage advice to a lot of folks. What is a great piece of advice that you yourself have gotten, maybe from another musician in the business?
H: Well I am very lucky, I feel like I've, I've gotten quite a lot of great advice, um, from some amazing people and amazing artists. Uh, but I just think, really just never losing sight of, of who you are and what makes you happy. I think there obviously are a lot of people that are going to have a lot of opinions, um, about who you are, what you do, how you do certain things, how you look. Um, and it's important that regardless, whatever you end up doing is for you.
INT: One last question: You're in the new Bumblebee movie-
H: Yes!
INT: It's coming, I think at the end of this year.
H: Yeah.
INT: Are you going to be singing with the car? I'm just wondering.
H: *Laughs* Uh, there may be a little, uh, plot twist [joking tone] Bumblebee actually may be singing. Um, I do hope the, uh - the movie takes place in the 80's and there are some incredible 80's references in terms of music. So, I'm hoping that maybe uh, y'know, post-production-wise I can jump in on a, on a little something.
INT: 80's covers, perhaps?
H: 80's covers perhaps.
INT: Thank you so much Hailee, have a great night.
As the minutes tick by getting us closer to the release of Bumblebee: The Movie early next year, we see more and more news regarding it break. Such is the case today, when ComicBookMovie.com published a brand new interview with the film's director Travis Knight, including a new official promotional image, to boot! You can find the interview below:
I wanted to approach this massive, expansive franchise and really focus in on a tiny corner of the canvas. Everything I've tried to do at Laika, searching for an artful blend of darkness and light, intensity and warmth, humour and heart, I wanted to bring to the Transformers franchise
...
At its core it's just a beautiful love story between two broken souls who find each other and heal each other," he adds. "I grew up loving those classic Spielbergian Amblin films. And we're trying to evoke that kind of emotion in this movie, fusing a rich coming-of-age story with some sci-fi insanity.
You can also find that new image below, featuring the film's lead actress Hailee Steinfeld and the film's lead and titular robot below! This is one of the first official images we've received showing off Bumblebee's new old alt mode, returning to the Volkswagen Beetle for the first time since the G1 cartoon. Check it out below!
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