More Lorenzo di Bonaventura on Bumblebee Movie, with Transformers: TLK Spoilers

Va'al wrote:We have a new interview retreading some old ground concerning producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and a fairly spoiler-filled interview with Collider on Transformers: The Last Knight - but focusing even more so on the Bumblebee movie which has started shooting just recently.

If The Last Knight spoilers are your bread and butter, head here to our spoiler thread to discuss the movie itself, and keep watching the clip. If you'd rather avoid them, however, we've transcribed di Bonaventura's thoughts on Bumblebee below, once more repeating the Iron Giant parallels, and the 1985 setting and feel for the upcoming movie!

Check out what Lorenzo di Bonaventura had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about followed by the official synopsis and a few images.

Lorenzo di Bonaventura:

How technology has advanced since the first film where the robots now look like they’ve gone from the Atari 2600 to a PlayStation 4
What 3D IMAX brings to the experience.
What was the most challenging part of making the film?
The film ends with [spoiler]. Where did the idea come from?
How much do they know about where the next film will go?
What can he say about the Bumblebee movie?

“The objective of that movie is to develop more time with less robots, and to go back to 1985 and to go back to the original heritage, if you would, of the Transformers, G1.”

[...]

“So it has a very distinct idea in it, and whatever is going to happen with the chemistry is what’s going to happen. But it really is a young female lead [Hailee Steinfeld] opposite of Bumblebee, and I think that Optimus is going to be jealous that Bumblebee has his own movie.”

“There are less Transformers, dramatically less… We hired, purposely, Travis Knight who’s a very distinct filmmaker. You can’t compete with Michael [Bay], you’re going to lose. Also, the audience wants something different all the time, let’s keep them interested. So they’re going to get a very emotional, complex story. A very tight story, in terms of its location, in terms of its storytelling. In fact it reminds me a little bit of The Iron Giant when I did that movie at Warner Brothers. It just reminds me a little bit of that, where that it feels contained, but it doesn’t feel small.”

dragons wrote:
Should be interesting where this goes but if by some chance bumblebee does transform into volkswagon his size in bot mode would have to be altered little bit bee was normally Cameros which are big medium size cars and volkswagon are half size of cameros bumblebee tranform into volkswagon would be size of arcee or skids and mudflap we would have more bots if bay was still director but fans wanted new director told you so it came back get you with answer you wouldn't like bat nipples on batman costume in batman sequel with director for those sequels, we have new director we get less bots,.

I will hold out judgement until I see trailer like to see decpeticon in this movie instead fighting humans

Deadput wrote:

breacher wrote:
Do we need to have a Seibertron-sponsored lesson in punctuation? Seriously, I'm no grammar nazi... but this took ten times longer than it should have to read, when you have to go back and read stuff again to understand it.

e
Maybe English isn't his first language or he is a kid.

Rodimus Prime wrote:The lead should be someone better known. After TLK, the Bee movie needs all the positive press it can use.

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:The lead should be someone better known. After TLK, the Bee movie needs all the positive press it can use.

Shouldnt the lead be Bee himself?

I am glad he's not known. probably means he wont steal Bee's spotlight. Since when do we come to these films for their human stars?

“There are less Transformers, dramatically less… We hired, purposely, Travis Knight who’s a very distinct filmmaker.

Kurona wrote:The problem isn't necessarily human characters themselves; there have been some legitimately great human characters throughout the franchise that you can fall in love with as much as the Cybertronians. It's just when they take too much focus and the film becomes less "Transformers" and more "The Adventures Of Sam Witwicky Featuring His Fancy Robot Friends From Outer Space".

Sabrblade wrote:

Kurona wrote:The problem isn't necessarily human characters themselves; there have been some legitimately great human characters throughout the franchise that you can fall in love with as much as the Cybertronians. It's just when they take too much focus and the film becomes less "Transformers" and more "The Adventures Of Sam Witwicky Featuring His Fancy Robot Friends From Outer Space".

Or like the last movie, "Cade Yeager and the Space Knights".

Kurona wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Kurona wrote:The problem isn't necessarily human characters themselves; there have been some legitimately great human characters throughout the franchise that you can fall in love with as much as the Cybertronians. It's just when they take too much focus and the film becomes less "Transformers" and more "The Adventures Of Sam Witwicky Featuring His Fancy Robot Friends From Outer Space".

Or like the last movie, "Cade Yeager and the Space Knights".

AoE; Cade Yeager And The Evil Machinations Of The Goverment Plus Some Alien Gun Head Dude

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:The lead should be someone better known. After TLK, the Bee movie needs all the positive press it can use.

Shouldnt the lead be Bee himself?

I am glad he's not known. probably means he wont steal Bee's spotlight. Since when do we come to these films for their human stars?

Alpha Dominus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:The lead should be someone better known. After TLK, the Bee movie needs all the positive press it can use.

Shouldnt the lead be Bee himself?

I am glad he's not known. probably means he wont steal Bee's spotlight. Since when do we come to these films for their human stars?

I'm just glad that we're finally getting a human-focused story, it looks like.

william-james88 wrote:

Alpha Dominus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:The lead should be someone better known. After TLK, the Bee movie needs all the positive press it can use.

Shouldnt the lead be Bee himself?

I am glad he's not known. probably means he wont steal Bee's spotlight. Since when do we come to these films for their human stars?

I'm just glad that we're finally getting a human-focused story, it looks like.

Wasnt the last Knight human focused? We had not 1 but 2 chosen ones and they were both humans.

Sabrblade wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Alpha Dominus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:The lead should be someone better known. After TLK, the Bee movie needs all the positive press it can use.

Shouldnt the lead be Bee himself?

I am glad he's not known. probably means he wont steal Bee's spotlight. Since when do we come to these films for their human stars?

I'm just glad that we're finally getting a human-focused story, it looks like.

Wasnt the last Knight human focused? We had not 1 but 2 chosen ones and they were both humans.

Twas facetiousness, I believe.

Alpha Dominus wrote:Yup. At this point (well, a long time ago actually) I've grown weary of the "human dynamic" and forced interaction of these-for the extremely greater part-very unwelcome human characters. As I try desperately to find the silver lining in these films, I always tell myself, "It's for the good and greater exposure of the toy line."

william-james88 wrote:

Alpha Dominus wrote:Yup. At this point (well, a long time ago actually) I've grown weary of the "human dynamic" and forced interaction of these-for the extremely greater part-very unwelcome human characters. As I try desperately to find the silver lining in these films, I always tell myself, "It's for the good and greater exposure of the toy line."

The sad part is it isn't. The toyline is no longer the main source of revenue for the Transformers brand (revenue, not profit since we dont have the numbers for that). The Films doesnt exist for the purpose of selling a toyline, the toys are now just merchandise like toys for any other movie, like a minion fart gun. Some just happen to still transform and keep the tradition, which is great. But a movie or other media wont necesarily mean more toys. Look at the Gi joe films.

Kurona wrote:they just need to show Optimus Prime.

Kurona wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Alpha Dominus wrote:Yup. At this point (well, a long time ago actually) I've grown weary of the "human dynamic" and forced interaction of these-for the extremely greater part-very unwelcome human characters. As I try desperately to find the silver lining in these films, I always tell myself, "It's for the good and greater exposure of the toy line."

The sad part is it isn't. The toyline is no longer the main source of revenue for the Transformers brand (revenue, not profit since we dont have the numbers for that). The Films doesnt exist for the purpose of selling a toyline, the toys are now just merchandise like toys for any other movie, like a minion fart gun. Some just happen to still transform and keep the tradition, which is great. But a movie or other media wont necesarily mean more toys. Look at the Gi joe films.

Pretty much. Due to this, the movies are ironically the mainstream Transformers media with the most creative freedom -- it's not tied up by needing to advertise toys; they don't answer to Hasbro, Hasbro answers to them. They can do whatever they want as long as there's a fair number of Transformers in there. They don't need to show Optimus Prime's sweet new action feature or his awesome new upgrade... they just need to show Optimus Prime.

In a major boon to local production, “Bumblebee,” the spinoff movie from Paramount’s “Transformers” franchise, will shoot in California with the help of a $22-million tax credit.

It’s the largest tax break awarded to date under a state program aimed at curbing so-called runaway production.

The new movie will film entirely in California, according to a Paramount spokesman. Production is expected to take place in the Los Angeles area as well as in Northern California, according to two people familiar with the project who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The production, described only in state records as the “Untitled Paramount Project,” has received preliminary approval to receive a state tax credit of $22 million, according to the California Film Commission.

Paramount's Transformers spinoff Bumblebee is quickly rounding out its cast, adding a handful of young actors including Jason Drucker, Abby Quinn, Rachel Crow, Ricardo Hoyos and Gracie Dzienny, who are in various stages of negotiations.

[...]

The film will clearly feature a slew of young rising stars: Drucker was most recently seen in Fox’s reboot Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul. He’s repped by Coast to Coast and Industry Entertainment.

Hoyos starred on Degrassi: Next Class and also was seen in The Belko Experiment. He’s repped by Industry Entertainment.

Quinn starred opposite Jenny Slate in Gillian Robespierre's Landline, which played at Sundance and hits theaters on July 21. She also stars opposite Joey King in Radium Girls. She’s repped by CAA and Rebecca Kitt & Associates.

Crow has appeared on the TV shows BrainSurge, Big Time Rush and Figure It Out and voiced Carla in the animated film Rio 2. She’s repped by UTA and Untitled Entertainment.

Dzienny’s credits include TV series Zoo and Chasing Life. She’s repped by Innovative Artists and Inphenate.

Deadput wrote:...who?

Optimum Supreme wrote:He clearly is talking about every single human in this movie. On the bright side, if every one is an unknown nobody, maybe it will focus better on the robits than goofy parents or humping dogs.

Optimum Supreme wrote:He clearly is talking about every single human in this movie. On the bright side, if every one is an unknown nobody, maybe it will focus better on the robits than goofy parents or humping dogs.

william-james88 wrote:

Deadput wrote:...who?

You dont know Snoop Dog?

“There are dramatically less Transformers. We hired purposefully Travis Knight, who is a very distinct filmmaker. You can’t compete with Michael, you’re gonna lose. And also I think the audience wants something different all the time, let’s keep them interested. They’re gonna get a very emotionally complex story, a very tight story in terms of its location and in terms of its storytelling. In fact it reminds me a little bit of ‘Iron Giant’ years ago when I did that movie at Warner Bros. It just reminds me a little bit of that where it was very contained and yet it didn’t feel small.”

Deadput wrote:Being a voice actor is something I've wanted to do but I'm sure their looking for more experienced actors.

Plus you got to pay to be a member of the site to apply.

Now, Paramount is cutting costs. Its Bumblebee spin-off is pegged at $70 million-plus (according to sources), compared to Last Knight's $217 million.

A younger cast, headed by Hailee Steinfeld, 20, will be directed by Travis Knight when filming starts in August. The story, centered on the yellow bot, will be set in 1987.

Pamela Adlon, fresh off a Best Comedy Series Actress Emmy nomination for her FX series Better Things, is in negotiations to join the cast of Bumblebee, Paramount’s first spinoff of its Transformers franchise. Kubo and the Two Strings helmer Travis Knight is directing the pic, which is being toplined by Hailee Steinfeld.

Adlon will play Steinfeld’s mother in the movie scripted by Christina Hodson. The story is mostly under wraps, but it originated from Michael Bay and Paramount’s writers room project. Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Bay and Steven Spielberg are producing with Hasbro’s Brian Goldner and Stephen Davis.

Bumblebee has staked out June 8 release date.

BERSEKAEL wrote:Paint it in red, make the movie about cliff jumper... kind of too much yellow already

“Bumblebee,” a spinoff from the “Transformers” film series, is the major Paramount film being shot in Marin, a Paramount spokesperson confirmed Friday.

The spokesperson, who was unnamed, declined further elaboration except to say the film is due for a summer 2018 release.

The Paramount confirmation came as other news surfaced in recent days pointing toward the film.

Deborah Albre, Marin liaison to the California Film Commission, noted that a recent Los Angeles Times story referenced “Bumblebee” as being eligible for $22 million in tax credits — the largest amount assigned to a major film since the state film tax credits program started in 2015.

“It’s pretty impressive,” Albre said of the film project’s tax credits, which are tied into the local economy through jobs and use of area resources.

Last month, Albre and other sources indicated that Paramount was planning to shoot a major feature film in Marin and was building a set in Peacock Gap area of San Rafael.

The location for “Bumblebee,” a prequel to the popular “Transformers” franchise, has been a closely held commodity.

Kurona wrote:Do... do they not have the funds to just purchase 70s/80s cars?

I'm sorry, I really hate to be a negative nancy, but this just seems bizarre. One of if not the most profitable movie franchises of the last 10 years is asking for donations?

We are starting to shoot a week from today. We had decided to do this well before (The Last Knight) had come out. Our feeling was that we wanted to give the audience a different experience. Bumblebee's designed to be a more intimate movie. There's many fewer Transformers in it. It's set in 1987, so it actually predates all of Michael's movies and therefore is not burdened by the history of those, 'cause it predates it. You have a certain amount of creative freedom.

Yeah, I think so. I do. Look, it was a great run. I think going forward, we learned some lessons and I think we need to change it up. I think Michael (Bay, director of all five Transformers films) would be the first one to say that. It's one of the reasons why we were trying to bring in the Arthurian myth, in fact, in (The Last Knight), to create that different sense of what that movie's about. I think we were successful in that way, but obviously not in the box office.

Looking forward to a great day #onset #bumblebeemovie #work #work #transformers If you have the power to make someone happy, do it, the world needs more of that. #kindnessrules #rockluv #free2luv