Ron Perlman will Once Again Voice Optimus Primal in Transformers Rise of the Beasts

I can hear Garry Chalk grumbling in frustration.

I love Ron Perlman

God, I hope he sounds more excited to be there this time around. I love Ron Perlman, but you can tell when he's just doing a role for paycheck.

Ron Pearlman is great in so many things, but not this. I hated his Optimus Primal. It was so lackluster and boring.

Betting Paramount will not use the line "Well isn't that just prime."

Welp, I already have the feeling that I will be going into the theaters with as much "enthusiasm" as I did with The Last Knight for this one.

Here's hoping I don't feel like I was rejected for a role for MST3K after watching this one.

They didn't get Garry Chalk because they never even reached out to him.

I'm a huge Perlman fan, and was really disappointed with how flat his Primal was in PotP, but I think we can blame that on the voice direction (that show managed to make Mark Hamill sound bored). As bad as the live-actions movies can be, we at least usually get some energy from the VAs when they're given lines (not counting the bland platitudes Optimus gets stuck with when he's not snarling in rage). A whole new creative team is giving me some optimism, I loved Bumblebee, and apparently they want this to be more BB than Bay, so fingers crossed.

I'm torn here. Perlman is a fun actor to listen to. He was bad in PotP, because that was a terrible show, as was the voice directing, and sound mixing, among other things. Chalk will always be Optimus Primal to me, and I love seeing him in film roles such as Godzilla (2014), and Sonic (2020). However, I was at Botcon 2004 in Pasadena when rumblings of the first film were going around. Cullen knew nothing about it, but I remember the thunderous applause when a fan said if they don't get him to voice Optimus Prime, there would be *riots* (figuratively I'm sure...) ...oh boy, that has not aged well....

Anyway... Paramount didn't get Welker to do Megatron, and despite some fans disappointment, Hugo Weaving did well I thought (even if he himself thought it was stupid and bounced after his 3 picture deal was done). And well...they did get Welker eventually...

As much of an Original Series fan as I am, I see both sides of this, I really want to see Garry Chalk get a good solid role in a larger motion picture, but I know why Paramount made the choice they did. Will this be met with the same anger and disappointmentas if Cullen had been passed up? For some people yes absolutely, for some, maybe not. I have the greatest of respect for the original BW cast. They not only did great work, they are great people as well. I wish them all continued success in the industry, even if it doesn't happen to be in this specific film.

Sabrblade wrote:They didn't get Garry Chalk because they never even reached out to him.

Oh, that's a real bummer. I love Perlman, but it's definitely soured if Chalk wasn't even given the chance. I know schedules conflict and such, and I can't really imagine it was a budget or union thing like the Netflix series. I guess they just wanted the star power...

Rodimus Knight wrote:Ron Pearlman is great in so many things, but not this. I hated his Optimus Primal. It was so lackluster and boring.

Betting Paramount will not use the line "Well isn't that just prime."

To play the devil's advocate, everyone in Prime Wars except for Megatron was lackluster and boring, so maybe his Primal will be better in a big budget movie with better voice direction.

If Optimus Primal been hanging out on Earth long before the Autobots,it makes sense to use Ron Perlman's veteran sounding voice.

Eh, he’s no Gary, but Paramount could’ve done much worse.

I have to say I hate Ron Perlman. But only because I just watched "Sons of Anarchy" and he was totally awesome in portraying such a despicable character as Clay Monroe.

He must have really enjoyed voicing Primal in Power of the Primes to want to reprise the role.

bluecatcinema wrote:He must have really enjoyed voicing Primal in Power of the Primes to want to reprise the role.

I'd actually be surprised if he even remembered it. It was probably more the money, and just another chance to act than anything.

TulioDude wrote:If Optimus Primal been hanging out on Earth long before the Autobots,it makes sense to use Ron Perlman's veteran sounding voice.

But the autobots are even older, so how does that comment make any sense.

william-james88 wrote:

TulioDude wrote:If Optimus Primal been hanging out on Earth long before the Autobots,it makes sense to use Ron Perlman's veteran sounding voice.

But the autobots are even older, so how does that comment make any sense.

We already have the precedent with Cyberverse with the All Spark creating Cheetor to serve as its Guardian

william-james88 wrote:

TulioDude wrote:If Optimus Primal been hanging out on Earth long before the Autobots,it makes sense to use Ron Perlman's veteran sounding voice.

But the autobots are even older, so how does that comment make any sense.

I mean it's already been described in interviews that the Maximals are Ancient, so it seems that in this film it's the other way around.

Well, this will be interesting.

I am very sad they didn't even ask Chalk, he's very disappointed he wasn't even considered.

At the same time, I'm curious to see how Perlman's voice comes out. Marnocha did a great Megatron in Prime Wars but then they neutered all his best parts for WFC. Foushee does a great Cyberverse Optimus, but is terrible in WFC. I hope movie Perlman is far better than Prime Wars Perlman

Deadput wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

TulioDude wrote:If Optimus Primal been hanging out on Earth long before the Autobots,it makes sense to use Ron Perlman's veteran sounding voice.

But the autobots are even older, so how does that comment make any sense.

I mean it's already been described in interviews that the Maximals are Ancient, so it seems that in this film it's the other way around.

Maybe the Maximals are still from the future, but they never went back there, so they've been sitting around on Earth for millions of years so they're comparatively ancient