Transformers (2007)

Their war. Our world.

Megan Fox as: Mikaela Banes
Other Cast: Shia LaBeouf
Production Status: Released
Release Date: July 3, 2007 (United States)
Directed By: Michael Bay
Screenwriters: Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman
Genre: Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: PG-13

A long time ago, far away on the planet of Cybertron, a war was being waged between the noble Autobots (led by the wise Optimus Prime) and the devious Decepticons (commanded by the dreaded Megatron) for control over the Allspark, a mystical talisman that would grant unlimited power to whoever possessed it. The Autobots managed to smuggle the Allspark off the planet, but Megatron blasted off in search of it. He eventually tracked it to the planet of Earth (circa 1850), but his reckless desire for power sent him right into the Arctic Ocean, and the sheer cold forced him into a paralyzed state. His body was later found by Captain Archibald Witwicky, and before going into a comatose state Megatron used the last of his energy to engrave a map, showing the location of the Allspark, into the Captain’s glasses, and send a transmission to Cybertron. He is then carted away by the Captain’s ship. A century later, Sam Witwicky, nicknamed Spike by his friends, buys his first car. To his shock, he discovers it to be Bumblebee, an Autobot in disguise who is to protect Spike, as he bears the Captain’s glasses and the map carved on them. But Bumblebee is not the only Transformer to have arrived on Earth - in the desert of Qatar, the Decepticons Blackout and Scorponok attack a U.S. military base, causing the Pentagon to send their special Sector Seven agents to capture all “specimens of this alien race,” and Spike and his girlfriend Mikaela find themselves in the middle of a grand battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons, stretching from Hoover Dam all the way to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, within the depths of the Pentagon, the cryogenically stored form of Megatron awakens..

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Trivia & Facts

? Filming Locations:
New Mexico, USA
Washington, District of Columbia, USA
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
California, USA

The slogan for the movie “Their War. Our World”, was the original slogan for the movie Alien vs. Predator (2004), but at the last minute AVP was switched to “Whoever wins…we lose.”

It took approximately 38 hours to render one frame of the CGI animation to portray the Transformers.

The movie was shipped to theater as ?Cobra?.

Michael Bay originally turned down directing the film, considering it “a stupid toy movie.” However, as a young man he worked at Lucasfilm Ltd. and had the same opinion about Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which became a classic hit. Realizing he was wrong about that film and perhaps about this one, he signed on to direct the film. He also took the job because he desired to make a family film, though he wanted to make it edgier than usual.

Bumblebee’s classic alternate mode was a Volkswagen Beetle, but this was changed to a Camaro. This was because Michael Bay wanted to avoid comparisons with Herbie the Love Bug.

Megatron’s classic alternate mode was a Walther P38 pistol, but Hasbro the owners, and official distributors of the toyline stated that they would not produce a gun of any kind for their characters (it’s also illegal to make replica toy guns in several jurisdictions). Also the writers thought it was like “having Darth Vader transform into his own lightsaber and someone else swinging him around,” so it was changed to an “interstellar jet.”

As part of the promotion campaign for the film, the trailers show as little of the Transformers as possible. A lot of the robots have been left hidden to arouse interest in the film. They will not be seen in their full glory until the film release in July. This level of privacy was maintained to an extreme level; when images of Megatron’s battle mode were leaked onto the Internet, an angry Don Murphy altered Megatron’s head design, creating a new “crowned” battle mode and making the old battle mode the original mode.

Barricade’s side reads; “To punish and enslave” rather than “To protect and serve”.

Megatron was given a less humanoid face to make him more menacing.

As an inside-joke for fans and a tribute to the original cartoon, a yellow Volkswagen Beetle, which Bumblebee originally was, can be seen at the car dealership where Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) buys the Chevrolet Camaro, that is later found out to be Bumblebee. Bernie Mac’s character Bobby Bolivia, even attempts to sell Sam and his father, Ron (Kevin Dunn) the Beetle when they refuse to pay his asking price for the Camaro.

Bumblebee is a 1975 chevrolet camaro and reforms into the new 2008 concept camaro.

The release date was set without a script or a cast.

Quotes

?My character?s name is Mikaela. I?m essentially the Carly character from the cartoon. I?m Sam?s love interest throughout the film and I sort of get sucked into all of the action and become a little bit of an action hero myself.? - Megan Fox

?Luckily, my character is a tough girl. She gets into some situations where Shia?s character, Sam, has to help her. He doesn?t really necessarily come to her aid and rescue her. She doesn?t need to be rescued. She actually kicks a lot of ass.? - Megan Fox

?I?m pretty sure they wanted to cast an unknown. A lot of girls were blonde actually and I think the fact that I was dark haired played a part in it, the aesthetic of it. The other female lead is blonde and they had already cast her I think, so they wanted me to be opposite. And I just think Shia and I do have some sort of chemistry that worked well.? - Megan Fox

?I did watch the cartoon. I was a bigger ?Ninja Turtles? fan if I?m going to be honest. With Vanilla Ice in the second one. But I did watch the cartoon and I did like the cartoon. It was really entertaining. I remember when they would always come back from commercial break, they had the one animatic. I don?t remember which Autobot it was but he was like a motorcycle and he would transform in midair into a robot.? - Megan Fox

?I do have dreams, like I never leave the set. I have dreams and I?m always dreaming about this movie. Sometimes it?s me on set making this movie and sometimes it?s me in the movie and I wake up and I feel ridiculous that I?ve had that dream, that I?m like all this stuff, the Energon Cube, I dreamed about that the other day. Because we spent all day filming where we?re supposed to see the reveal of it, like 16 hours and then I went home and of course I dreamed about that all night, of the actual Energon Cube and how it did transform and all that stuff, I just feel totally retarded. I probably shouldn?t say that word. That?s going to be a big deal. ? - Megan Fox

?We?ve done a lot of crazy stuff like that. For me personally, I had to break a window, an actual car window with safety glass and all of that. Mike, who likes everything very realistic, so I had to break it with a sledge hammer and then he wanted me to reach inside and open the car door so I?m scraping my arm across the glass to get in. and it wasn?t high action, it was just actually like I had shards of glass sticking in my arm afterwards. It? real. So for me, that was probably the hairiest thing.? - Megan Fox

?The CG in this movie is incredible. Just that alone, I think is reason for anybody to go see it. But the love story. There?s a really great kiss at the end. All girls like the kiss in ?Spider-Man? and all that s**t, so that?ll be in here also. It?s just a sick movie. Everybody?s going to want to be a part of it because it?s so big.? - Megan Fox

?I liked Starscream in the animated series. From this film, I would have to see Bumblebee. I know that?s such a given but he?s so heroic. I really like him. Megatron is really sick also, the artwork on this film is incredible and it?s hard to pick but personality wise, I?d go with Bumblebee for this.? - Megan Fox

On Shia LaBeouf
?He?s a comedian, he?s so funny. They brought me into the audition and it was like the sixth time I had been in so I had been going off script, rehearsing. They put me in there with him and he was going off on all these tangents. Mike wanted me to follow along with it which is difficult for me because that?s not my area of expertise. Shia, the most difficult thing working with him is that he?s so funny, it?s really hard to play it straight, to play the straight man in the scenes with him. Mike actually gives me, he writes my lines for me moreso than he does for Shia because like I said, Shia?s a comedian and I?m not. So I sort of have to stick to some sort of scripted material. ? - Megan Fox

On Transformers being her ?Big Break?
?I try not to pay attention to that at all. But this movie, it?s going to be big for all of us. It?s just impossible to actually avoid if you want to because there is such a huge fan base for the series already and then just the trailers and things that are coming out, they?re like ominous, the things they?re putting out. It just makes you need to see this film so people are going to see me in it and they?re going to like it or they?re going to hate it or they?re going to be indifferent. I guess there?s a lot of things they feel but I am going to be seen, so I?m sure my profile will be raised on some level. ? - Megan Fox

On director Michael Bay
?Michael?s great with me. I got really lucky. I don?t know what I did in the beginning or what happened but he is really great with me. He?s great with Shia and he yells. People always talk about oh, he yells but he?s not like malicious or scary when he yells. He?s always half joking. He says things that if you don?t have thick skin might hurt your feelings but if you don?t have thick skin, you should get out of this business anyway.? - Megan Fox

Megan?s response to ?Any pressure walking into a franchise??
?Sure [there is pressure]. Not so much on my character because she was hardly ever in the animated series, so it?s not like I?m taking on something people are attached to and expect me to perform in a specific way. But for me, just the realization of how huge this movie is and how many people are going to see it. 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 large 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. ? - Megan Fox