Transformers
Their war. Our world.
Country
Production
Genre
Budget
$150 000 000
Box office
$709 709 780
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
Don Murphy, Ian Bryce, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Tom DeSanto, Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Brian Goldner, Mark Vahradian
Camera operator
Composer
Artist
Jeff Mann, Jimmy Almeida, Larry White
Audition
Janet Hirshenson, Jane Jenkins, Michelle Lewitt
Editing
Paul Rubell, Glen Scantlebury, Tom Muldoon
Whole Team (115)
Whole Team (115)
Short description
Teenage Sam Witwicky becomes involved in the ancient struggle between two extraterrestrial factions of transforming robots – the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons. Sam holds the clue to unimaginable power and the Decepticons will stop at nothing to retrieve it.
What's left behind the scenes
- The initial script included Arcee, considered one of the most feminine Autobots, which did not cause any excitement among fans. Soon, Arcee was removed from the script and replaced with Ironhide.
- The first comic book about Transformers was published in 1984 by Marvel Comics. Initially, only four issues were planned.
- Film producer Steven Spielberg did not pay any actor more than $70,000, promising high fees in subsequent sequels.
- A team of 80 people worked on the film's special effects.
- The transformation sounds were taken from the 1984 animated series of the same name.
- According to Lorenzo di Bonaventura, all of the robot transformations were carefully calculated mathematically. Therefore, attentive viewers can understand where each component of the robot goes when it transforms back into a vehicle.
- Megatron was given a face that resembles a human one as little as possible to make the character look even more menacing.
- Ironhide's cannon consists of 10,000 parts.
- Early versions of the script included the character Unicron, representing a planet-transformer. This character is expected to gain the right to cinematic life in a sequel.
- The film features 8 Decepticons and 5 Autobots. The scriptwriters deliberately took this step to emphasize the teamwork of the Autobots, and to show how dangerous the threat of the Decepticons conquering our planet is.
- Another element carried over from the series to the film is the eyes of the Transformers: blue for the Autobots, and red for the Decepticons.
- Initially, Michael Bay didn't want to cast Shia LaBeouf in the role of Sam, as he believed the actor was too old for the part.
- During the Autobots' synchronized turn on the highway, it is visible that Optimus starts it first, followed by Jazz. However, Optimus Prime then ends up driving last.
- The tagline “Our world. Their war.” was intended to appear on the posters for “Alien vs. Predator,” but was replaced at the last moment with “Whoever wins… we lose.”
- According to the visual effects artists at ILM, rendering each frame of CGI animation took approximately 38 hours. The previous record was held by Weta Workshop, who spent 20 hours processing each frame while working on 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'.
- After communicating with fans of the franchise, producer Don Murphy decided to use familiar voices from the 'Transformers' series. Veterans Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, the voices of the Transformers leaders Optimus Prime and Megatron, were personally auditioned by Michael Bay, who feared their aging voices might not be suitable. His fears were half-justified: Cullen's voice was approved, but Welker's voice was replaced by Hugo Weaving, known for his role as Agent Smith in 'The Matrix'.
- In the animated version, Bumblebee transformed from a Volkswagen Beetle, but in the film version, Volkswagen was replaced by a Chevrolet Camaro. This was done at Michael Bay's request, as he feared the character would be compared to another famous 'automotive movie bug' - Herbie. Fans of the original series will likely notice the yellow Volkswagen in the scene where Sam buys a car.
- Michael Bay, who was invited to direct the film, initially considered the future picture a 'silly toy story,' but soon changed his mind after remembering his initial attitude towards the 'Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark' project, which became a real box office hit in 1981. In April 2005, he was officially announced as the project's director, beating out candidate Roland Emmerich.
- In Michael Bay's film, Optimus Prime appears as a Peterbilt 379 truck. In Steven Spielberg's early film 'Duel' (1971), which Spielberg executive produced for 'Transformers', a Peterbilt 281 truck was also the main character.
- The first version of the script featured a character named Ravage (Ravage – destruction), a robot-like animal fighting for the Decepticons. Later, Ravage was removed and another transforming creature, Scorponok, was included in the script. It is Scorponok who attacks the surviving American soldiers in one of the scenes in the first half of the film.
- In Sam's room, you can see a poster of the rock band Linkin Park, and it is this band's single, “What I've Done,” that serves as the main musical theme of the film.
- Exactly at the 60-minute mark, a guy running with a camera to the crash site of the meteorite shouts: “I’ve never seen anything this cool, everything around is exploding, it’s definitely a hundred times cooler than Armageddon.” The film “Armageddon” was also directed by Michael Bay.
- Creating the first part of “Transformers” required using 20 TB of server disk space. Working on the second film barely fit within 145 TB. For comparison, 145 TB is the capacity of 35,000 DVDs.
- The Decepticon Brawl – a modified “M1 Abrams” tank – was originally named “Devastator,” but Bay later admitted a mistake and the Decepticon was renamed Brawl. Despite this, the incorrect subtitle “Devastator reporting” remained in the DVD version.
- The movie slogan "Our world. Their war" was intended to appear on the posters for the film "Alien vs. Predator," but at the very last moment, it was replaced with "Whoever wins... we lose."
- According to the special effects creators from ILM, rendering each frame with CGI animation took about 38 hours. The previous record was held by Weta Workshop, which spent 20 hours per frame while working on the film "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers."
- After consulting with franchise fans, producer Don Murphy decided to bring back the well-known voices from the 'Transformers' series. Veterans Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, who voiced the Transformer leaders Optimus Prime and Megatron, were personally auditioned by Michael Bay, who feared that their aging voices might not be suitable. These fears were only half-justified: Cullen's voice was approved, but Welker's voice was replaced by Hugo Weaving, known for his role as Agent Smith in 'The Matrix'.
- The original script included Arcee, considered one of the most feminine Autobots, which failed to generate any excitement among fans. Soon after, Arcee disappeared from the script and was replaced by Ironhide.
- In the animated version, Bumblebee transformed from a Volkswagen Beetle; however, in the movie version, the Volkswagen was replaced by a Chevrolet Camaro. This was done at the request of Michael Bay, who feared comparisons between the character and another famous 'movie beetle'—Herbie. Fans of the original series will likely notice a yellow Volkswagen in the scene where Sam buys a car.
- Michael Bay, who was invited to direct the film, initially dismissed the future movie as a 'silly toy story,' but soon changed his mind after recalling his initial reaction to 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,' which became a massive box-office hit in 1981. In April 2005, he was officially announced as the project's director, beating out candidate Roland Emmerich.
- Film producer Steven Spielberg did not pay any actor more than $70,000, promising higher fees in subsequent sequels.
- In Michael Bay's film, Optimus Prime appears as a Peterbilt 379 semi-truck. In 'Duel' (1971), an earlier film by 'Transformers' executive producer Steven Spielberg, the main protagonist was also a Peterbilt 281 semi-truck.
- According to Lorenzo di Bonaventura, all robot transformations were carefully calculated mathematically. Thus, attentive viewers can see where each component of the robot goes during the reverse transformation back into a vehicle.
- A Linkin Park poster can be seen in Sam's room; it is the band's single 'What I've Done' that serves as the film's main musical theme.
- Exactly at the 60-minute mark, a guy running with a camera toward the meteorite crash site shouts: 'I've never seen anything this cool, everything around is exploding, this is definitely a hundred times cooler than Armageddon.' The film 'Armageddon' was also directed by Michael Bay.
- A video game of the same name was based on this film.
- Creating the first Transformers movie required 20 TB of server disk space. For the second film, 145 TB was barely enough. For comparison, 145 TB is equivalent to the volume of 35,000 DVDs.
- Initially, Michael Bay did not want to cast Shia LaBeouf as Sam, as he felt the actor was too old for the role.
- The Decepticon Brawl—a modified M1 Abrams tank—was originally named 'Devastator,' but Bay later acknowledged the mistake and the Decepticon was renamed Brawl. Despite this, the uncorrected subtitle 'Devastator reporting' remains in the DVD version.
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