Trivia / Transformers (2007)

• Acting for Two: In the first film, Jess Harnell voices both an Autobot and a Decepticon: Ironhide and Barricade.
• Actor Allusion: This isn't the first time the great-great-grandfather of Shia La Beouf's character is important to the plot.
• Approval of God: Bob Budiansky, the writer of the original Transformers Marvel Comics, enjoyed the film and that the Transformers/human interaction was similar to his stories.
• Cast the Expert: The military extras were played by real-life military, so Michael Bay gave them almost completely free reign in controlling the military sequences.
• Creator Backlash: Hugo Weaving claimed that he found the experience "meaningless." Michael Bay backlashed even harder, claiming that acting is just about the money, not the art.
• Dawson Casting: Shia and Megan Fox both turned 20 the year the movie was filmed, both playing high school juniors. Bay mentioned that he was initially not interested in Shia because in his movies immediately prior he had grown a goatee, making him look too old to play a teenager. Seeing him clean shaven convinced him otherwise.
• Enforced Method Acting:
  • Shia's performance during Bumblebee's capture was the result of Michael Bay telling him his mother got into an accident and was in critical condition at the hospital.
  • When Scorponok explodes out of the ground behind the fleeing soldiers, their Oh, Crap! expressions are real, as the explosion effects were achieved by detonating primacord (basically rope with explosive materials in it) and Michael Bay had told them to run and keep running no matter what happens, or they could be killed.
• Executive Meddling: Michael Bay intended to have the transformers depicted entirely through VFX and CGI. However, Steven Spielberg stepped in and persuaded him to use animatronics and practical effects wherever possible and only computer graphics and effects when there was no other option.
• Genre Turning Point: The film earned $37 million in China and set a record for the biggest film opening ever in that country at the time. Transformers was the film that demonstrated to Hollywood that China was an emerging and lucrative film market, resulting in the rise of blockbusters (Transformers: Age of Extinction being a good example of one) that make an active attempt to appeal to the Chinese market.
• Harpo Does Something Funny: In this film and the ones after it, a large amount of the military sequences don't have scripts - the extras they hired are real soldiers, so Michael Bay just told them to say and do what they would say and do in that situation.
• Money, Dear Boy: Hugo Weaving admits he read his lines without knowing what they mean and that he's not seen the films.
• Old Shame: Hugo Weaving stated that he disliked being cast as Megatron's voice because he didn't know what Megatron's lines meant, and then called the film's script pathetic. Michael Bay lashed out at him for this.
  Hugo Weaving: I very rarely do something if it's meaningless. It was meaningless to me, honestly...I never read the script. I just have my lines, and I don't know what they mean. That sounds absolutely pathetic! I've never done anything like that, in my life.
  Michael Bay: Do you ever get sick of actors that make $15 million a picture, or even $200,000 for voiceover work that took a brisk one hour and 43 minutes to complete, and then complain about their jobs? With all the problems facing our world today, do these grumbling thespians really think people reading the news actually care about trivial complaints that their job wasn’t "artistic enough" or "fulfilling enough"? I guess The Hollywood Reporter thinks so. What happened to people who had integrity, who did a job, got paid for their hard work, and just smiled afterward? Be happy you even have a job – let alone a job that pays you more than 98% of the people in America. I have a wonderful idea for all those whiners: They can give their "unhappy job money" to a wonderful Elephant Rescue. It's the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Africa. I will match the funds they donate.
• Prop Recycling: Brawl's tank mode was portrayed by a tank previously used in XXX State Of The Union.
• Reality Subtext:
  • Optimus Prime doesn't have his traditional cab over engine because Michael Bay didn't want to cheat the transformation sequences by adding or removing mass between one form and other and the animators needed the additional length afforded by a conventional cab design.
  • Bumblebee vs. Barricade: Chevy Camaro vs. Ford Mustang.^Explanation The Chevrolet Camaro was specifically made to be a rival to the Ford Mustang.
• Technical Advisor: Not only was the film Backed by the Pentagon, the film also relied on technical advisors to help Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson prepare for their roles as William Lennox and Robert Epps respectively, during their three days of basic training at Fort Irwin, California. Harry Humphries, a former Navy SEAL, was one of these advisors assisting them.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The original character line-ups for the Autobots and Decepticons would have been larger and more in-line with G1:
    • Autobots: Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Jazz, Ironhide, Prowl, Wheeljack, and Arcee (the latter three failed to make the final cut).
    • Decepticons: Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Ravage, Laserbeak, Rumble, Shockwave, Skywarp, and Thundercracker (all except Megatron and Starscream were cut, though some were renamed/reworked into the finished movie).
  • Prowl's reason for being cut was that he transforms into a police car, but the writers thought a Decepticon turning into a police car (Barricade) helped add more irony to the movie and thus the "robots in disguise" motto.
  • They were going to put a transforming aircraft carrier (which partially inspired the toy-only stealth battleship Depthcharge), but the scale would have been extremely awkward to animate — as in, it would have likely been able to walk on the ocean floor while keeping its torso above water.
  • The very first non-movie character to get a toy was Wreckage - a Decepticon with an APC altmode based on an ILM design that eventually went unused.
  • The studio initially requested that they try and make it so the robots don't talk at all, fearing it would come across as silly. Both the writers and Michael Bay knew that despite the requisite cries it was ruined for any changes, the fans would absolutely crucify them if the robots didn't talk.
  • Soundwave was planned to appear in the film, with two major attempts being made to include the character.
    • The first attempt had the helicopter Decepticon from the opening be Soundwave; an early animation test of this design can be seen here. After the decision was made to change the character from Soundwave, many names were considered, including "Vortex", "Devastator", "Incinerator", and even "Grimlock", before the name Blackout was finalized. Scorponok was also originally intended to be Ravage, but was changed to a desert animal after Soundwave was cut.
    • The second attempt was a Decomposite Character of Frenzy and Barricade, who would transform into a portable stereo to infiltrate a military base, then transform into a humvee to escape. The film's producers objected to including size-shifting in the movie, feeling it was too silly/strange, so the two characters were separated. Frenzy retained the Soundwave name for a while, but was eventually changed when the writers felt that the character was too different from the original.
  • Barricade was originally going to be killed during the highway chase scene by Optimus after the Autobot leader dispatched Bonecrusher, but the scene was cut for unclear reasons, leaving Barricade's fate unknown. Later media ran with this; The Reign Of Starscream sequel comic reveals that Barricade was (non-fatally) rammed off the road by Ironhide, and he shows up alive and well in both Dark Of The Moon and The Last Knight.
  • Corey Burton was asked to audition for a role in the live-action film, but he declined due to not being interested in performing in mega-budget blockbuster movies.
  • Arcee was originally going to appear in the first movie before being replaced by Ironhide. The reason being is to remove exposition of the presence of a female Transformer (or the fact that they have sexes at all) since there was little time for it. Plus, she would be too small by comparison.
  • Michael Bay originally wanted the movie to be rated R, but Steven Spielberg objected.
  • Frank Welker offered (and wanted) to voice Megatron again, though Michael Bay decided his voice wasn't intimidating enough and cast Hugo Weaving instead.
  • A pre-famous Aziz Ansari was up for a role as an Indian call center employee, but he found the insistence that he use a hokey accent degrading and too stereotypical. They ended up getting Ravi Patel, a friend of his, to play the role; Ansari himself didn't hold it against Patel, though.
  • Megatron's face had a more monstrous appearance but thanks to heavy backlash from the fans, it was redesigned to be slightly more human-like.
• According to the family tree that Sam presents, the Witwicky family consists of two generations of inbreeding. This might be a mistake on Sam's part though.