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Transformers 2 producer on why you should see the sequel
Don Murphy, who produced Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, told SCI FI Wire that director Michael Bay deserves the credit for getting the film made amid the writers' strike and for keeping the original team in place. The sequel was in development when the Writers Guild went on strike on Oct. 31, 2007, and a potential actors' strike also loomed.
"Michael was really amazing," Murphy said in an exclusive phone interview Monday. "He sat down with the screenwriters. He knew that there was a possible strike. He had his ideas, which are always very exciting, and he managed to get the script done and get the film done, strike be damned. For that, we end up with a really cool movie."
Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, John Turturro, Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson return on screen, as do the voices of Hugo Weaving and Peter Cullen, for the continuing battle between Autobots and Decepticons. Revenge features set pieces on the Brooklyn Bridge and the great pyramids of Egypt. The following Q&A features edited excerpts of Murphy's interview. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opens June 24.
IMAX did so much for The Dark Knight. Now that audiences have seen that effect once, what can it do for Transformers?
Murphy: The best thing about the IMAX version is that when you get to the sequence that were specially shot in IMAX and you get a 30-foot-tall Optimus Prime, you've got a 30-foot-tall screen to see him on. That's probably the coolest. ...
How hard was it to maintain the original team for the sequel?
Murphy: Well, Michael's the captain. If Michael hadn't done the second one, I don't know how much of the original team would have come back. Even now the screenwriters [Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Ehren Kruger] are saying they won't come back, but hopefully they will.
So you're holding out hope to get Orci and Kurtzman back?
Murphy: Hopefully they will. They're really talented.
What can you tell us about that Brooklyn Bridge set piece?
Murphy: The movie's coming out in nine days. I've even been taking down spoiler reviews from my Web site, so let's not spoil it for people.
How about the difficulties of wrangling the Brooklyn Bridge?
Murphy: I didn't wrangle it, but I think it was much harder to wrangle the pyramids, which was, I think, the first time somebody had shot there in one or two decades.
How did you get the pyramids?
Murphy: You'll be amazed. Michael's movies tend to appeal to a certain aesthetic, and those people—be it the military or the Egyptians—bend over and say, "How can I help you?"
Is the second one an easier sell?
Murphy: Yes. [You don't have to] convince a bunch of studio executives that this is a good idea.
How about convincing the audience?
Murphy: I think Michael is very careful in his trailers to make sure that they saw cool things so they knew they weren't just going to get a retread, like you sometimes get in sequels.
How gratifying has it been watching Megan Fox take off from the first film?
Murphy: She's a sweet girl and very beautiful, very lovely, and it's amazing how quickly she's risen to stardom. At the same time, again, it's Michael. She'd come in and been turned down for a role in the Chainsaw remake, but he remembered her and called her in for the first movie. So you've got to give credit where credit's due.
By bobbo at 8:58 AM ON 06/16/09
I think that these people are actually starting to think Micheal Bay is a good director...
By goddogx at 9:10 AM ON 06/16/09
that sort of brain disfunction is impossible!
By necrosage2005 at 10:37 AM ON 06/16/09
I didn't like last years movie, so I'm not going to be seeing this one. The GMformers were fugly, the battle scene was badly done to the point that you couldn't tell what bot was fighting what, the entire concept of the Hellraiser puzzlebox was dumb, not to mention the fact that any GMformer that it made even after the reformatting from a giant box to a tabletop box to be "hidden" were all Decepticons.
By nounya at 11:11 AM ON 06/16/09
Man..thats alot of whining..For those of you that are whining so much, the movie was good it made a ton of money and most importantly it entertained a whole lot of people. Stop focusing so much on the director, last time i checked most people went to a movie...to be entertained...not because of who directed it.
By lindyxmjh at 3:24 PM ON 06/16/09
I really agree with nounya here, why so much whining about this movie?
I seriously don't understand what people want and expect from a Transformers movie aside from big explosions and robots fighting each other.
By Transformers 2 at 5:15 PM ON 06/16/09
Transformers aren't the best, but there are faaaaaaar worse movies playing every day.
By AKSChampions at 5:20 PM ON 06/16/09
I agree that people need to chill about Bay, even though he's made some of the worst films ever (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor). The first Transformers, though a largely brainless exercise, was still watchable and entertaining. I just hope this one has as epic of a plot as the trailer shows, cause we all know that Michael Bay is the greatest trailer maker ever, but his movies are usually disappointments. Is it really too much to ask for a movie that makes you think, even a little? Even a movie about toys? I guess we'll see.
By Gumbercules at 5:51 PM ON 06/16/09
I don't know, folks - I went into Transformers expecting nothing more than a big, dumb, giant robot action film. I'm not a super-picky guy, and loved the Mummy flicks and stuff like that. Heck, I even liked Fantastic Four.
All that said, I thought Transformers was quite possibly the dumbest movie I've ever seen...and I've seen Aquanoids. There were some cool action set pieces, but absolutely EVERYTHING that happened in between was so very, very stupid.
Bottom line: I love giant robots, and Transformers was so bad that it made me not want to see its sequel, which is apparently chock full of giant robots.
By ryan1701e at 10:57 PM ON 06/16/09
My favorite part of the ultra dumb Transformers movie was where robots, who are designed to disquise themselves by "transforming", hid behind trees, around the corners of houses.
Also, since this is a movie based on toys, try to leave out all of the self-pleasuring references. I was embarrassed to have my kids there.
By GQ at 6:40 AM ON 06/17/09
I agree with Gumercules. I love brainless action movies as much as the next guy but even I thought the first TF movie was absolute crap. No way I'm paying to see the sequel.
By mechele at 12:00 PM ON 06/27/09
I believe there was way too much garbage in this film...2. It was filthy in comparison to the first movie. All sorts of sexual enuendo and language, reference to gay lifestyle and just full of garbage. I wish there could be good clean and fun movies to take our children to enjoy without all that. It would have been more enjoyable without it.
By zubercon at 12:45 AM ON 07/04/09
I find it funny how many people that aren't going to watch a movie find some site about it and write such bad comments about the movie. If you thought it was so bad why are you wasting your time reading (and writing) about it?!
Get a life
By worriedmom at 12:10 PM ON 09/13/09
Transformers 2 was a great ADULT movie! However, I don't want my 6 yr old son to watch it! He is very upset about not being able to see the movie. My son loves transformers & enjoys playing with the toys. I will not let him watch the movie because of the language one of the transformers uses. I could not believe it when I heard it use the p word! That is not language I want my very young kids listening to. It's a shame that these people make a lot of money from younger kids, but put out a movie that they really should not watch. I hope they have a cleaner version for the kids.
By p51 at 6:59 PM ON 11/12/09
My family really enjoyed the first Transformers movie so when the 2nd came out we went to see it. We were very disappointed with all the language. It was a really entertaining story but even though we bought the first movie we won't buy the 2nd because we wont let our 6 year old watch it. We are average people who don't think every movie needs to have profanity. In fact, most don,t need any to be good films.
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p51:
My family really enjoyed the first Transformers movie so when the 2nd came out we went to see it. We were very disa...More »