This page contains affiliate links. We may earn commissions when readers interact with or purchase items through these links. For more information, see our affiliate disclosures here.
Voice actor Steven Blum recently sat down with Skewed 'n Reviewed to discuss some of his current and upcoming projects including his role as Starscream on Transformers Prime. Here's a few excerpts:
How did you become involved with the new Transformers project and your character?
I prayed a lot, bribed a little, cried some. [Laughs] Actually, I just auditioned for it like anything else – and got really, really lucky!
Are you a fan of horror and science fiction? If so, what are some of your favorites?
Not as much horror as sci-fi, but I’ve seen quite a bit of both. One of my favorite horror bloodfests happens to be Re-Animator. I worked as a driver, shlepper, mailboy, slave for the production company that made it – Empire Pictures, when it was shot in 1985. The weird thing about that film is that the star, Jeff Combs, is now playing Ratchet in Transformers: Prime!
What sort of research did you do for the parts and what challenges did it present compared with other work?
I read a lot of stuff on the internet and watched an episode or two from each of the older series. I was already in my 20’s when G1 came out, but I was certainly aware that Transformers was something new and different and I have to admit that I did play with my kid’s action figures. I still do. Except I have my own action figures now. That counts as research, right?
Don Jeanes who plays Neil Armstrong in Dark Of The Moon took time out to talk with Skewed & Reviewed about his role. Below is a small excerpt, you can read the full interview with this up and coming actor about Dark Of The Moon and his other projects here.
Who do you play in the new Transformers film and what can you tell us about your experiences on the film? What were the first thoughts that ran through your mind when you got the script?
I play Neil Armstrong in Transformers: Dark of the Moon and it was an amazing experience. Actually, I never got a script — I was given sides to audition with, but they were just a vague outline of the actual script. Director Michael Bay did not tell me this, but apparently he’s had many attempts to hack his computer and steal the script so he is, justifiably, very guarded with regards to the script. Cory Tucker, who plays Buzz Aldrin, in the film, and I were shown a page of script while Michael held it in his hands on set. I can say that when my agent called me to tell me I booked the role, I was here in my apartment and fell down yelling for joy on the floor!
How did you handle working with special effects as it can be challenging for some?
I’m a method actor so I rely heavily on substitutions from my own life. I find the scariest or most intense situation that I’ve ever been in and try to relive it with my scene objective layered on top of that. A great imagination helps of course and I feel it’s important to understand what the director’s vision of the scene is.
Was the film shot in 3D? What was working with Michael Bay like?
Yes, while I was on set the film was being shot in 3D. I had a great experience working with Michael Bay. That might be partly because my first interaction with him was kind of funny. I began work on the first day of shooting for the film, so everyone seemed really fresh and eager. I was escorted to set and almost immediately I heard a guy yelling “I need an astronaut’s glove over here, get me an astronaut.” Well that guy was Michael Bay. So I nervously ran over and meekly said, “Uh, yeah?” and Michael told me to start fidgeting with the camera that was attached to our space suits so they could get some close ups of it. I was impressed that Michael is hands-on in every scene, right there communicating with the actors and everyone else directly.
If your head is still realing from the massive amounts of Dark Of The Moon information the last couple of days, we got some more coming your way. Slashfilm.com has posted a lengthy interview with Director Michael Bay. This interview is rife with spoilers so be warned.
He talks about filming in 3D. Reiterates the lack of twins in the movie while throwing out the name of a new character. There are some very interesting tidbits to be found.You can read the interview in it's entirety here. Spoiler warning is in full effect.
In other Dark Of The Moon News we have compiled a list of various articles and interviews from an April 14th DOTM roundtable discussion by Michael Bay. Keep in mind there is a lot of repeated information in the following links, but some have a few additional details and focus on things others don't. If you aren't afraid of a few more plot details and have some time to kill grab a snack and get to reading!
Flint Dille, the man responsible for much of Sunbow Productions' G1 Transformers cartoon continuity, recently spoke to Sledgehammer Productions about his time on the series and the 1986 animated movie. He reflects on the death of Optimus Prime, the origin of the Transformers ("Five Faces of Darkness"), and the abandoned "Secret of Cybertron" movie concept. Click here to read the full interview.
Flint Dille was born to write. His father was the publisher of the original “Buck Rogers” comic strip and he’s followed in the his footsteps as an acclaimed writer of both animation and video games. During the eighties, Flint served as both a writer and Story Editor on a little known series called “Transformers”, including the mini-series, “Five Faces of Darkness” that revealed the origin of the Transformers. So what was it like working on one of the greatest cartoons of all time? What were the politics of writing such a show?
Just a quick reminder for you Seibertronians who are also members of the Transformers Collector's Club to keep an eye on your mailbox. The April/May Issue 38 of the Club Magazine has started to mail. Here's some of what you can look forward to in this issue:
TFCC exclusive Toy Fair interview with director Michael Bay
Morgan Lofting Interview (the voice of GI Joe's Baroness and Transformers G1's Firestar and Moonracer)
2005 Convention Ironhide and Outback bios
Kre-O, clear images of Kreons Bluestreak and Skywarp
Battlelines Part 2 - Magnus is putting a team together
"2D or not 2D?", that was the question recently posed by USA Today in regards to the current use of 3D technology in today's films. One of the people they turned to for input was Transformers DOTM director Michael Bay. While Bay did shoot Transformers DOTM digitally in both traditional 35mm and 3D, he still has reservations about it's overall use in the industry. Here are a couple of his quotes from the article:
Studios are turning everything they can into 3-D without considering whether it should be done at all," he says. "We're already wearing the experience out.
It's different, shooting in 3-D," Bay says. "You need more cameras. You need different sets. It needs to be a forethought. Right now, studios are treating it as an afterthought
To read the entire article and see what else Michael Bay had to say on the issue click here.
Entertainment website CraveOnline recently caught up with the multi-talented funny man Ken Jeong to discuss some of his upcoming projects. Multi-talented? In addition to becoming a well known comedic actor on both big and small screens in films such as The Hangover and NBC's Community, he's also a doctor. The Duke graduate attained his MD at the University of North Carolina and completed his Internal Medicine residency in New Orleans.
CraveOnline: Do actors ask you for medical advice?
Ken Jeong: Every single one I’ve ever worked with. And I have to keep it confidential I guess. Still bound by that, geez. Just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in.
Oh, and he's also going to be in a little film coming out this summer that you may have heard of, Transformers Dark of the Moon.
CraveOnline: Do you get a cool role in Transformers 3?
Ken Jeong: Yeah, it’s a small role in Transformers but yeah. I had an out of body experience working on that one because I just couldn’t believe I was [there].
To read the rest of the interview and see what Ken had to say about working with director Michael Bay click here! (Don't worry, it's spoiler free)
What are your thoughts on Senor Chang's involvement in DOTM? Discuss here!
G4TV has posted an interview with High Moon Studio's Sean Miller, the game director for Transformers DOTM the video game. The game is described as a prologue that helps to set up characters and situations for the upcoming movie. Players will take the form of both Autobots and Decepticons in a single campaign story with levels built around certain characters. They also discuss the new "Stealth Force" system, which is basically a way to deploy various weapons without having to constantly switch between robot and vehicle modes. The interview can be viewed here, or watch it below!
Not a fan of Transformers ROTF? Apparently neither is it's director Michael Bay. MSN recently posted an article in which Director Michael Bay admits Transformers ROTF wasn't very good. The article references Bay's recent interview with EMPIRE magazine. He cites the 2007-2008 writers' strike as a chief contributor to the film's lackluster story. He goes on to say they only had 14 pages worth of story and an idea of what the movie should be when they started prepping the film.
We made some mistakes... When I look back at it, that was c**p.
To read the entire article and see what the film's leading man Shia LaBeouf had to say click here
MTV continues their streak of Transformer related interviews. This time MTV Movies Blog spoke to Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner regarding Transformers DOTM.
Director Michael Bay has stated on more than one occasion that DOTM will be his last Transformers film. When asked about the future of the film franchise post Michael Bay he replied,
I would say to you right now that I've so enjoyed working with Michael Bay," he answered. "Michael has got this incredible visual sense for showing you things you've never seen before. Perhaps he'll change his mind, perhaps he won't, but I'd rather put out this movie first then cross that bridge at some point.
Having successfully skirted that issue he turns his attention the forthcoming film, and assures us DOTM will be the best of the series with a much richer story. He also acknowledges there were problems with ROTF and those mistakes won't be repeated this time around.
If everyone had understood why each Transformer was in the movie, people wouldn't have cared how many there were," he said. "But once they're just these robots without any real meaning of why they're there, it just became robot melee, and that's not as enjoyable as knowing something about each robot and their personality so that when they do fight, there are stakes to it. That's really what was missing. It wasn't that there were so many robots; there were so many robots that you didn't know.
To read the entire interview at MTV Movies Blog click here
Goto Page: <<1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6>> 55 total news articles in this section, 10 per page.
* Price and quantities subject to change. Shipping costs, taxes and other fees not included in cost shown. Refer to listing for current price and availability.
![[Valid RSS]](/images/rss/valid-rss.png "Validate Seibertron.com's RSS feed"){kind=small}
