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Filming Locations:
Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Broadway & 8th Street, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA
Columbia Bay, Alaska, USA
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Dodger Stadium - 1000 Elysian Park Avenue, Chavez Ravine, Elysian Park, Los Angeles, California, USA
Edwards Air Force Base, California, USA
El Mirage Dry Lake, California, USA
El Mirage Dry Lake, San Bernardino County, California, USA
Griffith Park Observatory, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA
Holloman Air Force Base, Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA
Hoover Dam, Arizona-Nevada Border, USA
Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Los Angeles, California, USA
Marshall Fundamental Secondary School - 990 Allen Avenue, Pasadena, California, USA
Michigan Central Depot - W. Vernor and W. Michigan Avenues, Detroit, Michigan, USA
New Mexico, USA
Rialto, California, USA
USS Shoup, San Diego, California, USA
Valley of Fire State Park - Route 169, Overton, Nevada, USA
Washington, District of Columbia, USA
White Sands Missile Range, near, Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA
- The film's tagline "Their war. Our world." was originally meant for AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004).
- Producer Don Murphy decided, after listening to feedback from Transformers fans, to use the voices from the "Transformers" (1984) (and its spin-off The Transformers: The Movie (1986)). Veteran voice actors Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, who provided the voices for the iconic Transformer leaders Optimus Prime (Cullen) and Megatron (Welker), were auditioned personally by director Michael Bay, who feared that their aged voices would be noticeable. Cullen was confirmed to reprise his role, but Welker's voice was too light for Megatron's new beastly look, and so Hugo Weaving took the role of Megatron. However, Welker reprises his role as Megatron in Transformers: The Game (2007) (VG).
- Bumblebee's original alternate mode in "Transformers" (1984) was a Volkswagen Beetle, but this was altered to a 1977 then concept Chevrolet Camaro (against Don Murphy's wishes). This was because Michael Bay felt that the Camaro held a more friendly quality than the Beetle, and he wanted to avoid comparisons with Herbie the Love Bug. As a tribute to the series, however, a yellow Volkswagen Beetle appears next to him at the car shop (and as a joke Bumblebee damages it!).
- There were to be more lines between Starscream and Megatron, but most of them were cut from the film to keep the Decepticons mysterious (screenwriter Roberto Orci reasoned that the more a villain talks, the less threatening they are). However, Megatron's classic berating of Starscream was kept in the film to please the fans.
- The production of "Transformers" is the largest film project the DoD {Department of Defense} has supported since the film "Black Hawk Down," released in 2001.
- The Bee that is hanging in Bumblebee's front window says "Bee Otch".
- Bonecrusher is a Force Protection, Inc Buffalo series Mine-Protected Clearance Vehicle (MPCV), currently in use by US military forces.
- In the "Transformers" (1984) series, the Autobots had blue optics (eyes) and the Decepticons had red optics. The animators created a new eye design resembling a camera shutter in order to make the robots more engaging; however, in keeping with the original series, the color scheme remains the same. The only exception is the Decepticon spy Frenzy, who's got blue optics.
- In the film, the name "Autobot" stands for "Autonomous Robotic Lifeform." In the series the Autobots were so called because their alternate modes were mostly trucks, vans, cars and other auto vehicles.
- Sometimes, the camera was kept in a bulletproof glass box while shooting, due to the intense nature of the stunts. Shia LaBeouf quipped, "The camera's in a bullet-proof box, but what about me?"
- For the scene where Sam is clinging to a statue at the top of a building, although he wore a safety harness, he was actually on top of the building with no safety net beneath him, so Shia LaBeouf's terror was real.
- The bird in Bobby Bolivia's petting zoo is a ρandϊ, a flightless bird native to Bolivia and other parts of South America.
- Charles Adler, who voices the Decepticon Starscream in this film, voiced the Autobot Silverbolt in "Transformers" (1984). He was the only other voice actor from the series besides Peter Cullen to get a role in this film.
- Jess Harnell is the only voice actor in the film to play both an Autobot (Ironhide) and a Decepticon (Barricade).
- 4500X appears on Blackout's vertical stabilizer. The same registration also appears on Michael Bay's private jet as seen in the two disk set bonus features.
- Two of the Decepticons in this film are named Bonecrusher and Devastator. In the original toy line and television series, Bonecrusher was one of six Decepticons, known as Constructicons, who combines to form Devastator.
- The camouflage uniform that Captain Lennox and his squad are wearing is the Multicam uniform of the Army's Future Force Warrior system, part of the Future Combat Systems project.
- The gunship that successfully damages and drives off Scorponok during the attack on Captain Lennox and his men is the AC-130H Spectre. 40mm and 105mm tracers and impacts in the movie were generated by CGI; the aircrew did not fire a single shot during filming.
- Starscream's original alternate mode "Transformers" (1984) was an F-15 Eagle jet, but this was altered to become an F-22 Raptor. Besides that, he was also given small bird-like feet to be able to appropriately transform and perform his feats throughout the film.
- Sam's eBay name LadiesMan217 refers to Michael Bay's birthday: February 17th.
- In pre-release screenings of the movie, an additional scene showing Bumblebee scanning the older model was included just before the cut to Sam at school. This scene was left out of the general release.
- Throughout the film, Bumblebee communicates using his radio, in a manner reminiscent of the Junkions, denizens of the planet Junk, featured in The Transformers: The Movie (1986), who spoke entirely in the form of television broadcasts/commercials. Notable transmissions by Bumblebee include: - Bits of dialogue by John Wayne, whom Peter Cullen used as an inspiration for the voice of Optimus Prime - A line, "Across the immense gulf of space," was taken from Orson Welles's infamous 1939 radio broadcast "The War of the Worlds." Welles's final film was The Transformers: The Movie (1986), where he voiced the planet-devouring Unicron - Sound clips from "Star Trek" (1966), particularly the voice of Lt. Uhura saying "Hailing frequencies open" and "Message from Starfleet." The role of Megatron/Galvatron was previously played by Leonard Nimoy and Frank Welker, who have also both played Spock in Star Trek.
- The word "transformer" is used only once in the entire film, when Ron Witwicky decides to call the City ("Looks like they've got a blown transformer."). Later, its derivative is used by Agent Simmons when interrogating Sam ("Last night, you told us your car transformed.")
- "Glen Whitman" is named for a friend of the writers, who is currently a Professor of Economics at Caliornia State University in Northridge.
- When Sam is talking to Mikaela in the car he says "you're more than meets the eye," which refers to the toy line's slogan "more than meets the eye." Optimus Prime also uses the line in reference to the human race in his monologue at the end of the movie.
- 'Howard Stern' was originally approached to make a quick voice cameo in the film, however his agent talked him out of it.
- In some regions, release prints were delivered to theaters with the fake title 'E7'.
- Peter Cullen described reprising his role as Optimus Prime as "slipping into an old pair of very comfortable shoes that you haven't worn for a while," and was grateful to the fans for wanting him back. His vocal performance consisted of much improvisation with Michael Bay and bringing a sense of humour to Prime, as well as his traditional heroism.
- In her role as Mikaela Banes, Megan Fox gained ten pounds during filming.
- Michael Bay instructed the ILM animators to watch martial arts films to get an idea on how to effectively portray the Transformers' movements.
- 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 a similar 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.
- Hasbro released several toys based on the movie's characters. These toys feature new "Automorph Technology," where moving parts of a toy in transformations allowed some other parts to shift automatically. This marks a rare time when Transformers toys are designed 'after' the characters in the fiction, whereas normally, the toys are designed first (Although Michael Bay admitted most of the Decepticons had their appearances chosen before their characterization as Hasbro needed to get started on the toys).
- While the film's scriptwriters experimented with additional characters, their scripts always included the Autobots Optimus Prime and Bumblebee and the Decepticons Megatron and Starscream.
- In terms of characterization all the Autobots in this film are based on their Generation One incarnations. However, their alternate modes have undergone modern interpretations and overhauls for a realistic portrayal in the live-action film; in particular, all their modes, except for Optimus Prime's Peterbilt truck and Barricade's Saleen S281E Ford Mustang, are now owned by General Motors as part of a tie-in deal. The alternate modes are a combination of the different incarnations of Transformers through the years, while some are original to the movie.
- The female Autobot Arcee was included in the script, but poor fan reaction (and issues concerning robot gender) caused her to be cut out and replaced with another Autobot, Ironhide.
- 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." Megatron was also given a less humanoid face to make him more menacing.
- As part of the promotion campaign for the film, early trailers showed as little of the Transformers as possible. Many parts of the robots were hidden from view due to quick cuts. However, later trailers and commercials showed more of the Transformers.
- Barricade's side reads; "To punish and enslave" rather than "To protect and serve".
- Don Murphy originally intended to make a "G.I. Joe" (1985) film in 2003, but he instead negotiated with the Hasbro Company for a "Transformers" (1984) film. However, there are references to G.I. Joe that are spread over the film: - The soldiers in the film were inspired by G.I. Joe - Captain William Lennox, in particular, first appeared in the comic book "G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers" - One of the F-22 Pilots has the name Capt B. Armbuster written on his cockpit. Armbuster is a part of the G.I. Joe Team and was more commonly known by his code name Ace.
- The Decepticon Frenzy was originally named Soundbyte. The writers had Soundwave in the original script, but decided to change the character to one of his cassettes from the original '84 series due to the size the robot has in the role. They plan to "do Soundwave correctly" in the sequel.
- The Decepticon Soundwave was originally in the script, but was replaced with Blackout (who had originally been named Vortex, and later Incinerator). He is to appear in the film's sequel.
- Michael Bay did not want the VFX aspects of the film to overwhelm the live-action elements, and spent most of the film's $150 million budget on 15 practical action sequences.
- According to Lorenzo di Bonaventura, working out the transformations was done with the help of a mathematical equation, which explained where each of the parts of the robot went when it become a vehicle.
- To portray the sentient cars, stunt drivers wore black and balaclavas to conceal themselves from view.
- Both of Ironhide's guns are composed of 10000 pieces, more pieces than any other robot; thus making him the bulkiest Transformer in the film.
- Optimus Prime is composed of 10,108 pieces.
- As part of the promotion campaign for the film, a special Sector 7 site was launched that featured videos showing "evidence" of Transformers having already arrived on Earth. These videos featured: Grimlock destroying a construction site; Kickback and Laserbeak being accidentally videotaped; and a security video showing Bumblebee transforming in a parking garage. All these characters appeared in "Transformers" (1984) and, interestingly, are featured in their old designs from that show. The producers said that they wish to use the Dinobots featured in this video in the sequel.
- At one point the Decepticon animal Ravage was included in the script, but he was removed and replaced with Scorponok, another robotic animal.
- The Decepticons outnumber the Autobots eight to five. This was a deliberate move by the writers to emphasize the Autobots' teamwork, and the threat the Decepticons pose to the world.
- Don Murphy brought in screenwriter Tom DeSanto to write the plot, impressed with the way DeSanto had managed the many characters and storylines in X-Men (2000). DeSanto, a big fan of the series since childhood, carried out extensive research on the Transformers; he held several meetings with comic book writer Simon Furman; and he invited fans to discuss the film on Murphy's online message board. His treatment explored the Transformers' existence and history, as well as the real possibilities and consequences of "their war on our world," similar to a disaster film, which was what Murphy wanted the film to resemble.
- As an in-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.
- During filming, Mark Ryan acted as a stand-in for the Transformers on set, to give the actors a physical presence to react to/act against. He also ad-libbed characters during the film's post-production.
- The release date was set without a script or a cast.
- The US government supplied planes and assistance to the production.
- According to one of the CGI artists that created the animated robots at ILM, if you took all the polygons (CGI building blocks) from all the autobots and decepticon models they created at the studio, and strung them end to end, they'd reach to the moon and back and you'd still have enough left over to build the coliseum in Rome two times.
- At one point in the film, Glen Whitmann makes a comment about the gashes in the metal wall made by robots activated by the All Spark, saying that three gashes are like "Wolverine's claws". In addition to Tom DeSanto being a co-producer on this and the 'X-Men' films, it was Marvel Comics that gave Optimus Prime his name.
- The commanding officer of the air base in Qatar is named Colonel Sharp, played by Glenn Morshower. This is a reference to _Armageddon (1998)_ , also directed by Michael Bay, which also had a Colonel Sharp, played by William Fichtner.
- The line "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings" was the winning line of an on-line competition where fans got to write in their own lines for a chance to hear them on screen. Although this line was first spoken by Optimus Primal in the spin-off series, "Beast Wars," the phrase has long been associated with Optimus Prime's character, first appearing in the cut-out Tech Specs on the back of the packaging for the original G1 figure.
- The Transformers have been given a new design that reflects their alien origin. According to 'Lorenzo Di Bonaventura' , during the design process, Optimus Prime was designed in CGI in his classic boxy look (as seen in the 1984 series), but he looked "fake and silly." So now, heavily stressed in their looks are advanced kinematics, realistic engineering and thousands of body parts (which all move during transformations and produce a better impression of mass). The Transformers were created with a mix of groundbreaking computer-generated imagery (by Industrial Light and Magic) and ten close-up props (by KNB Effects). The props built include Optimus Prime's head, Bumblebee's robot mode, Megatron's legs and Blackout's feet.
- Jazz's original alternate mode in "Transformers" (1984) was a Porsche sports car, but this was altered to become a Pontiac Solstice. As a tribute to the series, however, Ron Witwicky teases Sam by driving him through a Porsche dealership before taking him to the used car lot.
- When Frenzy transforms to the CD-player after shooting his discs, the display of the CD-player reads "NO DISC".
- As that there were no running 2009 model Camaros, Bumblebee was actually created by Saleen inc. The same tuner that created Barricade. Working with the Pontiac GTO along with data and wheelbase drawings of the 2009 Camaro provided by GM, Saleen cobbled together, from the floorboards up, a running "Camaro" in just 30 days.
- Barricade is a 2007 model Saleen S281 "Extreme" based on the Ford Mustang. The only difference between this Extreme and production models was the motor. The Extreme normally comes with a 550hp engine while the Barricade models had the stock motor available on the standard Saleen models providing a "paltry" 335hp.
- The shot of Capital Hill used near the end was a recycled shot used previously in The Bourne Identity (2002).
- Captain Witwicky is in the news article on the computer on Air Force One referred to as "Capt, Witwicky, Amundsen". An explorer by the name of Roald Amundsen was on an expedition that got stuck in the ice. This happened in 1897, the same year told by Sam in his presentation at school.
- On May 26 2007, two Bell Boeing CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft were filmed in flight. There are only three such aircraft in the United States Air Force.
- The insignia on Agent Simmon's body armor are a Combat Infantryman's Badge and the silver oak leaves of a Lieutenant Colonel, mostly likely indicating that he was once an US Army infantry officer before joining Sector 7.
- When the Autobots first crash to earth in meteor form, a man with a video camera exclaims, "This is a hundred times cooler than Armageddon (1998/I)!" an allusion to director Michael Bay's earlier film.
- For the scene with Scorponok bursting out from the sand and attacking the soldiers, the effect was achieved by detonating primer cord under the sand. The explosions would be in close proximity and very dangerous to the actors in the scene, so before the scene was shot, Michael Bay told the actors to run and keep running no matter what happens or else they could seriously be injured or, even worse, killed. As a result, the look of panic on the actors' faces as they flee from Scorponok in this scene is 100% genuine.
- To prepare for his role as Sam Witwicky, Shia LaBeouf worked out five days a week for three months and gained 25 pounds of muscle, but he realized during shooting that Sam required agility rather than strength.
- Optimus Prime's original alternate mode in "Transformers" (1984) was a cab over truck, but since this would make his robot mode only 23 feet tall, it was altered to a Peterbilt 379 truck (the largest truck available), making him 28 feet tall. Prime was also was decorated with red flames painted onto a blue body (a la Rodimus Prime, his G1 successor) to give his truck mode a distinctive look.
- The soldiers at the beginning of the movie were originally supposed to return home in a Humvee. While filming, Michael Bay saw the newly arrived CV-22's and requested to use them instead.
- Fig's last name is Figueroa. Don Figueroa is a writer and illustrator for the Transformers comics.
- To prepare for their roles, Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson spent three days in boot camp, and Gibson also spent time with combat controller Ray Bollinger to make his dialog sound natural.
- The vehicle form of the Decepticon, Bonecrusher is that of a Buffalo H Mine-Protected Vehicle, which comes equipped with a claw at the end of a telescopic arm. But the claw seen in the film is actually an appliance placed over the existing claw, to make it appear much larger than it actually is. When the production designers first saw a picture of the vehicle, the claw was in the foreground, and the picture had given the impression that the claw as large enough to even turn over vehicles. But, when the designers first got the data for the vehicle, they were amused to discover that the claw was only slightly larger than a foot wide. Production designer Jeff Mann said, "We found this image of a mine-sweeping vehicle that had a huge arm with what appeared to be a fork on the end. So we called the people who owned it, hoping there was a chance we could rent it or buy it, but when we got the data, it turned out the fork was only 14 inches wide- they had totally cheated the whole thing in Photoshop. We had to make an appliance to fit over the existing arm, that wouldn't bounce around too much because it was about 10 feet wide."
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Shutter (2008)
