With the upcoming debut of “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” nearby, Talon Marks caght up with the star of the motion picture. Although the movie’s release is not until June 24, he was more than willing to give spectators a preview of the movie.
Q&A:
Talon Marks: The first Transformers movie received a lot of good reviews. How will the second part top the first?
Shia LaBeouf: It’s bigger, better, faster and stronger. There is definitely more speed, more explosions, more stunts and more humor.
The Decepticons are amazingly fast and the storyline itself is mind-blowing. Not to mention the cast is spectacular.
TM: Are there any new elements in the movie that will captivate the audience?
SL: The explosions. The special effects from director John Frazier completely went balls-out on one of the bombs.
He worked on the bomb for the movie for seven months. The making of the bomb took way longer than the actual making of the movie and let me tell you, that is one tremendous explosion!
TM: Was this movie more physically demanding than the first?
SL: Well I had to perform a lot of my stunts with my broken hand, among other injuries, so yeah, it was definitely more physically demanding.
It’s hard to place stunt doubles during a scene because there are so many cameras taking like eight different shots all at the same time and you can’t really have the actor in one shot and not in the other.
It’s fun for me because I feel like a badass doing my own stunts. But at the same time, I have to make sure I don’t kill myself because there is a lot of money riding on me finishing the movie. The physical exertion this movie required was much more demanding than the first
TM: Is there anything in particular that you liked better from this movie as opposed to the first movie?
SL: The storyline is much more exciting. The heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons are much faster.
The explosions are bigger and better, the cast is amazing, and the stunts were much more difficult. I would have to say I liked everything better.
TM: How does Sam Witwicky evolve in this movie?
SL: The movie starts off two years later with Sam going to college and trying to live an independent life.
He just saved the world from the evil Decepticons trying to take over, so things have definitely changed for him.
He’s no longer just a regular guy. Now he’s known as “the guy that saved the world.”
But as if that wasn’t making it hard enough for him to live an independent life, he’s got his parents always on his case and he has Bumblebee as his guardian in his garage disguised as his car.
So there is a more mature approach to his decision-making and him wanting to better himself by going to college.
However, things like Decepticons trying to take over the world again keep getting in his way and they don’t allow him to do what he wants to do.
TM: Do you relate to Sam in any way?
SL: Yes I definitely do. I actually was all set to go to college.
I had all my little colorful erasers and those pop-up pencils and stuff, when I got a phone call from this guy named Steven Spielberg asking me to make a movie.
I’m not completely insane, you know? I wasn’t going to tell him, “No, Steven, I can’t be in the movie because I have to go to school.”
Of course I said yes. I haven’t gotten my head wrapped around this whole college thing so in a way I feel kind of lame whenever I talk to someone who is going to college.
I feel like they are superior because unlike me, they are excelling in their education and bettering themselves.
I think that’s kind of how I can relate to Sam because we both want to continue our education but something is always getting in the way.
TM: Many of the Transformers comic book fans were not so pleased with the first movie. Do you think this one will not only appeal to them but also please them?
SL: You are never going to do something that is going to please everybody. You can’t cater to one specific group of people and expect the entire world to like it as well.
You can’t put on a screen everything that everyone likes. It’s ridiculous to even think you can. The comic books don’t have all the details that a movie requires.
I mean, come on, they are Transformers. If they can transform into anything, why can’t they transform into something the majority of the audience will like?
