20 facts you might not know about 'Transformers'

In 2003, producer Don Murphy wanted to adapt G.I. Joe for a movie. Then, the United States went to war in Iraq. Hasbro suggested to Murphy that maybe he could adapt a different one of their toy lines: Transformers. Murphy agreed.

Screenwriter Tom DeSanto joined the project to work with Murphy to come up with a treatment for the film. DeSanto brought in the idea of the story being told from a human point of view, while Murphy wanted something along the lines of a realistic disaster film. The duo also decided on the Creation Matrix being the McGuffin at the center of the story, but changed its name to the “Allspark” to avoid comparisons to The Matrix.

Murphy and DeSanto found quite the guy to shepherd the product. That is none other than Steven Spielberg. Yes, Spielberg was brought on board as executive producer in 2004. He was a fan of the comics and of the toys and was happy to be working on the project in a producing capacity.

John Rogers — who has a "story by" credit — wrote the first screenplay. His story focused on four Autobots fighting four Decepticons. This lost the human touch. Spielberg and company hired Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman to tackle the screenplay, and they were the screenwriters for the rest of the project. When they signed on, Spielberg told them that “a boy and his car” should be the focus on the film, and the duo hooked into that and went from there.

Originally, the Transformers didn’t talk. This was the producers’ doing, as they thought talking robots would be silly. Orci and Kurtzman, though, thought even if talking robots would seem silly, they needed to talk like they did in the comics and the cartoons. Thus, we got talking Transformers.

Spielberg went to Michael Bay and asked him to direct Transformers. Initially, he declined. Bay thought it would be a “stupid toy movie.” However, Spielberg’s sway helped, and then, after visiting Hasbro, Bay was down to direct the film.

Bay may have been down to direct a “stupid toy movie,” but he was not cool directing a movie that was “too kiddie.” That’s what he felt about the screenplay for Transformers when he signed on. Bay set out to increase the military’s role in the movie, even though Transformers was originally a pivot from a G.I. Joe film. In turn, Orci and Kurtzman worked to try and keep the film from feeling like a military recruitment tool.

These days, voiceover performances are often done by celebrities. Indeed, the original plan for Optimus Prime was apparently to have Liam Neeson play the part. However, Peter Cullen, who voiced Optimus Prime in the cartoon from the 1980s, auditioned. Bay liked his work enough to give him the role.

Frank Welker, who voiced Megatron in the 1980s cartoon, also auditioned. Unlike Cullen, he wasn’t so lucky. Bay didn’t think his voice fit, so Hugo Weaving got the part. There is a happy ending, though. Weaving did not return for the sequels, and Welker was brought in for the part.

Some existing Transformers characters like Megatron and Optimus Prime are in the film, but so are some new characters so that Hasbro could sell some new toys. However, some of their names leaked before the film came out. Bay was so annoyed by this he changed those character names before the film came out.

Bernie Mac has a small, memorable role as used car salesman Bobby Bolivia. The actor would die soon thereafter. This was the last film Mac was in that came out while he was still alive. His last three releases were all posthumous.

In addition to shooting on the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico to served as a stand-in for Qatar, the film shot at the Hoover Dam and the Pentagon. Those latter two locations are notable, because Bay was the first director to shoot there after September 11.

LaBeouf had to convince Bay that he could play a teenager, and he managed to do that. He may have regretted all that effort when he hit the set. On his first day, LaBeouf shot the scene where he’s chased by guard dogs. Though they were trained dogs, one dog didn’t listen to “cut” and kept chasing after the actor.

Mark Ryan was originally an on-set stand-in for the Transformers. He would do voices and give the actors somebody to play off of. Bay apparently liked his work so much he decided to cast Ryan to voice Bumblebee.

Fox was at a Linkin Park concert, and the band approached her afterward. They had heard about the Transformers movie and wanted a song in the film. Sure enough, “What I’ve Done” made the closing credits.

Before he was a big-time filmmaker, Bay directed music videos and commercials like a lot of movie directors do. He actually directed the famous Aaron Burr ad for the “Got Milk?” campaign. To help promote Transformers, he directed tie-in ads for General Motors, Burger King, and Pepsi.

Apparently Bay’s dog is in the film, and so is Bay himself. His appearance is brief, though. The director plays the person that Megatron flicks off into the distance.

The accounting on Transformers is fuzzy, as there have been reports that it cost $150 million to make, but also reports it actually cost $200 million. Well, either way, the movie came up huge. It made $709.7 million worldwide. While it was “only” the fifth-highest-grossing film of the year, it was the highest-grossing non-sequel movie.

Yes, they were for technical categories. The only actor to get a nomination of any kind for the film was Jon Voight, and that was for a Razzie. Transformers was nominated for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects. It didn’t win any of them.

Transformers may have been the highest-grossing non-sequel of 2007, but it would have plenty of sequels eventually. In fact, Bay would direct for sequels himself, the last of which, The Last Knight, came out in 2017. In 2018, the series rebooted with Bumblebee, but Bay is no longer directing.