All language subtitles for Icons.Unearthed.S11E04.Roll.Out.the.Sequels.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-Kitsune_track3_[eng]

What started
as a Saturday morning

syndicated kids show...

♪ More than meets the eye ♪

They did a beautiful job

making a fairly rudimentary
cartoon from the '80s

that transforms

into something that
looks and feels real.

and hit the
big time in Hollywood.

I'm sitting
next to Steven Spielberg.

My name is Optimus Prime.

With a bold vision

from the most impatient
director in Tinseltown.

Guys, come on, let's
stop admiring the truck.

- Let's shoot.
- But could the wild man...

What the!

There's nothing calm about
working on a Michael Bay film.

Michael Bay is completely
ridiculous.

...herald a new
era in movie-making?

He likes to use old Hollywood
tricks

as well as all the new stuff.

The exploding
stuff that made this new era

of Transformers a cultural
event.

People would show up with
lawn chairs, coolers of beer--

And leave
with singed eyebrows.

The city of Chicago must hate
us.

An explosion here, an
explosion there.

"Does it bother you that
I died in the first one?"

And he said, "No, it really
doesn't."

Michael "Bay-hem"
would lead his crew

through the fire and brimstone.

An explosion here.

Blowing up things left and
right.

Or implode trying.

Shia had flipped his truck

and he suddenly had a broken
hand.

It's fake, but it's
still extremely dangerous.

In August, 2007,

Transformers hit the big
screen

for the first time since 1986.

Megatron, is that you?

Mega what?

Hasbro had bet big

on reviving this beloved
franchise.

And Steven Spielberg had put his
faith

in a director who thoroughly
bombed

- The mother of all bombs
- and exploded

and generally just blew up
stuff.

And Transformers would be no
exception.

Everybody loved it.

All ages, male and female.

Are you not surprised?

It's got heart. It's got fun.

I bought a car.

- The charm.
- Turned out to be

an alien robot.

It's fast cars.

It's giant robots, guns, explosions.

- And...
- So, listen, I was wondering

if I could
ride you home. I mean--

Michael Bay's
special kind of humor.

Michael loves those little
jokes.

Hey, hey!

It's got everything.

Did it have
everything for everyone?

Those kids who grew up
playing with Transformers

- That's the base.
- had now just grown up.

And it seemed that for the
most part, they were happy too.

The first big transformation, I
was like--

- Oh, God!
- Oh my God, they did it!

We are autonomous robotic
organisms

from the planet Cybertron.

Like it was just such a
relief.

A relief shared by
Hasbro,

the company who bet big on
reviving Transformers.

It's the first major toy brand

to get a movie that actually
worked.

And Hasbro had
countless reasons to celebrate.

Hasbro's benefit from the
movie

was largely its expanded
licensing opportunities.

Comics, the Christmas ornaments,

the sleeping bags, the cake
pans.

I had the posters.

I had the curtains for
Transformers,

my bedsheets were Transformers.

All the things that come
with a big franchise film.

Including superstardom

for the film's two young stars

who were now thrust into
the global spotlight.

I don't know if you're ever
prepared

for public scrutiny.
I don't know if that's something

you can mentally prepare
yourself for.

You know, I saw Megan
from the very beginning

when she first sort of hit the
scene.

It was pretty interesting to
see.

I don't think anybody could have
imagined

like how much of a star
she became so quickly

and it was probably a difficult
thing for her to handle.

Just a regular high school
kid,

with all of a sudden she
assumed a lot of responsibility.

But there'd be much
more fame to come

for these two.

I get to wear a tie and some
free shoes.

You know?

I mean, this is like
a good life.

And perhaps in
some cases a little infamy.

But for now, it seemed like
destiny

had big plans for
Transformers.

We knew by how well the first
one did

there was gonna be another one.

I think all of us hoped that
we were gonna be a part of it

Immediately after the first
movie,

we had to start work on the
second.

Because with a budget
of less than $150 million,

Transformers raked in over
700 million at the box office.

And Transformers' co-producer

and distributor Paramount were
eager

to make a boatload of money.

And of course
Paramount's going,

"Okay, we can make more money
on this."

Now let's get this show
on the road.

Whoa, whoa, no!

Sequels are rough.

Tough act to follow.

And not only that,

Transformers had unleashed
an arms race.

My turn.

John Favreau and all the
Marvel guys,

when they first saw
Transformers,

when they realized "Iron Man" ws
possible.

That's the coolest thing I've
ever seen.

They could borrow on what we
had learned

for exterior hard suits

and that's certainly
what "Iron Man" was.

It was a little bit

like a light bulb switched
on for a lot of us.

We had a way that it
could be accomplished now.

Suddenly, the
wonderful wizardry

of transforming Transformers

was quickly becoming
commonplace.

Sometimes you gotta
run before you can walk.

The pressure
was on the script writers

of Transformers to find a way

to make this movie stand out
among the emerging crowd.

I can't understand why
any writer would ever

want to do a sequel.

You've got something that
someone loves.

You're probably looking at a
trilogy.

So the middle one, unless
it's Empire Strikes Back,

is probably gonna be the worst
one.

Writers Alex
Kurtzman and Robert Orci

took a deep breath and took the
plunge.

However, little did anybody
know--

The board of directors

of the Writers Guild of America
West

have voted unanimously to call a
strike.

If you don't have writers,
you're not gonna have a story.

And if you
don't have a story,

you're definitely not gonna have
a script.

The script's the blueprint for
a movie.

Nobody else can start till you
have it.

The studios want these things
to hit that summer window.

Transformers
Two was in big trouble.

However, they did have two
weeks until the strike began.

And for Michael Bay, well,
that was more than enough.

Alex and Robert worked around
the clock

with help from Ehren Kruger.

Three writers, two weeks
and one Michael Bay.

Michael wanted to up the game.

Make it bigger.

Bolder and wilder.

Tuning up that robot carnage.

Two weeks later,
the writers handed in their
work

and the strike began.

They crafted a working draft.

A working draft?

Hmm, that sounds promising.

A 30-page scriptment right
before the writer's strike.

A 30 page scriptment,
not so promising,

but it would have to do.

With the clock ticking,

many from the original
Transformers film returned,

like ILM's Scott Farrar

and the art department's Ben
Procter,

and it seemed they'd
have to start winging it.

We introduced a whole
bunch of new characters.

- Including--
- Come on, Arcee, let's go!

We explored an Arcee
design and really leaned

into the dismantled,

deconstructed sort of
silhouette aesthetic.

The ultra dynamic female
transformer.

Soundwave...

- Soundwave acknowledges.
- ...got seen in a couple

of different forms.

I worked on a satellite version
of him.

He was able to latch onto other
satellites

and kind of hack the signals.

Bring in Sideswipe!

Sideswipe.

- Clear a path.
- The Stingray,

it was a concept vehicle.

When Michael Bay came to visit,

it just happened to be sitting
there.

When he saw it, he lit up.

Also joining the
cast of Transformers.

Are you
warm enough to transform?

I hope so.

Jetfire was a SR71 Blackbird.

It's the coolest vehicle ever.

Little tough making an old,

rickety character out of the
most heroic

aircraft design ever.

Ha-ha! Bugger it!

But we realized that there were
some cool opportunities there.

Well, "opportunities"
is one way of putting it.

Michael loves those little
jokes

Thanks to the lack of
script,

the freewheeling nature of
this creative free for all

led to some interesting places.

Michael will have left field
ideas,

things that are not in the
lore of Transformers at all,

like The Fallen.

We can destroy your cities.

You know, it was like, "He's
like an Egyptian pharaoh!"

Where you're kinda like, huh?

And you're like, "How are
we gonna figure that out?"

Paul Ozzimo worked on that
and he did a great job

figuring out how to
create like a skeletal,

very open frame kind of anatomy

that surprisingly worked really
well

with the sort of massing of the
head,

the sort of pharonic crown.

And this spitball
meant that the Transformers 2

crew would be headed to Egypt.

- Awesome.
- Maybe.

But more on that later.

In the meantime, closer to home,

as the writer's strike dragged
on,

Transformers 2 had a bunch of
designs...

- Damn I'm good.
- ...no script...

A 30 page scriptment...

...and some seemingly
half-baked,

very expensive ideas.

He's like an Egyptian
pharaoh.

I'm out there during the
strike,

Bay was working on set pieces,
the SR71 Jetfire character.

My boosters are
fried now.

But Michael Bay
couldn't wait.

Transformers would begin
shooting

with or without a script.

As the writer's strike continued
in 2007,

new character designs for
Transformers progressed.

And I went and saw the first
film

and I just was blown away by it.
I just was like,

Okay, since they're gonna
make a sequel

to this movie.
It's amazing.

If I was making that film,
I'd put Devastator in there.

Transform!

Combining robots, you know,
to make an even bigger one.

Ah!
- Ah, look at this mother--

It seemed to be quite the
task.

But Josh, working
by himself for free, for fun,

took things one step at a
time, or at least one foot.

So I was like, I'll just
design a part of that.
A Long Haul."

I didn't
join this outfit

to be a dump truck!

Josh Nizzi did an
incredible Transformer design

and then just put it
on the internet.

It was perfect. It was as if
it came out

of the Michael Bay Art
Department.

Then I got an email.

I was like, "We need this
guy!"

You know, he was like,
"I can guarantee

maybe three weeks of work
or something like that.

But that's it."
I was working

a full-time job.

We had three kids, talked to my
wife

and we just felt like this kind
of thing

just doesn't happen and so quit
my job.

Oh, my God!

Did work for the film.

Long Haul--

I think he's, like, the back
right foot.

So that was pretty cool.

Nizzi was so good at that
style,

the producer of the film vouched
for him

to get him in the union so
that Michael Bay could hire him

to do pre-production work.

And it worked out great.

The stuff that I was
working on, they loved.

He's done a lot of amazing
designs,

way beyond just one
Constructicon.

Transformers 2
started filming

during the writer's strike,
but that meant no script.

It was very much like
we're getting ready

to build the building,
where are the plans?

But come on,
let's not overreact here.

Transformers was in
the hands of Michael Bay

and the great Steven Spielberg,

who played a large part in
nurturing this beloved
franchise.

I don't think he was involved
in the second one as much.

The first movie had a lot of
people shepherding everybody.

Once the first one was a
success,

you could use that as an excuse

why I maybe don't need as many
people.

Success gave everybody
permission

to not pay as close to
attention.

Right, so no
script and no Spielberg.

Bay was on his own.

At least all
of the crew came back.

Well, most of the crew.

I said no.

I didn't say no to him.

I said no to his producer.

I never wanted to work on
sequels.

Producer called back a
second time and said,

"How could you be turning this
down?"

- Here's a clue.
- Time to go.

Go, go!
Right now, right now!

There's nothing calm about
working on a Michael Bay film.

It's always a level of insanity.

It's just organized chaos.

Come on, let's
call it what it is.

-"Bay-hem."
- Some people can't take it.

It was like, "I can never
do that again.

It was so abusive."
And I'm like,

"What? I don't understand.
What was abusive?

He's not like screaming at..."
Well--

You're going the wrong way!
The other way! Other way!

But it's manageable.

The biggest thing he said is,

"You're fucking up my movie."

And you just go, "Oh, fuck,
okay."

And finally,
the cast.

Some even came back from the
dead.

I was phoned about doing the
sequel.

Go! Move!

He goes, "It's Transformers, man.

And we're starting in two weeks.

Do you wanna be a part of it?
Love working together."

I said, "Well, I love
working with you too,

but does it in any way bother
you

that I died in the first one?"

And he said, "No, it really
doesn't.

We're gonna change your
name and change your rank."

Oh, "Well, that'll fool 'em.

So I'm gonna look just like
I did in the previous?"

He said, "You're gonna
look exactly like that."

If he doesn't care, then I don't
care.

We need to be ready to back
him up if this thing goes hot.

And, finally, the movie's stars.

I think Shia got a pay bump
from $750,000

to I believe $5 million for the
sequel.

But Megan's salary went from
only $100,000 to $800,000.

You can only wonder
if making $4 million less

than your co-star might make
this--

Can you quiet that
whole laughing?

What the are you
doing standing around?

Cut that. Moving on.

You know,
just a little bit

harder to handle.
Who knows?

Look at the things
I go through with you.

With a cast, crew.
and a $200 million budget,

filming began on Transformers 2
with no script.

We started during the writer
strike.

You know, we always had
to make it up,

you know, as we go along.

Pretty boring your first
frame, Jacques.

But really
for Michael Bay,

it was business as usual.

Michael commits so hard
to having real pyrotechnics.

Real stunts.

Everything is all real.

Explosion here.

An explosion there.

An explosion here.

But then
on February 12th, 2008,

a bombshell announcement came

from the Writer's Guild of
America.

The strike was over with just
two months left of filming.

They had two months to
finish the entire script.

When the strike ended

there wasn't a ton of room for
adjustment.

I think they ratcheted
down what they could,

but they had largely missed the
boat.

But still, at least
the actors

now had something to work from.

There was a script.

There was a suggestion of one.

Spencer Garrett
would play--

What was my character's name?

You didn't
have a name.

Didn't have a name. Yeah.

Not only did he not
have a name,

for this scene, he didn't even
have lines.

I was told to improvise.

As we're walking, I used
the phrase "Copy that."

Michael called cut. I said,
"What are you laughing at?"

He's like, "Copy that? Who
says that?"

I said, "I'm just making up
dialogue."

And Michael Bay's like,
"Don't say copy that."

He said, "It's too trite."

So, copy that.

Well at least Michael
Bay was a direct director,

as Spencer discovered
in yet another scene.

Michael Bay said,

"And I want you to be very
small and very inner."

And so I did that.

And I remember hearing
through a very loud megaphone,

"Goddamit, Spencer!

I told you I wanted it
to be big and loud!"

It had been expressed to me

in front of a couple of hundred
people.

So I was a little embarrassed.

Meanwhile, the actors who
actually

did have lines to learn
struggled

to keep up with the rewrites.

At my call time, they hand me my
pages.

We're shooting in 30 minutes.

I begin feverishly memorizing.

And this poor little PA,
from behind his back,

he goes, "I'm so sorry.

These are the new pages.

We're shooting in five minutes."

In spite of the Bay-hem,

the rewrites and the improv,
Transformers 2 moved ahead.

But soon a catastrophic event

would turn everything upside
down.

Shia had flipped his truck

and he suddenly had a broken
hand.

There was a lot of drama, there
was a lot of stuff going on.

In July of
2008, deep into production

of "Transformers: Revenge of the
Fallen,"

Shia was involved in a car
accident in Los Angeles.

That's when his hand was
messed up.

Causing injuries to
his hand

and requiring surgery.

And this posed serious
challenges for Michael Bay.

A film of that scope couldn't
stop.

So they made it look
like he injured his hand

in the transport to the desert.

And he soldiered on.
- This is gonna work.

If Shia's injury
was a problem,

worse awaited the crew as a
result

of Michael's earlier spitballing

about the pharaoh Transformer.

"He's like an Egyptian
pharaoh."

Because Bay and
his team were off to Egypt.

They went all the way to Egypt,

all prepared to shoot the
pyramids.

There was some rigmarole
with the Egyptian government.

Somehow or another,
they were pulling back

on the permits
to go shoot.

It's in army's airspace.

And they would never give us
permission.

"Sorry. Army says no."

Finally, negotiations got to a
point

where they allowed us to go
shoot.

There's only been movies to
shoot here

in the entire world.

And that was just amazing.

You know, you gotta be
part of the landscape.

But they did not let us go
in the air during that time.

We had to get aerial
views to do certain shots.

There's no other way
to get that perspective

Or was there?

That's where Michael, he's
very clever,

he likes to use old Hollywood
tricks

as well as all the new stuff.

Even though climbing
the Great Pyramid

is highly
dangerous...

Not on my watch.

...actor
John Turturro got up...

- Action.
- He got up pretty far.

- Keep going, man.
- ...and down.

Him actually climbing in the
wide shots was done in Egypt.

But all his closeups--

Where the hell are all our
men?

We built 10 blocks worth of
a closeup area of the pyramid.

And we shot all his closeups on
that.

- Yeah! Yeah!
- You can't tell.

It looks exactly like the same
location.

It was really cool.

But with a no
fly zone imposed,

how did they get the aerials?

Because of Devastator
climbing up on the pyramid,

we virtually had to recreate the
pyramid

in a computer graphics form
anyway,

so that we could have the
thousands of blocks be torn
apart.

All the aerials were computer
graphics.

The whole pyramid
experience

felt like the shoot was cursed.

We packed everything
up and went to Jordan.

The Transformers
team headed to Petra,

yet another protected site.

It's terribly difficult
to get in and out of there.

As a huge sci-fi fan,

an uncredited actor on "Star
Trek..."

Just the person I wanted to
see.

King Abdullah
and the royal family

rolled out the red carpet for
the crew at Ad-Deir Temple.

They allowed us to
fly the helicopters in,

to land and bring in equipment
and crew.

It was so cool they could
shoot there.

Michael's amazing for the
places that he gets in to shoot.

While regulations
in Egypt were clearly

more mysterious than the
pyramids,

back home in the U.S. they were
strictly observed, kind of.

We did the huge MOAB
explosions.

They call the bomb the MOAB
bomb.

I don't know why they call it--
Oh, mother of all bombs.

That's what they call it.

And of course
the mother of all bombs...

These are real things
that were exploding

and those are real reactions.

Comes with the
mother of all risks to actors.

You could feel like the
collateral of these things.

Who were warned not
to fall over

when running from explosions.

They were setting up for the
next shot

just in case the wind didn't
change

and all of a sudden I felt the
wind on the back of my head,

which is blowing away from them.

I said, "We gotta go now."

Three, two, one!

"Now's the time."

It was awesome.

It's fake, but it's
still extremely dangerous

if anyone was to go the wrong
way.

Just makes for a more
authentic performance,

only because you have no other
choice.

I mean, this stuff is
really going on around you.

Incoming!

The things that I've been
able to see with my naked eyes

on the set of Transformers
is unbelievable.

Mass destruction.

Back in L.A.
at ILM,

there was a heat of a different
kind.

You start putting the
actual film together.

- Organized chaos.
- We had a lot of trouble

trying to organize the basic
structure of the movie.

The basic structure
of the movie

is partly up to the editor.

Michael Bay had lost Glen
Scantlebury.

I said no.

- Or had he?
- I said yes.

I was broke.

Michael Bay convinced
Glen to not only come back,

but come back to work with him
one-on-one

at his house in Miami.

So I was in the room a lot
with him

and he'd come flying
in in one of his cars.

If he was on the phone yelling
to somebody

"Okay!"

We knew the day was already
fucked.

Steam would be coming off of
him, right?

And you'd be going, "Oh, fuck."

But it was tough.

He is really tough.

Just like the
production,

one machine had many complex
moving parts.

Devastator-

Animating that, so many
bits and pieces and parts.

And was now coming
to life inside the computers.

That was a big deal.

I heard
animating all those gears

and levers and everything,

it shut down ILM's render
farm for like a week.

It's ridiculous how
complicated that is.

I don't wanna die!
I don't wanna die!

The person who rigged
the robot for animation,

when she loaded Devastator,

literal smoke came out of her
computer.

Her computer really got
fried by Devastator.

It wasn't just the
computer's CPU getting fried,

Glen's was, and by extension
so was Michael Bay's.

You think you're done with a
scene

and before it's gonna get
released,

all of a sudden he has you back
in

and, you know, and you
just have to totally recut.

And with the film's
premiere rapidly approaching,

the pressure was mounting.

I got a world premiere
tonight I gotta go to.

And Michael Bay was actually
working over satellite

to continue editing.

So can we hurry up and finish
the movie

so we can go to the
world premiere?

ILM always has had this saying
of "On time and on budget."

We've had some squeakers,
there's no question about it.

But in the end,

they and the post team pulled it
off

and Transformers: Revenge of
the Fallen

premiered in Tokyo in June of
2008.

But this time, would the
praise be universal?

It's amazing.

I did see it.
Yeah. I've seen it.

I've seen it a couple of times.

♪ I'm so excited ♪

I've got, you know, friends say,

"Oh, I just can't get into that
stuff."

But I enjoy, you know, all the
stuff.

You know, it's a Transformer
picture.

They're all fun.

It was panned by the critics.

But, you know, everybody knows

it's gonna do well in the box
office.

Robots in disguise.

But the public
ate it up

with a gross take of over $836
million

at the global box office.

It made a lot of money.

So we might as well
crank out a couple more.

Optimus!

The critics rolled
their eyes,

but the money rolled in

for the first two
Transformers movies.

It's not over.

So Paramount placed
bets

on a third installment
with "Dark of the Moon."

Your alien friends are in
danger.

You know the good ones, it's up
to you.

To be released
on July 1st, 2011.

You're gonna have that time
stretch

between the second and third
movies

where everyone's gonna
say, "Oh, man, that sucked.

It's gone downhill, it's
terrible."

The disrespect on this rock is
criminal.

But right away
there was a problem.

Writers Kurtzman and Orci
departed,

leaving Ehren Kruger to
take over development.

But with his script in the
works,

Bay looked to assemble a
cast as big as his ideas.

Shia and John Turturro were
locks

and a host of other Hollywood
heavyweights were lining up.

Like any big film, they
have the money to cast.

He's the coolest guy
ever.

Even "Grey's
Anatomy's" leading man-

Stop looking at me
like that.

Was trading
scrubs for explosions.

Dempsey was great.

Show a little respect

when someone offers you
a job!

He's charmingly disgusting.

But he wasn't
the only pinup to sign up.

Ah, shit I seen this one.
Spock goes nuts.

Leonard Nimoy
returned

Exterminate him!

after 25 years as
the voice of Sentinel Prime.

It's our
world now!

McDormand, of course, is
fantastic.

Enough with the ma'am.
Do I look like a ma'am?

- Ken Jeung.
- Oh, shit!

Alan Tudyk.

Good job, Dutch.
Danke schon.

How far could casting
go?

- Sit.
- Even the actor's

- actor himself...
- And Malkovich.

- ...made an appearance.
- Impress me.

Oh, my God!

Fucking awesome!

These guys,
they love Michael.

Stare down, you and me.

Michael lets them play
in this gigantic sandbox

and they give great performances

and I think they really add to
the film.

It's all very
well having big names...

What is it like working
with the director Michael Bay,

who from all accounts
appears to be insane?

But what if one of
your biggest

marched right into it...

...while promoting another film?

He's infamous for
being a sort of tyrant.

She made a comment.

She called him Hitler.

The crew closed rank

with an anonymous scathing

and still unclaimed open letter

published on the director's
own website with his approval.

Yet he made no comment himself.

I think a lot of it was in the
press.

I did not really see that,
that she was difficult.

You're such a little girl.

I mean, it's hard to know
exactly what Megan was thinking,

but you have to wonder
if you're the co-star

of a couple hundred million
dollar movie

and you're getting paid
considerably less

than the male star--

I don't know.
You have to wonder

if it had
an impact in all of this.

There's nothing that
you could have done.

You know, when you sign
on to a Michael Bay film

for 120 plus days, you
gotta be ready for it.

Bay made a public
statement on September 12th,

distancing himself from the
comments

and said he was looking forward
to having her back on set.

- She was on.
- However...

Yeah, there was some kind of a
thing.

...Spielberg
saw trouble.

And she left.

It was 100% Spielberg's
decision.

It wasn't Michael Bay not
wanting to work with her again.

It was Spielberg saying,
"Look, get rid of her."

This, this is over.

I liked Megan.

I thought she did a good job,
you know?

It's just the way it goes

with actors and directors.

Losing
the female lead

could have been catastrophic.

Now, who have we here?

But Kruger
simply rewrote the script.

- Who are you?
- Who are you?

To get Sam a
new girlfriend, Carly,

handpicked by Michael Bay

and played by Victoria's Secret
model

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

Basically Megan had started

and the part really was written
for her.

This is your new lucky bunny.

So when Rosie came on,
they just recalibrated

and reverse engineered
for that.

What if she dumps us like the
last girl?

Oh, she was mean.

Carly was named

after Spike Witwicky's
girlfriend...

Hurry, Spike, hurry.

...in the Transformer's
1980s animated series.

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
was a lot of fun.

She was very sweet to work with.

So did Megan ever
speak to Michael Bay again?

Yeah, we made up.

He cast her in "Ninja
Turtles."

Ninja mutant

turtle.

Which was a huge hit.

- Oh.
- So, obviously they didn't

fall out too hard.

I get invited to his Christmas
parties.

Nice! I love that!

We're BFF.

And with the cast
locked,

Bay set his sights to make
Transformers bigger than ever.

We need to get to the moon.

And this time he
was aiming for the stars.

I remember Bay being really
excited about NASA stuff.

The idea was to blend

Transformer fiction with
reality.

Apollo, moon, aliens.

Or conspiracy theory,

depending on who you talk to.

Why do you think no one's
been up there since 1972?

The first moon
landing.

It's shocking how much freedom
he had,

especially 'cause it was
already the third film

in a massive franchise.

He had such grand ideas.

Such as bringing to
life...

Sentinel Prime.

...from the dark
of the moon.

We bid you return.

Sentinel Prime, that
storyline is largely in the lore

where it's the previous leader
and he's made some decisions

where Optimus feels betrayed.

A deal had to be made.

With Sentinel Prime,

we knew that it wanted to be
something in the general vein

of Optimus in the sense of
overall body proportion.

Using the firetruck,
Optimus had also been

a firetruck at different times.

Optimus Prime,
transform!

So in the fans' world,

it definitely made them
look like brothers.

There will only be one!

It was Dark of the Moon

and I think a lot of
the themes were darker.

I hereby discharge you from
duty.

The darkness really
set in

when ILM realized they needed
more and more new robots-

Is there a
problem?

I would say that Dark of the
Moon

was probably the biggest
film I've ever done.

And bigger,
more spectacular effects.

We did the transformation
with Sam inside the car.

And he gets ejected in midair.

And that said, "This is what
our movie's gonna be like,

how big it's gonna be."

There are just moments
that would be the third act

in any other film

and it's just one of the
sequences in Michael's.

Entire buildings
would be torn apart.

To Michael, that's
just like this one scene

that gets you to another one.

I'm sure when the
producers saw our previews,

their heads kind of exploded.

But I never heard them push
back.

Spielberg would just come in,

sit down and be like, "Okay,
let's see."

And then Michael would be so
proud of us.

Big kids having fun,
watching cool stuff happen.

But on the set
of the Dark of the Moon,

real life caught up with the
production

in an incident that would knock
the cast and crew sideways.

One of those freak accidents.

It was very sad.

In the first
Transformers movie,

it was aircraft carriers

The president has
dispatched battle groups

to the Arabian Gulf and Yellow
Sea.

In the second, pyramids.

The pyramid's
built right over the machine.

But where
Michael Bay was going next

was out of this world.

In May of 2010,

filming began for Transformers:
Dark of the Moon.

Michael Bay's re-imagination
of Apollo 11 meant real...

Apollo 11 is on the way.

...and deep fake
footage.

We believe a UFO
has crashed into the moon.

In Florida, at NASA,

we went and we shot exactly
where they

land on the first moon in 1969.

The actual controller room is
still there.

Neil, you are dark on the
rock.

While Michael
Bay could only dream

of filming on the moon, one
actor had filmed it himself

when he went there.

- Dr. Buzz Aldrin.
- Michael would still be

bringing realism, though,

as he decided this would be his
first film

to be shot in 3D.

This is all brand new to
everybody.

Very technical.

We had problems in the very
beginning.

We were shooting on the moon
set.

Essentially two cameras
recording the two eyes

that are seeing the 3D.

Ready and action,
move it around.

After the first day, one
of the recording devices,

something was messed up,
it was not recording.

So that was a panic mode.

If it didn't get shot,
you had to do it again.

So, therefore, new mandates were
put forth

where every take will be checked

to make sure the recording was
there.

Everyone was
feeling the pressure,

including Michael Bay and Shia
LaBeouf.

Shia and Bay would get
into a full blowout argument

over what music should be played
on set.

It may seem trivial, but they
were hardcore about this.

It is so expensive to shoot on
location

in front of a space shuttle.

Time is money and that is
a major, major problem.

Thankfully for the
film,

they made up a few days later.

But it doesn't matter if you're
Michael Bay or anyone else.

Shia LaBeouf can surely have a
beef.

Reminding Josh Duhamel
of when he first met

his then rookie co-star--

He had so much confidence.

Before Transformers 1.

I met him for the first
time and he had a black eye.

He got in a fight the night
before at a Dodger game

and I was like, "Dude, we
go to camera in like a day.

You can't come to work with a
black eye."

He's like, "I know, but
he deserved it, man.

He comes talking all kinds of
shit."

I was like, "Okay, nice
to meet you."

With the tension
between Shia LaBeouf

and Michael Bay now resolved,
the team headed to Chicago.

To close down Michigan
Avenue is a big deal.

That's a main artery.

I just kept thinking,
"Oh, man,

the city of
Chicago must hate us."

This whole street just
looked like Armageddon.

They just had rubble and stuff
everywhere.

But Josh was just
running around on the ground.

Explosions are going off.

Chopper pilot David
Nowell was above it all.

Once we got up into the
city, we were right at the top.

We were flying through
the buildings and stuff

that nobody else ever
has the chance to do.

It was a lot of fun.

From a seat in his
helicopter,

David saw just how far
the physical effects team

could push their craft.

There's the bombardment
of all the buildings

The physical effects guys
actually got permission

to put explosions way up in
the top of the skyscrapers.

Huge sparking devices.

Oh, man, we were blowing
up things left and right.

So that stuff is real.

It's pretty spectacular.

Mass destruction.

All this may
have looked spectacular,

but the sound was really
setting off alarm bells.

The fire department said,
"Don't break any windows."

We went through all of
Chicago, blowing up things.

We ripped Chicago apart.

And on the last day I broke a
window.

Oh, this one?

No, that's a stunt window.

Bay goes up to me, he goes,

"All those windows are
from the '30s and '20s,

and they were loose in the pane.

That really wasn't your fault."

So he didn't get mad at me.

Transformers
was the biggest thing

Chicagoans had seen since
The Blues Brothers.

I remember people would
show up in the morning

with lawn chairs, coolers of
beer,

and they would just sit
and watch the explosions.

And then I'd look up

and nobody was working
in these skyscrapers.

Everybody was just like faces

pressed against the window just
watching.

Thank you, everybody!
Go watch the movie!

Everybody wanted to see it.

While onlookers
were watching the ground,

they soon focused their eyes to
the sky.

The guys jumping,
wearing the squirrel suits.

These are all guys that do this
for fun.

They're not even stunt guys.

They'd been on 60 Minutes.

As close to
flying as you can get.

When Michael saw that, he
said, "Oh, my gosh,

we gotta get
these guys in the movie."

Flying through the buildings

or past the buildings, that's
real.

There are some animated shots
where it's not real guys

that barely make it through
little holes and stuff,

but it's pretty fantastic.

They wanted big
stunts

and real explosions.

But one day, when a simple
steel cable snapped,

tragedy followed.

The thing broke and it
whipped across the other side

of the freeway and hit the girl.

Striking 24-year-old
extra Gabriela Cedillo

on the side of her head.

It was an unfortunate mishap.

One of those freak accidents

that you hope that you can
avoid.

Gabriela was
airlifted to the hospital.

She survived but lost a large
part

of her cognitive function.

It was just a girl that
worked at a bank as a teller

that answered the call to come
out

and be in one of the cars one
day.

It was a weld that broke
and the man who did the work

felt absolutely terrible.

It was very sad.

Cedillo's family sued
Paramount

and Dreamworks for damages.

Things happen. There's
always accidents on films.

And nobody's fault,

it was just the freakest
of freakest accidents.

It's just like an accident
happening on the freeway.

An out of court
settlement

of $18.5 million was arranged.

You know, we're all
hoping for the best for her

and it was bad and it was
released as an accident

and not criminal.

But with only
nine months till release,

the crew had to press on.

With filming wrapped
on of the Moon

- We gotta move!
- post-production effects

were now in the
transformative hands of ILM.

The first movie, were their
cheats?

Yes, there were.

By now, everyone
knew cinema tricks

wouldn't cut it with the fans.

If something had to
swivel into something else

and it got a little bit
complicated--

It might go behind the character
and then change back there.

It's either too fast-

Or you'd get it in cuts and
pieces

or you don't get it at all.

Everyone said it's
Transformers.

We have to see them transform.

But it wasn't just
robots.

Now, ILM had the huge canvas
of Chicago to paint on.

I shot a lot of aerials

and we shot a lot of locations
up high on buildings.

But then, of course, the
ships have to be added

and all the smoke in the
air and all the rest of it.

You got great action with the
actors.

Things going on with stunt
vehicles.

Whatever you could do for the
backdrop,

we're gonna add work.

It all made it just
look much, much better.

As the ILM creatives
were pushing boundaries

in the Transformers universe

like they've done on the
first Transformers,

a different cinematic
universe was taking notes.

- How do we do this?
- As a team.

The Avengers movie hadn't
happened.

And was it a
coincidence

that the Transformers' battle
in Chicago...

Well, we came first, right?

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

Seemed more
than slightly similar

to The Avengers' climactic
battle in New York

released only a year later.

This all seems horrible.

Anybody can answer.

Autobots, attack!

Hmm. Well--

Oh, well.

All right, good job
guys.

So no definitive
proof either way.

You fought bravely.

Transformers is rich
with visual information.

So there's a lot of stuff that's
in there

that I'm sure people could want
to copy.

So I was on both of those.

You know, we try to
keep it pretty separate.

It would be luck of the draw

that the creative happened to go
that way.

Whatever happened,
Dark of the Moon,

put Paramount over the moon.

I just can't tell you
how proud we all are.

Not only was
it well-received by fans...

I think that's listed as
one of the fan favorites.

It's right up there.

...and despite all
the explosions...

- Mass destruction.
- people falling from the sky...

- They're not even stunt guys.
- and general mayhem...

- Bay-hem.
- That's right.

It grossed a billion dollars,

making it the fifth
highest-grossing movie

in history at the time.

I think it is my one of
my favorite for sure. Yeah.

I think it's the one that
is the best put together.

I love Three. It's fantastic.

And actually I had this argument
with someone the other day

because they're like,
"Three, really?"

I will overlook your
condescending tone.

Like, "Yes!"

How dare you disagree with me.

And speaking of
disagreement...

Gunship's on station!

When it came to

Spencer's minor disagreement
with Bay--

"Goddamit, Spencer!

I told you I wanted it
to be big and loud!"

It had been expressed to me

in front of a couple of hundred
people,

so I was a little embarrassed

by that style of directing.

- You understand me?
- Yes, sir.

All right. Am I very
clear?

- Yeah.
- Good!

Years later, I ran into him
and he said,

"I was having a really bad day

and I was not great to
you that day, was I?"

And I said, "No, not really."

And he said, "Well, I'm sorry."
And that was it.

And so it was a nice kind
of full circle moment.

An apology
from the director?

Could anyone top that?

He said, "I just got off the
phone with Steven Spielberg.

We would like you to be the
mascot

for the Transformers
Ride at Universal Studios."

That would be Autobot evac.

"And we'd like to sign you
to a 25 year contract."

"I'm sorry. How many years?"

But the ride was not over.

Paramount announced two more
films.

We ain't going nowhere.

The franchise
was charging ahead,

but despite the good news...

Nobody wanted to make a
change.

For Transformers,
change was on the horizon.

I think we just found a
Transformer.