Transformers One promises to explore the epic rivalry between the Autobots and the Decepticons, with Thor: Love and Thunder star Chris Hemsworth tapped to play Optimus Prime. Eternals' Brian Tyree Henry, meanwhile, will lend his voice to the young Megatron in a story that promises to reveal how they went from friends to enemies.
Similar to how The Super Mario Bros. Movie swapped out longtime voice actors for Hollywood A-Listers, Transformers One will also feature Scarlett Johansson as Elita, Keegan-Michael Key as Bumblebee, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, and Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion.
Longtime Transformers franchise producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura recently spoke to Collider (via SFFGazette.com) about what fans can expect from the animated movie, promising that "Everything I'm seeing is working and it's exceeding my sense of what it was gonna be."
"It is a very fresh and different look," he added of the animated style. "I would say different than any animated movie you've seen, which is a high bar to set, but ILM is capable of delivering it."
The decision to replace longtime Transformers voiceover actors with on-camera actors has caused a certain level of uneasiness among fans, but di Bonaventura had nothing but good things to say about Hemsworth's approach to playing Optimus Prime. It also sounds like there will be a logical connection between his performance and Peter Cullen's.
"When we first listen to Chris Hemsworth's voice, you're like, 'God, is he gonna be a good Optimus!'" the producer exclaimed. "Obviously, he starts as Orion Pax and you don't become Optimus for a while, so he's not playing, for most of the movie, what we think of as Optimus, Peter Cullen."
"So it's that transition, and Chris's voice has a timbre that...it’s logical that Peter Cullen would take over that voice, if you would, which is really great, the fans are gonna really feel great."
"But Scarlett [Johansson] is amazing," di Bonaventura adds, "and it's just coming alive in a way that it's really rewarding, and we had confidence in our director, and all he's doing is giving us more and more."
The young Orion Pax was a dockworker who looked up to the Megatron and his army of Decepticons. However, after being betrayed and wounded by the villain, he was rebuilt and took on the name "Optimus Prime" (that's a simplified version, but likely a basis of what we'll see in Transformers One).
Toy Story 4's Josh Cooley is directing the film from a screenplay by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari. Legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg is executive producing Transformers One alongside Brian Goldner, Brian Oliver, Bradley J. Fischer, and Valerii An.
Transformers One is set to be released in theaters on September 13, 2024.