DreamworksYes, I've seen the movie, and yes, it is freakin' awesome.
The first time you see the robots, it reminds you of how great films like Jurassic Park and ET changed the way we experience the movies. That's all I'm gonna say about the film. Check out the review on Daily 10 on July 3. Oh yeah, and Megan Fox is really on fire.
She's also cool peoples in person, as I learned when I interviewed her and Shia LaBeouf (and the rest of the Transformers cast) over the weekend at the Four Seasons. Ms. Fox just got a tattoo of Marilyn Monroe on her forearm the size of my BlackBerry. Pretty intense. Here's what she and the rest of the cast revealed in our sit-downs. Autobots...roll out!
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- Though Megan Fox never was into the Autobots or Decepticons, as a kid she loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Japanese anime like Cowboy Bebop. I studied anime in college (my parents' tuition money hard at work), and it's interesting and oddly fitting that Megan says she's into the genre...because she looks like she could be a real-life anime girl. In fact, she probably would have made a better Aeon Flux than Charlize Theron.
- Anthony Anderson says that Shia is getting more media attention not because he's white but because he weighs less. Anthony went from The Shield to the Best Picture-winning The Departed and now to Transformers, so where's the love?! When is he hosting SNL? Why aren't people talking about his huge year? Well, he thinks it's because he actually is huge. Poor guy, hold your head, homey...
- Jon Voight is Hollywood. I mean Hollywood like answers-the-phone-during-the-interview Hollywood. It was classic. All good though, he couldn't have been nicer. He was directing the junket too, readjusting the chairs on set for better camera angles. When I pulled out a Michael Caine school-of-acting reference, he fell out laughing. In addition to staying on message about the movie, Voight also told me about playing football in the park with my Dad back in the day, going as far as saying he was a good athlete! It's true, he was—and of course still is.
- John Turturro compared Michael Bay to Spike Lee. Far-fetched? Not from Turturro's perspective. He says that despite their obvious differences, both directors are linked in their love for improvisation with their actors.
- Michael Bay said the original script for Bad Boys was so awful, he, Martin Lawrence and Will Smith ripped it up and just improvised as they went along. He also said the movie only cost $9 million to make. Not sure I believe all that, but who cares. I saw it in the theaters about five times. That was a big one for me as a kid, just as Transformers is a big one for me now.
- FYI, Josh Duhamel owns a restaurant in his hometown of Minot, North Dakota. He said he'd give castmate Tyrese a 20 percent discount, but that didn't make the actor-R&B singer-model-former MTV host too happy. He was apparently looking to get comped. Tyrese also told me that he is friends with Daily 10's own Mr. Get Familiar, Clinton Sparks! See, we're Daily 10...we're everywhere!
My full interviews with the Tranformers cast will be popping up on Daily 10 and here in the Lyons Den all this week and next, as the Autobots and Decepticons unleash their nefarious scheme to hijack summer.
Also, check out the behind-the-scenes footage from the interviews on the next installment of the Lyons Den over on the Vine. Ben Lyons, robot in disguise...