Michael Bay Talks Transformers Movie

Michael Bay has revealed that he will audition the original Autobots and Decepticons voice actors for the live action Transformers movie. According to AICN, Bay said he would give them a listen but could not guarantee they'll get cast. His biggest concern is that the actors have aged since the cartoon, which will be noticeable in their voices.

Other tidbits revealed: The teaser poster is very ID4 looking, and has a robotic eye overlooking earth. The tagline will be "Their War. Our World." The movie will be the first film to use the F-22, a new fighter jet which can stop suddenly and hover. The biggest difference from the cartoon and toys is that the transformers aren't going to be as blocky.

That's about it in terms of the big tidbits. AICN has a lot more information from their visit with Bay, on their site.

Transformers: The Complete Collection Box Set and Victory News

Metrodome will be releasing all 98 episodes of The Transformers and the Reconstructed Transformers: The Movie in one box set called Transformers: The Complete Collection Box Set. The set is the same as the previously released four box sets and Reconstructed movie. This set is currently listed on Play.com. It has the release date of September 4 at the price of £74.99. As a bonus this set will include a double-sided movie poster featuring the UK and US artwork.

In other news related to Metrodome, Chris McFeely has announced in the Thetransformers.net Forums that Victory has a targeted release of July 3rd, however, this is very likely to change. The set will likely only consist of 4 disks with 32 episodes.

Original Transformers Voice Actors Will Audition

Ain't it Cool News just scored an in-person meeting with Michael "the Clonus Horror" Bay, director of 80's nostalgia flick, Transformers. And while the first thing Bay said was "I'm not telling you any of the story," he did share some interesting facts about his work on the film. You can read all about the character models and whatnot over here -- some of it is interesting, most notably that Optimus Prime will be a "mac truck" in his non-humanoid form. What I found the most intriguing in the light interview was Bay's professed interest in auditioning the original voice actors from the classic Transformers -- both Autobots and Decepticons. He's not committed to casting them, however, only to giving them a listen. Apparently, he is (understandably) worried about how much their voices have altered over the years.

I continue to be simultaneously excited for and fearful of this flick. I desperately want it to be awesome -- but memories of the hatchet job which was The Island loom large in my mind. After watching Michael Bay steal wholesale from the plot of an already terrible flick from the late 70's I simply can't trust the man to do anything even remotely related to awesome.

'Transformers' cast takes shape.

IGN FilmForce reports that Jon Voight, Michael Clarke Duncan, Josh Duhamel, Bernie Mac, Tyrese, John Turturro, Rachael Taylor, Megan Fox, Travis Van Winkle and John Robinson are in talks to join Shia LaBeof in Paramount/DreamWorks' big screen Transformers adaptation.

Directed by Michael Bay, Transformers is slated to begin filming next month for a July 4, 2007 release. Angry Films' Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto, Ian Bryce and Lorenzo di Bonaventura are producing. Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay are exec producing. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci wrote the latest draft of the screenplay; John Rogers (The Core) penned an earlier draft.