Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura knows how to roll the dice. While an executive at Warner Bros. Pictures, he snapped up the film rights to Harry Potter and threw an exorbitant budget at two indie filmmakers to make something called Review Notes.The Matrix.” When he went into business for himself in the 2000s, di Bonaventura enticed none other than Michael Bay to take over the long-running career transformers over the finish line. Cut to 16 years and seven sequels later, and the producer is still banking on the robots in disguise.
“And it Is a gamble,” says di Bonaventura about his new film. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, will continue to roll out in all theaters and on digital platforms. “Every film is a gamble and what you add or subtract is a gamble.”
Rise of the Beasts had his own gamble: While di Bonaventura says his team wanted to add the Maximals, the animal-like Autobots that took off in the ’90s beast wars Despite being part of the core franchise as an animated series for years, they failed to come up with a story that would actually work. “Of course, animals and cars don’t go together,” he says. “They can’t go into an urban environment, they would be a little conspicuous. There’s no robot in disguise for them in an urban setting.” The solution was a prequel-sequel, wedged between the core Bay films and the ’80s set bumblebee
The modest success of bumblebee prompted di Bonaventura and Paramount Pictures to carefully consider their follow-up play; It’s been five years since the one-off without Optimus, and this time the yellow Autobot takes a backseat. But the Transformers team isn’t waiting to bet on the franchise next time. This time it’s built right in at the end Rise of the Beastswhen the film’s human hero, Noah (Anthony Ramos), is recruited by none other than the GI Joes, who need the Autobots’ help for…something.
“[The G.I. Joe tease] is definitely a promise,” says di Bonaventura when asked whether the Easter egg is more than just a buddy in the water. “I had a lot of questions about it, and here’s my direct answer: We didn’t develop the script. So we don’t know for sure [how they fit in], but the answer is like any other movie: a group of humans and robots fight the villain to save the day. GI Joes will be a part of that.”
The GI Joes were very excited not around during the early Transformers movies (although it’s easy to mistake Josh Duhamel’s Autobot-leaning attack team NEST as an offshoot), raising the question of how they’ll suddenly team up with the Transformers in a future movie. Di Bonaventura says don’t worry, the team behind the series really values continuity. The producer notes Rise of the Beasts
“Continuity is definitely important,” stresses di Bonaventura, comparing his approach to Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the Lord of the Rings books. As a Tolkien fan, there were certainly things he missed and characters he wanted to see – but the dramatic impact of the changes was everything. “For me personally, I think [continuity’s] exaggerated because sometimes you miss a great idea. […] I think one of the things I find particularly exciting about this film is that you meet Optimus before he’s the character you’ve met in Bay’s films. There is definitely an evolution between the two things. For me this is not a contradiction. You let in Optimus’ emotionality, his vulnerability.”
The risk of breaking continuity does not always work. In an early encounter with Rise of the Beasts‘ Villains, the Terrorcons, Optimus Prime… getting his ass handed out by their leader Scourge. Not every Autobot makes it out alive, but when Optimus gets back up, he is furious. Maybe too angry for Optimus Prime purists.
“We had to turn it back a bit,” says di Bonaventura. “When we first showed it to an audience, a scene was removed from the film because we just didn’t need it. Optimus’ anger at being caught was so intense that they thought: Whoa, that’s not Optimus Prime! But it was. And it was right. I think Optimus has the same problem as Superman in some ways, which is that you have to be careful when he just seems invulnerable, because then how interesting can he be? So I really like that he gets his ass in the first fight and that carries over into the fights that follow.”
Running an epic Transformers/GI Joe crossover event shouldn’t jeopardize the delicate fabric of the TF Cinematic Universe – it is a long history of comics bringing the two teams together who paved the way for this moment. But di Bonaventura knows he’s still playing. When I ask him to explain how he envisions the crossover working, he draws specific lines that people not responsible for multi-billion dollar franchises might balk at.
“They’re going to be part of a Transformers group – we’re not entering GI Joe’s world, they’re entering ours,” says the producer. And as for the classic Joe characters established by movies like 2021 Snake-eyes? “Characters should come in, I think.”
Just don’t expect Cobra Commander to meet Optimus Prime to hard.