Speaking exclusively with IGN, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura announced a major shift to the existing Transformers Live Action Movie Franchise.
So, what is this shift?
“Since we were approaching this as an origin story, we felt that it was appropriate that you got to hear his voice. That’s the simple logic that we employed. The longer term implication of that is different. But the short-term implication of that is, since we really are resetting the mythology, essentially, of who Bumblebee is.”
Dylan O’Brien (Maze Runner series) will lend his talent to give a voice to our titular hero.
“Dylan has that great quality in his voice of youthful exuberance, and also sort of trustworthiness,” the producer explained. “I think those are the two qualities that we wanted Bumblebee to have.”
Di Bonaventura added that so far the responses he’s received about O’Brien’s voice casting has been positive. “Thankfully, we’ve showed it to a few audiences, and people seem to think that it’d be right and an appropriate voice,” he said. “You never know, obviously that can be a sensitive thing for people. But it turns out, they imagine his voice that way.”
Erik Aadahl previously voiced Live Action Movie Series Bumblebee on Transformers: The Last Knight
IGN video:
Sample of Dylan’s voice:
Jerrimus
Yes it’s an “aesthetic” and we all get that, but I don’t think that’s what he was saying. The person he quoted was suggesting that since Bee came to earth before the other autobots that it erased the whole “autobot -ark” origin which has barely even been used besides G1 and then the Bay films finally used imagery in THE FIFTH FILM AND LAST of that horrendous run to even suggest a crashed ship into the side of a mountain. And even then they made them look like humanoid knights.
Why can’t people accept the fact that we are finally getting the transformers movie that we should have gotten from the get-go? I understand that there are TONS of people on here now that grew up with the Bay films, but MOST that were around when the designs for the first film surfaced were PISSED because nearly NO ONE looked like they should. I was initially OK with some of them, but CHRIST…they didn’t even use original colors for a lot of them. And later on used said colors for bots that never even looked like that because they finally found a way to make “red” work on the big screen. You’re an idiot, Bay. You’ve done so much for this franchise, yet also divided and confused so many….
Dinobot Snarl
G1 is not just an 80s cartoon. Infuriating when people suggest that.
DrOblivian
why would that piss off anyone? In most continuities the Ark doesnt happen anyway.
rich24
I’m surprised we’re finding the news about the voice casting so late and that there is no hint of this in the trailer. Unless there have been some serious misdirects or rewrites (both of which would be concerning) presumably poor Bee is losing his voice, possibly in the fight with Blitzwing?
Phenotype
A soft-reboot is something which takes place in the existing continuity but establishes new characters and settings. The Force Awakens is a great example of a soft-reboot because it takes place in the same continuity as the previous Star Wars films but mainly revolves around the new characters, with the older characters playing more of a supporting role.
If the Bumblebee film ends up being a reset of the continuity then it would be a full reboot.
Dinobot Snarl
I want to see G1 Powerglide, Cosmos, Hotrod or a Dog friending Thundercracker movie…After the Optimus Prime Movie.
Honestly when you move away from Micheal Bay's trash, you find dozens of characters with movies waiting to be made.
autobotlongarm
I hope they do a movie on a character that got a little-to-no screen time in the Bayverse like Longarm or Jazz.
Azuzu98
I laughed harder than I should have
HuffR_WFCTX_91135
Huh, you think they'd have kept that a surprise.
Rodimus Prime
…they're set in different universes.
Jerrimus
So just how much G1 have we gotten on the big screen thus far?
None. (Sans the 86 movie which doesn’t really count in this conversation)
All we’ve had is slaps to the face on most of the characters. And name slaps. Yes it’s been “new interpretations” but to the detriment of said characters. And referring to them as “characters” is over stating what they’ve provided to the franchise.
I still don’t get the defensive nature towards the movies we’ve gotten so far considering they have ruined all that’s been touched upon minus a few nice moments.
Seriously, what Bay has done has helped the franchise to no end…but to complain that this film isn’t “breaking new ground” is an idiotic statement when the original source material has yet to get representation on the big screen.
rendsora
Alright I think this is a perfect fit. Not that I have anything against Dan Gilvezan but the franchise needs new blood.
Mr.Deflok
DrOblivian
I find this entire argument in general such a strange paradox. What the franchise "was before" was, in fact, constant change. Since the Bayverse hit the last time we have gotten a good proper reboot was Animated (Prime as well to a lesser extent, but Prime and the bayverse in general feel like they were the start of the stagnation problem)
Personally i wish the franchise would go back to how things were done before because i want the drastic changes we got every few years back. Im sick of this constant slog of slight variations to G1.
Give me something unique, give me brand new characters, give me crazy twists on old characters.
As excited I am for Bumblebee, its still just "More G1" to me. Give me something like a shattered glass beastwars/armada crossover with balls to the wall designs and you'll have my full attention.
Hadlen_Weltall
"I need a weapon… and awaaaay we go!!"
Hadlen_Weltall
That is what I've been saying.
Lets just take a step back and appreciate this franchise for what it IS and can become, not fighting for what it WAS before.
ToaDraco
This is a pleasant surprise but I still have a feeling Megatron mught rip his voice chip out during the Cybertron scenes. If not, cool I think Dylan is a good fit for the voice, he\'s certainly in the demographic of who I would picture voicing Bee. The best part of this announcement is the confirmation on how much they are rebooting things and going away from what Bay did with the franchise. Frankly at this point the only thing that connects the 2 in any way is Bee's face.
Autobot N
Powerglide and Master Chief…hmm.
bman29
If the timing was different and he was a little younger now but Michael J Fox would have made a good Bumbler voice.
Fairlady_Z
Annnnnd the reason Dan Gilvezan was unavailable/not asked given that Bumblebee is a VW again and this movie is set in the 80s is…?!!?
Okay, now that I've gotten that out of my system and am past that initial disappointment – BUMBLEBEE WILL TALK AGAIN!!!! THANK GOODNESS!!!!!!
Dylan's voice sounds right for the youthful character. I look forward to seeing what he brings to the role.