It’s got the biggest explosions ever seen on film. It’s the first film to ever feature (such high resolution) 4k rendered character animation shot on full IMAX 70 mm film. The IMAX version is even longer than the regular-cinema version and, get this, in the IMAX version you will see Optimus Prime in a few shots where he is actually perfectly to scale. Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen is visually spectacular and the effects on the giant screen will, put simply: Blow. Your. Mind.
Former Home and Away soap star turned Hollywood screen queen, Isabel Lucas chats about her role in one of the biggest films of ‘09.
Hey Isabel, how’s it feel to be back in Melbourne?
“Oh it’s wonderful to be home. Melbourne is hometown, so it’s always nice to come home. I’m here for today and tonight I fly to Sydney. I’m somewhat jet-lagged from Japan and it’s been a very fast-moving schedule. I literally wrapped on a film shoot called Kin, an Australian film, and the night we wrapped I drove from set, to the airport and flew straight to Tokyo, but I’m here until tonight and then I go to Sydney, and then back to LA after that.”
What were your thoughts when you first saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen?
“Oh well, I mean the first film, you know, was incredible in the way of CGI and the special effects were seamless. And the second film, it out did itself. I mean, it’s a film unto its own, it’s twice the size and twice the action. It was an epic production. We shot in Egypt and we had unprecedented access to shoot on the actual pyramids, which hasn’t been done for twenty years and we’ve broken the record in that we’ve got the biggest explosion in transformers, it’s an epic film. I was talking to Shia [LaBeouf] just a couple days ago and he is a movie buff if you’ve met one, I’ve seen his DVD collection and it’s insane and he said himself that he’s never seen a bigger action blockbuster, ever.”
How does it feel to be involved in such a huge film so young?
“It is massive. I’m very aware of how fortunate I’ve been for this opportunity, it’s surreal and it’s incredible to see it all now come together like an incredible puzzle. It’s been an amazing experience to work with Michael Bay, who’s one of the masters of blockbuster film making.”
Will there be figurines modelled on you?
“We haven’t talked about that yet, but how odd would that be?”
So how did you land this role in a massive blockbuster?
“I played a small part in the HBO mini-series The Pacific, which was produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg and Steven also produced Transformers. Allegedly he liked my work and asked me to come and read for the role of Alice, so I went and auditioned with Michael Bay and…that was it.”
Can you tell me a bit about your character?
“The character I’m playing is Alice and she’s a student at the Princeton University, the college where Sam, the character, goes to school. There’s really not a lot I’m allowed to reveal unfortunately … [except that] she’s a very mysterious character and she was step out of the comfort zone for me, which is so enjoyable – playing a character that is completely different from yourself – because you really are encouraged to go on and explore something new.”
Did you have to do much preparation for your role? I know Megan Fox had to stack on a few kilos for her part…
“Yeah I think because she (Megan) had many scenes where she was physically exhausted, she was running a lot and when you do it take after take after take it can be really exhausting so he wanted her to be fit and prepared for that. Shia as well. But I didn’t have too many action scenes where he required me to do training or anything.”
How was the film’s premiere in Japan?
“The premiere in Japan, in Tokyo was insane. They had this incredible smoke show just for Bumblebee the car onstage and then they puffed all this smoke up to like two stories high and then Bumblebee transformed behind it to the real size that Bumbleebee would be in real life. We also got to meet the creator of Transformers, who was Japanese, yeah that was unreal.”
Were you a Transformers fan before you got the role?
“No (laughs). When I was cast I was aware of the incredible cult following that Transformers has so it was really important for me to feel like I was well researched. I’ve got some really good guy friends who could fill me in and I watched the first film obviously and talked to Shia all about the details and the different transformers, the decepticons and autobots…
Shia grew up with Transformers, he had some of the toys when he was a kid and Ramone did as well, it was like a lifelong dream for him.”