Where to watch Transformers (2007)

Trivia & production notes

• Don Murphy had originally planned to adapt G.I. Joe for film, but Hasbro suggested Transformers instead following the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
• Steven Spielberg suggested the filmmakers focus on 'a boy and his car,' which appealed to writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman because it connected to themes of adulthood and responsibility.
• An early draft had the Transformers speak no dialogue because producers worried talking robots would look ridiculous, but writers pushed back, fearing it would alienate longtime fans.
• Michael Bay initially dismissed Transformers as a 'stupid toy movie' when Spielberg first asked him to direct in July 2005, but agreed after gaining respect for the concept during a visit to Hasbro.
• Michael Bay reduced his directing fee by 30 percent to keep production in Los Angeles so he could work with his regular crew.
• Arcee was written into early drafts as a female Transformer but was cut because the writers struggled to explain robotic gender and Bay disliked her motorcycle form for being too small.
• Michael Bay shot the film with an 83-day schedule, doing more camera set-ups per day than usual to maintain pace while keeping costs down.
• The production team swept White Sands Missile Range to remove unexploded ordnance before constructing a village set that would later be destroyed during filming of the Scorponok sequence.
• Transformers was the first film allowed to shoot at the Pentagon since the September 11 attacks, and crews were also permitted to film at Griffith Observatory while it remained closed for renovations.
• The film reuses footage from Michael Bay's earlier film Pearl Harbor.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Transformers (film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.