Transformers Oneis something of a miracle.
Director Josh Cooley knew that was possible right from the start.
He knew he wanted to see that movie, so he decided to make it.
Let’s chat Transformers One with director Josh Cooley.Image: Paramount
Germain Lussier, io9: Lets start at the beginning.
How did you come on board this project?
So how did you yourself come onto this project?
Transformers One– Paramount
Josh Cooley:Yeah.
So, I read the script first.
Which, I thought was like, Man, if I could tell that story with just Transformers?
Megatron inTransformers One– Paramount
That would be really amazing.
And just the idea behind it.
And also what the design of the world could possibly look like.
The gang’s all here – Paramount
Showing me things Ive never seen before.
Things Ive only heard about.
That Optimus Prime and Megatron were friends.
What a fully functioning Cybertron was like.
We always thought of Cybertron as a desolate wasteland they cant go back to.
io9: [Laughs]
Cooley:Sorry, what was the first part of your question?
io9: Youre defining so much Transformers lore that weve never seen before.
How do you see to it it fits in with the overall franchise?
Because Im the first to admit I dont know everything.
And then also having it be accessible to somebody who has no idea what Transformers is.
If they were to come in fresh off the street, its still accessible to them as well.
In a way, I kept thinking of it like the originalStar Wars, just the very first one.
Other times we were really light on it.
So just finding that balance, you know, while doing multiple screenings of it.
And then just whatever was the best lore to support the relationship between Orion and D-16.
That was always my center.
io9: Yeah, and Im guessing the original script had a lot of the skeleton for that stuff?
Cooley:Id say overall, yeah.
It was basically them going to find the Matrix and then becoming enemies at the end.
It was very general.
The tone was much different.
The very first version of it was way more jokey.
And ultimately that version just wasnt right.
It was like, Oh, this just doesnt feel like Transformers.
io9: No, and I think you nailed that.
And that first movie means so much to so many, myself included.
And so I was part of that generation that was scarred for quite a while.
And was very confused.
Thats the thing I was like, Oh, I want to bring that back.
Which is why its perfect for animation because animation allows you to exaggerate everything.
But in there you did mention the theme song which is not in the movie.
Cooley:We actually had that in the end credits.
At first, it was just like, Cool.
Yes, this is great.
Hes like, Let me try something.
io9: Thats interesting.
On that same track, Im curious about balancing new characters with old characters we know.
Obviously Bumblebee, Optimus, and Megatron, were all very familiar with.
And we get our not-yet-Decepticons in Starscream and Soundwave, but how far did you guys push it?
What was the line of introducing just enough characters that we know?
Cooley:Yeah, its funny.
But I will say that the movie was made by a crew of fans.
But there was stufflike Jazz, for example, has a pretty big role.
It was important to have a relationship with a character that we know gets to be saved.
The winner of this race.
So there were times when it was story-based.
Other times it was just playing for the fun of it.
io9: Did that kind of carry over to the Easter eggs, too?
And then I saw it in a bigger crowd of Transformers fans and half the people laughed.
And I think the other half didnt laugh because it happened so fast.
Were they just from animators or were they scripted?
Cooley:It was both.
I actually wrote that line [SPOILER REDACTED] because I love that song.
io9: Me too.
But that scene got nixed.
And so I wanted to work it in there somewhere.
And I just felt like a natural place for it.
Its shaped very similarly to the crown that he wears in the movie.
But I didnt pick up on that until my production designer Jason Scheier pointed that out.
And I was like, Oh, thats great.
So there are a lot of real subtle things.
Id say anything thats dialogue-based was written in there.
And so Id let him cast the characters that are getting kind of front-row shots.
And so thats all his love going out.
Yeah, thats awesome.
io9: One other thing, because Im a huge Pixar nerd.
I know you worked on that with Andrew Stanton for a while.
They just announced that hes directingToy Story 5.
Cooley:I love Andrew.
I have no idea what hes cooking up and I cant wait to see it.
io9: There you go.
Cooley:Seriously, being outside, its like it was back before I started working there.
I dont want to know anything.
Im going completely fresh.
Transformers Oneopens September 20.
Check back after opening for some spoiler discussion with Cooley.
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