Summary
Transformers Onedives into the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron. It follows the devastating descent of their friendship, allowing viewers to get to know how their feud started, as well as how Megatron became so evil, and how Optimus Prime became so righteous. This is the first-ever fully CG-animated Transformers movie and boasts incredible action sequences and a lot of heart.
Transformers Onefeatures a star-studded voice cast, including Chris Hemsworth as Orion Pax / Optimus Prime, Brian Tyree Henry as D-16 / Megatron, Scarlett Johansson as Elita-1, and Keegan-Michael Key as B-127. Josh Cooley, known for directing Toy Story 4, directs.Transformers Onecomes to theaters on July 31, 2025.
First Transformers One Reactions Arrive Online - What Are People Saying?
Two months ahead of its release, members of the press have shared their reactions to Transformers One, and they sound pretty promising.
Screen Rantcaught up withtheTransformers Onecast, director, and producer at San Diego Comic-Con. Hemsworth shared his reaction to the emotions of the story, Henry discussed the vulnerable side of D-16, and Key shared how much improv he did. Meanwhile, Cooley and di Bonaventura talked about changing voice actors and teased Easter eggs.
Chris Hemsworth Mourns Transformers One’s “Friendship Breakup”
Screen Rant: I actually saw the movie on Monday, and I loved it. I thought you were fantastic. I’ve got to talk to you about exploring friendship breakups because I feel like that is harder than romantic relationships sometimes. What was it like exploring that part of Optimus Prime?
Chris Hemsworth: Yeah, there’s a real tragedy to it, and it is heartbreaking. And that’s what really surprised me the first time I read it and excited me about this take on the world and these characters and this story.
They were friends; they were best friends before they became mortal enemies. If you can land the friendship, all the more heartbreaking and impactful the betrayal is - or the breakup, as you call it. That’s what we concentrated a lot on; why these two characters like each other. What is the similarities in their banter? What are their views on the world that support or contradict each other?
All the little nuances [come from] listening to the cast really put in their performances. And then you listen back and you go, “Okay, I can adjust that. I can do it here.” It’s a cool process that’s different from traditionally stepping on a film set and working off what’s right in front of you. There’s a bit of guesswork involved.
You are known for sneaking your family into movies here and there. Do any of them make an appearance in this?
Chris Hemsworth: No. Some of my kids may have been in the background while I was recording my voice, because they’d recorded a lot of it at my house and they creep into the room. They’d listen and giggle and say silly things and try and distract me successfully.
Source:Screen Rant Plus
Brian Tyree Henry Sought To Humanize Megatron As D-16 In Transformers One
Brian Tyree Henry: I’ve got to ask you about that descent, right? Getting to play him as you slowly see him go into that place of darkness through the movie, what was that like?
Screen Rant: There were challenges because, at the end of the day, here we have this wonderful origin story about these two best friends - brothers, really - but also watching his character become completely disillusioned by what he thought to be true and real and having to actually rebel against that was hard.
But I also understood it. I was like, “I’ve been there. I absolutely understand that.” I pulled a lot of my experiences from college and put them in there. When I was 18 and out on my own, trying to figure out who I was. What it was like when I was like, “All of this is not real. All of this is actually not what I thought it was.” I remember that feeling of just realizing that things aren’t always what they seem, and having to pick and choose my heart over friendships sometimes and relationships in different instances.
I felt like that’s exactly where we find D-16, and I just wanted to bring some heart to him. I wanted people to really feel for him; to really understand -because villains get a bad rap, right? They usually just present the villains to us, and we don’t know anything else about them. But I was like, “No, there’s something that happened to him.” There was a challenge there, and I wanted to show that level to him.
Keegan-Michael Key’s Transformers One Lines Are 50% Improv
Screen Rant: I got to see the movie on Monday, and you’re hilarious.
Keegan-Michael Key: Oh, thank you. That’s very sweet of you to say. I appreciate that. Yeah, it was fun to make; fun to do; fun to watch. And I’m really excited about it; super excited about it.
How much was improv? Because I feel like so much that came out of your mouth was hilarious.
Keegan-Michael Key: I’d say 30 to 35% of the movie, but for me, it was probably 50%. [I was thinking], “Because there’s a lot of plot points,” and then I realized, “I don’t do the plot points. I just do the comedy.”
Josh is so amazing to work with and he just lets you be free. It’s very liberating and collaborative to work with him. It’s great.
I know you’re a massiveTransformersfan.
Keegan-Michael Key: I was when I was a kid I loved Transformers
What was it like getting to be part of not just the franchise, but such an iconic character?
Keegan-Michael Key: To be given the responsibility to play this character - and the proto-character; the proto-Bumblebee before everything else? We had a lot of fun inventing this, but I also got to bring a lot of myself to it. Sometimes when I do [a role], I try to disguise my voice and disguise who I am when I do animation, because that’s fun to play a character. But this one’s really a lot of me.
Transformer One’s Robots Can’t Transform For A Reason
Screen Rant: What were you most excited to explore with the backstory of these guys?
Josh Cooley: The relationship between them is just seeing them go from best friends to enemies. That was the challenge. Can we actually make this work and would people believe it? And I think most of what makes it successful is Brian and Chris; their relationship and their comedy. I love seeing them together on screen, and then that just makes it that much harder once it starts to fall apart.
Friendship breakups are often harder than romantic breakups. What was it like exploring the downfall?
Josh Cooley: As the filmmaker, it’s kind of what you want. It sounds horrible, but you want to create emotion and have people empathize with that. Like you said, a lot of people have felt that before. How can we make this imaginary thing that doesn’t exist in real life [feel realistic]? For people to look at a bunch of pixels on screen and feel that same emotion? That was a big goal, but it was a fun one to achieve.
There’s a missing Transformation. Can you talk about that a little bit? Was that always the plan, for them to not be able to transform in the beginning?
Josh Cooley: The very first draft that I ever read had that in there. And I said, “What the heck’s going on?” But there’s a reason for it. It’s not just because it’s a cool idea or whatever. There’s a reason for it. And once they get those, it’s a way for them to grow. They are literally transforming, but it’s a story about transformation, so it was a really cool idea.
Transformers One Producer Talks Easter Eggs & Chris Hemsworth’s Baritone
Screen Rant: This film focuses on a friendship breakup, which I feel is harder than a romantic breakup. What was it like getting to explore that?
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: The funny thing was that it’s an unusual breakup because it’s not about something personal. That’s really interesting when you think about it from that perspective.
I also think the idea of understanding who they were and how they become what they are really explains what the breakup’s about. That was sort of our North Star. And the hardest part of that was we know Optimus Prime and Megatron so well, so we kept finding that their characters were intruding in on D-16 and Orion Pax. We were like, “No, no, no. We got to rewrite that scene. That’s Optimus talking. That’s not Orion Pax.” That was really fun, and in an interesting way, it sort of explained how the relationship does splinter.
What is it about Chris and Brian that made them so perfect for these roles?
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: First of all, in doing Optimus Prime, he’s filling some big shoes. We had to change because Peter [Cullen]’s frankly too old for this. He’ll be in the live-action, but in this, you needed to have some of that youth, exuberance, naivete, and maybe even optimism that a younger voice has.
In particular, this role gave us heartburn because [everyone] loves Peter. But we also were hoping for somebody whose basic tenor you would listen to and go, “Oh, I see how that becomes Peter Cullen.” And Chris has that sort of baritone that you feel in the chest, which Peter does too.
Once we had Chris, [the question is] how to pair him up. We wanted an actor who brings something very different than he did. Also, I think the more different they are, the more you understand in some respects why they splinter.
How fun is it squeezing in a lot of catchphrases and Easter eggs?
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: Those are always fun, and they always come at different time periods. You’ll see a scene 20 or 30 times, and it never occurred to you. And then you go, “Why aren’t we saying WHAT?” Then everybody goes, “Oh, all right, let’s figure that out.” And animation’s great because you can then go back in and go, “All right, let’s put that in.”
About Transformers One
Transformers One is the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.
Transformers One
Cast
Transformers One is an animated action-adventure movie that marks the first animated feature-length film for the series in decades. The film will be a prequel to the franchise, and will tell the story of Optimus Prime and Megatron in their early years, how they met, and a closer look at the war on their home planet, Cybertron.
