Characters in Transformers (film)

The following is a list of characters featured in the 2007 film Transformers, directed by Michael Bay and distributed by Paramount Pictures.

Humans

 * Shia LaBeouf stars as Sam Witwicky, the teenager who unknowingly buys Bumblebee as his first car. The character is based upon the mechanic Spike from the television series, but the nickname was considered inappropriate because the character's profession was dropped from the adaptation. Bay wanted Sam to be an "average Joe", and not a geek. He initially considered LaBeouf too old, having only seen his performance in Constantine, but he was bowled over by the actor's enthusiasm. A Transformers fan, LaBeouf also reminded the filmmakers of the young Tom Hanks. He worked out five days a week for three months and gained twenty-five pounds of muscle to prepare for the role, but realized during shooting that his role required agility rather than strength. LaBeouf performed his own stunts, including a scene in which Sam clings to a statue as Megatron approaches, with only a safety harness to protect the actor. "There are action stars who wouldn’t have been as dumb," he joked.
 * Megan Fox plays Sam's crush, Mikaela Banes, whom he woos with Bumblebee's help. Mikaela is mechanically skilled because her father was a grease monkey and former car thief. Fox had previously auditioned for Bay's production of The Amityville Horror. To encourage a tough performance from Fox, Bay often threatened to repeatedly film takes at night so she would appear frustrated and tired. Fox gained ten pounds of muscle during shooting to support the physicality of the role.
 * Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson play the soldiers/airman, United States Army Special Forces Captain William Lennox and United States Air Force Combat Controller Technical Sergeant Robert Epps, respectively. The characters are part of a seven-man Joint Special Operations Command team in Qatar, who survive Blackout's attack on the base. Lennox has a wife and newborn daughter in the United States. Duhamel and Gibson were fans of the toy line as children, and Gibson paid the filmmakers so he could be in the film. They spent three days in boot camp to prepare for the role. Gibson met combat controller Ray Bolinger, and spent time learning technical terms and military code to make his dialogue sound convincing.
 * John Turturro plays Agent Simmons, an arrogant and paranoid Sector 7 agent. Bay wanted Steve Buscemi for the role, but he was busy, so Turturro, whom Bay had wanted to work with ever since seeing The Big Lebowski, was cast instead. Turturro gave a slapstick performance, which was intended to be in contrast to the serious military scenes, so that a sense of fun would not completely disappear. The actor claimed to have based his performance on the director, although Bay stated he couldn't see anything of himself in Turturro's performance. A backstory was fashioned for Simmons, explaining his family had served in Sector 7 for generations, giving him a "mother's boy" personality. Bay cut these jokes as they were too crude.
 * Rachael Taylor plays Maggie Madsen, who assists the Department of Defense in decoding the virus left by Frenzy. She realizes that those hacking into the government's data files cannot be human, due to the ease with which they made the attack. The writers had initially envisioned Maggie as quirkier and more cyberpunk. The filmmakers opted for Taylor's natural Australian accent to give the film a global sensibility. She found many of her scenes difficult because of the high heels she wore. It is unexplained why she disappeared from the rest of the film after Frenzy accidentally kills himself.
 * Anthony Anderson plays Glen Whitmann, a computer hacker and friend of Maggie. He too, without explanation, disappeared from the rest of the film after Frenzy killed himself.
 * Jon Voight plays the United States Secretary of Defense John Keller.
 * Michael O'Neill plays Tom Banachek, the head of Sector 7's Advanced Research Division.
 * Kevin Dunn and Julie White play Sam's parents, Ron and Judy.
 * Amaury Nolasco and Zack Ward play ACWO Jorge "Fig" Figueroa and First Sergeant Donnelly, respectively. They are two soldiers who survive the destruction of the SOCCENT base and trek to rescue alongside Lennox, Epps, and other soldiers. Donnelly is impaled by Scorponok and Figueroa is wounded by a rocket fired by Scorponok.

Minor roles include Peter Jacobson as the humorless high school teacher Mr. Hosney; Travis Van Winkle as Trent, Mikaela's mean football jock boyfriend before Sam came along; Bernie Mac as Bobby Bolivia, a used car dealer from whom Sam purchases Bumblebee; Tom Lenk as a member of Maggie's hacker team; Rick Gomez as a Sheriff who attempts to apprehend Sam after finding his dog's pain pills; J.P. Manoux as a Witness, Brian Stepanek as a Sector 7 agent, and Glenn Morshower as Colonel Sharpe, an officer at the SOCCENT base. In a deleted scene in the Blu-ray version of the movie, "Fig" is seen dying after getting wounded by Scorponok, but his character was made to stay alive in the finished movie, and he was even offered to reprise his role in Revenge of the Fallen, which he had to refuse due to scheduling conflicts.

Autobots

 * Peter Cullen voices Optimus Prime, the altruistic Autobot leader who comes to Earth to destroy the All Spark in order to end the war. Don Murphy decided after discussions with fans on his website that they wanted the surviving voices from the original 1980s cartoon series, The Transformers. Cullen described reprising the role as easy as "slipping into an old pair of very comfortable shoes that you haven't worn for a while", and was grateful to the fans for wanting him back. His performance consisted of much improvisation with Bay, and portraying the traditional heroism of the character as well as bringing a sense of humor. Bay told the animators to seek inspiration from Liam Neeson to inspire Optimus' body language. Optimus transforms into a Peterbilt truck built by truck designer Dave Porter of Wright City, MO. The selection of the Peterbilt, a more aggressive truck compared to the original flat-nosed truck from the animated series was also made as a nod to Spielberg's film Duel. The original cab over design was rejected because that would only transform into a twenty-feet tall model of the character, whereas the filmmakers wanted him to stand twenty-eight feet tall. Optimus has red flame artwork on his blue body. This was a compromise between Hasbro, who wanted to retain the character's iconic red chest, and Bay, who felt red alone would not photograph well. Hasbro had previously rejected designs of Optimus which were too blue. Optimus' head was built on set as a prop.
 * Mark Ryan voices Bumblebee for the character's two lines at the end of the film, when he regains his voice. For most of the film's duration, Bumblebee communicates with radio soundbites because of his damaged vocal processor, but his throat begins healing after Ratchet fires a regenerative laser when they meet again on Earth: this was not clarified on screen, and Orci feels that Bumblebee being healed by touching the AllSpark is also a valid explanation. Before being cast in the role, Ryan had acted as a stand-in for the robots during filming, reading out their lines. The decision to make Bumblebee silent was inspired by Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, to show that his bond with Sam was beyond words. The filmmakers had considered using lines from various Paramount films, including "I feel the need for speed!" from Top Gun, but decided such lines would be too obvious. Credited clips used in the film include John Wayne from El Dorado and Nichelle Nichols as Uhura from the Star Trek television series. A full scale puppet of Bumblebee was also used for the film. The animators modeled Bumblebee's performance on Michael J. Fox's character in Back to the Future. Bumblebee transforms into a 1976 Chevrolet Camaro, and upgrades into the 2009 model. Bay rejected the character's 1980s form of the Volkswagen Beetle, as it reminded him of Herbie the Love Bug. Hasbro did not mind as long as the car remained yellow. In reference to his original form, the Beetle is parked next to Bumblebee when Sam is buying him. The modern Camaro was chosen for its friendly appearance, while the old model was chosen to show that Sam's father could only buy him the cheapest car he could find. In the film, Bumblebee upgrades because Mikaela calls his choice of form a "piece of crap Camaro".
 * Darius McCrary voices Jazz, a lieutenant who develops a fondness for urban culture. McCrary said he was honored to follow in the footsteps of Scatman Crothers, who voiced Jazz on The Transformers. "When I was actually [recording], I really did feel Scatman's presence," he said. Mark Ryan had tried out numerous voices for Jazz, including a Sean Connery impersonation, before McCrary was cast. Jazz transforms into a modified Pontiac Solstice, a car the director felt was too small, but he decided not to argue with GM. Hasbro felt it was still a "cool sports car" reminiscent of his original Porsche 935 form. The screenwriters chose to kill off Jazz as they felt he was the most likable character after Optimus and Bumblebee, although they did not have time to make it effective due to budget constraints.
 * Jess Harnell voices Ironhide, who transforms into a modified GMC TopKick C4500 medium-duty truck. The character is a cantankerous weapons specialist. Peter Cullen also voiced Ironhide on television and auditioned to reprise the role. When Harnell was voicing the character on set, he used a Southern accent as Cullen did.
 * Robert Foxworth voices Ratchet, the team's medical officer. He transforms into a search and rescue Hummer H2. The writers had wanted to keep his original ambulance form, but the producers wanted something else. Hasbro did not mind if the character was either an ambulance or a fire apparatus.

Decepticons

 * Hugo Weaving voices Megatron, the Decepticon leader who crash-landed in the Arctic years ago in his quest to obtain the All Spark. When he is defrosted, he keeps his original alien jet form out of vanity. Frank Welker, who played the part on television opposite Peter Cullen, auditioned to reprise the role. Bay considered his voice too soft and felt it would be disrespectful to ask Welker to change it. Weaving's voice had been the inspiration Bay gave to his animators for the character, and the character's voice had become that of Weaving in the director's mind. Weaving recorded his lines in Australia, directed by Bay through iChat. The deviation from Megatron's 1980s Walther P38 pistol form was done to avoid morphing. Orci and Kurtzman also felt it would be "the equivalent to Darth Vader [becoming] his own lightsaber and having someone else swing him around". Fans disliked leaked images of the character's head design, so it was redesigned during filming. The prototype design had a much narrower face than the one seen in the finished film. Optimus calls Megatron his brother; Cullen interpreted this line literally, but while the writers state this was the case in early drafts, they consider the line in its final context to be metaphorical. Megatron serves as the primary antagonist of this film.
 * Charlie Adler voices Starscream, Megatron's second-in-command. Despite being a popular character, his role is limited because of the film's running time. A post-credits scene of him escaping Earth was added because audiences at test screenings wanted to know what happened to him. He transforms into a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor jet, which is the successor to his original form, the F-15 Eagle. This keeps the character's role as the powerful and technologically advanced air commander.
 * Reno Wilson voices Frenzy, a small and vicious spy who transforms into a GPX BCDW9815CNP boombox, and later into a mobile phone. For most of the film, Frenzy speaks in Cybertronian and has only a few English lines. He was primarily animated by one man, who gave the character quirky movements: Bay could tell which shots were not done by him and felt the character totally changed in those scenes. A puppet was also used on set. Frenzy was originally meant to be Soundwave, but the writers decided to rename him because he was significantly different from the original character. Other names given to him during production include Boombot and Soundbyte. Also, in early scripts, before Bay determined there would be no mass shifting in the movie, Frenzy — called Soundwave at the time — could turn into a humvee. His vehicle transformation eventually became the character we now know as Barricade.
 * Jess Harnell voices Barricade, a Saleen S281 police car, whom Frenzy guides to Sam. The character was inspired by the G1 Autobot Prowl, because the writers thought a Decepticon displaying authority would use the police car form. Frenzy ejects from a flap in Barricade's chest when he attacks Sam, which was presumably added during post-production. Takara and Hasbro had designed the flap for his toy and were unaware ILM had taken inspiration from their depiction of the character.
 * Jimmie Wood voices Bonecrusher, who attacks Optimus on the highway to Mission City. The animators modeled his fighting styles on hockey and football players. His alternate form of the Buffalo H Mine-Protected vehicle had been chosen based on a promotional image in which the fork looked much bigger than it really was, so for the movie, the vehicle was modified to fit a larger fork.
 * Brawl, a robot turning into an M1 Abrams. For his portrayal, the crew chose to use an Abrams prop built for xXx: State of the Union. The character was intended to be named Brawl (which appears on all the merchandise), but a subtitled Cybertronian line reads "Devastator reporting". It was not fixed despite recognition of the error.




 * Blackout, a Decepticon who transforms into a MH-53J Pave Low III helicopter, with his minion Scorponok attaching to him. Soundwave had been considered for this role, with Ravage as his minion, but Hasbro insisted Soundwave have a music-based role. Scorponok was chosen after the writers discovered him in the pages of The Ultimate Guide and felt he was appropriate to the setting. A model of his head and tail was built, while primacord explosives were used for his ripple movements in the sand. This was potentially dangerous to cast members, generating genuine terror in the actors' performances. During production, Blackout was preliminary named * Incinerator, * Grimlock, Devastator and * Vortex, being referred to by Ben Procter as the Transformer with "the most name changes during development".


 * Scorponok, a mechanical scorpion. Later in the village, Scorponok's tail gets left behind. He is Blackout's minion.He is also one of the decepticons still online.


 * Air Force Maj. Brian Reece played Blackout's hologram pilot. Reece was talking to Bay while filming at Holloman Air Force Base in May 2006, when one of Reece's men "walked by singing that stupid Team America song." Reece gave what he called a "death glance," and Bay chose him to play Blackout's hologram when the robot makes his attack. Reece was later called to Los Angeles, where ILM scanned his head and took pictures of him in different costumes for other scenes. Reece wore a fake moustache.


 * The AllSpark is also shown giving life to a Decepticon's. Orci explained: "Prime intended to use the Allspark to repower Cybertron as it was intended. Megatron wants to abuse it by creating Transformers directly, which makes souless, primal Transformers."


 * Frank Welker voices the Nokia N93i phone.
 * an Xbox 360.
 * an Mountain Dew vending machine called Dispensor.
 * an steering wheel of an Cadillac Escalade.

Michael Bay also considered a character turning into an aircraft carrier, which was dropped for cost reasons. Orci and Kurtzman included the character in one of their drafts of the script, and concept art was even created for it.
 * A character named Stryker, with a M1126 Stryker ICV as his alt mode, had been designed, but eventually didn't get used in the movie.