TRANSFORMERS

Cast and characters

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,^[25] but the nickname was considered inappropriate because the character's profession was dropped from the adaptation.^[34] Bay stated he wanted to make Sam an average Joe, and not a geek. Bay initially considered LaBeouf too old, having only seen his performance in Constantine, but he was bowled over by the actor's enthusiasm.^[1] A Transformers fan,^[5] LaBeouf also reminded the filmmakers of the young Tom Hanks.^[17] 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.^[2] 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.^[2]

Megan Fox plays Sam's crush, Mikaela Banes, whom he woos with Bumblebee's help. Banes is mechanically skilled because her father was a car thief. She 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.^[1] Fox gained ten pounds of muscle during shooting to support the physicality of the role.^[2]

Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson play the soldiers, Army Captain William Lennox and Air Force 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,^[5] and Gibson paid the filmmakers so he could be in the film.^[25] They spent three days in boot camp to prepare for the role. Gibson met combat controller Ray Bollinger, and spent time learning technical terms and military code to make his dialogue sound convincing.^[5]

John Turturro plays Reggie Simmons, a 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.^[1] 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.^[19] 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.^[1]

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.^[19] The filmmakers opted for Taylor's natural Australian accent to give the film a global sensibility.^[2] She found many of her scenes difficult because of the high heels she wore.^[25]

Anthony Anderson plays Glen Whitmann, a computer hacker and friend of Maggie. 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. Bernie Mac cameos as Bobby Bolivia, a used car dealer from whom Sam purchases Bumblebee.