The script is finished, the cast seems largely in place and filming is set to begin at the start of July. But that doesn’t mean everything about “Transformers 3” has been settled. While director Michael Bay has been exploring the possibility of making the film into a 3-D release — either shooting with 3-D cameras or doing a post-production conversion — no decision has yet been made.
That’s the word coming from producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who chatted with MTV recently about all things 3-D, the upcoming film’s exploration of its core mythology and the truth about the allegedly testy relationship between Bay and star Megan Fox.
MTV: So there’s been talk about shooting “Transformers 3” in 3-D or converting it after the fact. Where are you at in terms of that discussion with Bay and Paramount?
Lorenzo di Bonaventura: We’re literally in the middle of that. There’s no definitive answer. I think the answer is that as James Cameron, who had plenty and plenty of time to do it, even he converted some of it [edit: first we’re hearing that “Avatar” had 3-D converted elements!]. So I think the answer is that, as with most movies, you’re going to do some kind of combination if you end up doing it. I’m sure 3-D cameras are going to get lighter and more manageable and all the things that get in the way right now. Over time, that may change. But I think in the near and medium term, most movies will do a combination when and if they do it.
MTV: You’re a veteran of the big summer movie. What are your thoughts about 3-D in general? Is it here to stay or is it just another fad?
di Bonaventura: I think that it’s an inevitability. As a technique, it has room to grow, and that’s the rub right now: how soon can you make it grow? There are some movies that were willing to compromise quality. There are some directors that are not willing to compromise quality. If you do it without a very thoughtful plan, you sacrifice quality. It’s going to be a main stay of what we do.
MTV: We’ve been hearing a lot about the third film’s return to the core mythology.
di Bonaventura: I didn’t think we veered away from the mythology in the second one. We stay pretty close to mythology in general, sometimes we add to it, as we did on the first and the second one. In second one, we’re dealing with the matrix of leadership, a very clear mythological component. The Fallen is one of the original 13 Transformers.
We were sticking fairly close to the mythology. We are going to continue to explore the past in the third one and that will continue to inform the present. I think it’s pretty much the same thing we did on the first two: you try to get as close as you can to the lore and sometimes you run into pieces where there’s not enough information to make a judgment, so you make you own call. That’s a necessary component. By and large, the fans have accepted and embraced what we’ve been doing.
MTV: Around when the second one came out, there was all this hubbub about a feud between Bay and Megan Fox? Do you have any concern about their relationship going into “Transformers 3”?
di Bonaventura: I think the Internet had a lot of fun with that. Michael and Megan get along great. Like in any creative endeavor, there’s not always total agreement. Michael doesn’t agree on everything with me or Shia [LaBeouf]. He’s the captain of the ship. But I think that’s much ado about nothing. I even read that we were thinking about not casting her. Come on! It’s so silly. As though we would want to mess with such a successful combination.
[mtv]
