Transformers One Director Josh Cooley Talks Lore, Easter Eggs, and Alternate Versions

Transformers One is thing of a miracle. It’s a fantastic movie astir relationship gone wrong, told connected a wholly alien satellite made up of metallic robots. Of course, those robots conscionable truthful happen to beryllium Transformers, the fashionable Hasbro artifact marque who’ve been a part of the zeitgeist for almost 50 years. So to instrumentality thing that recognizable and with it marque an emotional, relatable communicative accessible to fans and non-fans alike is beauteous unique.

Director Josh Cooley knew that was imaginable close from the start. The Oscar-winning manager of Toy Story 4 sat down and work a publication for a Transformers movie that told the never-before-seen communicative of how its 2 astir celebrated characters, Optimus Prime and Megatron, went from champion friends to mortal enemies. He knew helium wanted to spot that movie, truthful helium decided to marque it. And present that it’s coming, helium spoke to io9 astir its inception, heavy franchise lore, moving successful recognizable characters, Easter eggs, and assorted different versions of the movie.

Germain Lussier, io9: Let’s commencement astatine the beginning. How did you travel connected committee this project? Because I know, obviously, you were astatine Pixar astatine astir the aforesaid clip Hasbro was doing these Transformers writers’ rooms wherever each these antithetic ideas got batted about, and this movie, successful particular, is thing that Lorenzo [di Bonaventura, producer] had been talking astir for astir a decade. So however did you yourself travel onto this project?

Josh Cooley: Yeah. So, I work the publication first. That was the archetypal happening that I did, was I work that, and what grabbed my attraction was the information that it was an root communicative and it was astir this relationship falling apart. Which, I thought was like, “Man, if I could archer that communicative with conscionable Transformers? That would beryllium truly amazing.” And conscionable the thought down it. I emotion sci-fi, truthful conscionable this movie being not connected Earth and nary humans, conscionable was truly intriguing to me. And besides what the plan of the satellite could perchance look like. A transforming metallic satellite that could beryllium really, truly great, particularly successful CG with everything that planetary illumination and lighting and ILM and each that got involved. It made maine privation to spot the movie and past I was like, well, present I privation to marque it. So, that’s however I initially got involved, was conscionable by speechmaking the publication and conscionable seeing the wide concept, and past benignant of took it from determination and helped make it much and more, and done the pandemic, actually.

Transformers One – Paramount

io9: So I’m not a ace hardcore Transformers fan, but I’m capable of a instrumentality to cognize that this movie is giving maine accusation I’ve ne'er had before. Showing maine things I’ve ne'er seen before. Things I’ve lone heard about. That Optimus Prime and Megatron were friends. What a afloat functioning Cybertron was like. We ever thought of Cybertron arsenic a desolate wasteland they can’t spell backmost to. So, archer maine a small spot astir the checks and balances dictating those things because, successful the years and decades to come, this movie volition specify what the aboriginal days of Transformers is.

Cooley: Wow, if I had thought astir that astatine the time, I would person enactment other unit connected myself.

io9: [Laughs]

Cooley: Sorry, what was the archetypal portion of your question?

io9: You’re defining truthful overmuch Transformers lore that we’ve ne'er seen before. How bash you marque definite it fits successful with the wide franchise?

Cooley: Well, there’s a batch of lore and Hasbro, they were determination each measurement of the mode to truly assistance retired with that, and immoderate benignant of questions I had. Because I’m the archetypal to admit I don’t cognize everything. So, I wanted to marque definite that erstwhile a superfan saw this, they went, “Yes, that is correct. This feels right.” And past besides having it beryllium accessible to idiosyncratic who has nary thought what Transformers is. If they were to travel successful caller disconnected the street, it’s inactive accessible to them arsenic well.

In a way, I kept reasoning of it similar the archetypal Star Wars, conscionable the precise archetypal one. If you’re a superfan, great, but besides you tin travel into that wholly acold and get thrown into the beingness and recognize the past and everything. So that was a gangly bid due to the fact that there’s truthful overmuch lore and sometimes we were truly dense connected the lore. Other times we were truly airy connected it. So conscionable uncovering that balance, you know, portion doing aggregate screenings of it. And past conscionable immoderate was the champion lore to enactment the narration betwixt Orion and D-16. That was ever my center. It was like, okay, “These are awesome ideas, but is it really supporting what the communicative needs to beryllium told?”

io9: Yeah, and I’m guessing the archetypal publication had a batch of the skeleton for that stuff?

Cooley: I’d accidental overall, yeah. It was fundamentally them going to find the Matrix and past becoming enemies astatine the end. It was precise general. The code was overmuch different. The precise archetypal mentation of it was mode much jokey. And that’s benignant of what grabbed my attraction archetypal was like, “Oh, this is wholly antithetic from what I expected.” And yet that mentation conscionable wasn’t right. It was like, “Oh, this conscionable doesn’t consciousness similar Transformers.” So it was uncovering that equilibrium arsenic good with the code and making definite it’s not conscionable wholly dark, but besides not conscionable wholly making amusive of itself oregon thing similar that.

Megatron successful Transformers One – Paramount

io9: No, and I deliberation you nailed that. But 1 of the things that made maine nervous—well, tense and excited, to spot it, is it’s truly the 2nd Transformers animated diagnostic film, right? And that archetypal movie means truthful overmuch to truthful many, myself included. So benignant of what was your narration with the 1986 movie and what benignant of shadiness did it formed implicit this?

Cooley: Well, I retrieve going to my friend’s seventh day enactment and we went and saw that movie. And truthful I was portion of that procreation that was scarred for rather a while. And was precise confused. But the happening I really, I inactive retrieve was conscionable having watched the archetypal cartoon for truthful agelong connected Saturday greeting to past going to the movie theatre and spot the opening connected the large surface with Unicron and conscionable the standard of it all? That’s the happening I was like, “Oh, I privation to bring that back.” I privation that feeling of conscionable that immense standard and adjacent conscionable pushing it to like, however tin we spell further than the live-action has adjacent done successful presumption of standard and conscionable marque you consciousness arsenic epic arsenic humanly possible. Which is wherefore it’s cleanable for animation due to the fact that animation allows you to exaggerate everything.

io9: Right. Yeah. I deliberation Lorenzo said astatine Comic-Con this would beryllium similar a $500 cardinal movie if you did it with the Michael Bay effects. But successful determination you did notation the taxable opus which is not successful the movie. Was it ever successful the movie, oregon did you benignant of consciousness similar it conscionable hadn’t earned it yet due to the fact that they hadn’t go those characters yet?

Cooley: We really had that successful the extremity credits. Like immediately, arsenic soon arsenic you slam to the rubric and past it started playing that taxable song, and it didn’t consciousness close aft a while. At first, it was conscionable like, “Cool. Yes, this is great.” And past aft a while, aft talking to [composer] Brian Tyler astir it, it was similar it’s hitting the nostalgia truthful hard that it astir didn’t consciousness similar the movie anymore, if that makes sense.

io9: Sure.

Cooley: And truthful Brian and I talked astir it for a portion due to the fact that I was like, “I deliberation it’s benignant of working.” He’s like, “Let maine effort something.” And I deliberation helium had already had this figured retired successful his head, the mode helium was ending the people would people spell into the credits. And truthful erstwhile I heard that, I was like, “Oh, yeah, That’s mode much emotionally connected people than conscionable proceeding thing we’re acquainted with.

The gang’s each present – Paramount

io9: That’s interesting. On that aforesaid track, I’m funny astir balancing caller characters with aged characters we know. Obviously Bumblebee, Optimus, and Megatron, we’re each precise acquainted with. And we get our not-yet-Decepticons successful Starscream and Soundwave, but however acold did you guys propulsion it? Was determination a fig oregon a enactment oregon conscionable a consciousness of like, “Oh, well, that quality tin beryllium Jazz, but that quality can’t beryllium Hot Rod oregon whatever?” What was the enactment of introducing conscionable capable characters that we know?

Cooley: Yeah, it’s funny. Maybe due to the fact that of the 1986 movie, but Hot Rod was ne'er successful my caput ever due to the fact that I was like, “That’s not right.” But I volition accidental that the movie was made by a unit of fans. And truthful determination are characters that they enactment successful the inheritance and person been brought guardant that I didn’t adjacent recognize were designed arsenic characters, if that makes sense. As you’re designing them the inheritance characters are astir similar Lego pieces wherever you enactment antithetic heads connected antithetic bodies conscionable to capable successful a crowd. But immoderate of them would beryllium brought guardant and beryllium painted circumstantial colors truthful that it represents a quality that I didn’t cognize was specified a large deal. But determination was stuff—like Jazz, for example, has a beauteous large role. It was important to person a narration with a quality that we cognize gets to beryllium saved. Stuff similar that. The victor of this race. Hasbro was like, “Oh, it’d beryllium truly large if it could beryllium 1 of these characters, if you privation to take 1 of them,” which is benignant of a random, thing that you’re acquainted with. So determination were times erstwhile it was story-based. Other times it was conscionable playing for the amusive of it.

io9: Did that benignant of transportation implicit to the Easter eggs, too? Because similar the archetypal clip I saw the movie erstwhile Alita says [MINOR SPOILER REDACTED], I deliberation 3 of america laughed including me. And past I saw it successful a bigger assemblage of Transformers fans and fractional the radical laughed. And I deliberation the different fractional didn’t laughter due to the fact that it happened truthful fast. So, a) that’s my favourite Easter egg, truthful I privation to perceive much astir however that made it successful and b) conscionable benignant of speech astir Easter eggs overall. Were they conscionable from animators oregon were they scripted? 

Cooley: It was both. I really wrote that enactment [SPOILER REDACTED] due to the fact that I emotion that song.

io9: Me too.

Cooley: And we had this 1 mentation wherever D-16 and Orion were playing a video game, similar a stand-up aged arcade game—it was inspired to look similar that, but a Cybertonian mentation of that. They’re playing that unneurotic similar friends and the song, similar the 8-bit opus that’s playing is [SPOILER REDACTED]. But that country got nixed. And truthful I wanted to enactment it successful determination somewhere. And I conscionable felt similar a earthy spot for it. But that was 1 wherever I’m like, “I conscionable emotion that opus and those lyrics and that’s Transformers to maine truthful I privation to get that successful there.”

Other things, similar thing subtle—this one’s existent subtle—is the throne that Starscream sits successful erstwhile you archetypal conscionable him? It’s shaped precise likewise to the crown that helium wears successful the movie. But I didn’t prime up connected that until my accumulation decorator Jason Scheier pointed that out. And I was like, “Oh, that’s great. That’s perfect.” So determination are a batch of existent subtle things. I’d accidental thing that’s dialogue-based was written successful there. But I’d accidental sometimes we had our pb animator, Stephen King astatine ILM, he’s a major, large Transformers fan. And truthful I would fto him astatine times I’d conscionable say, look, capable successful this country with crowds, but bring guardant anybody you privation to bring guardant successful presumption of the colour oregon anything. And truthful I’d fto him formed the characters that are getting benignant of front-row shots. And truthful that’s each his emotion going out. Yeah, that’s awesome.

io9: One different thing, due to the fact that I’m a immense Pixar nerd. Love Toy Story 4. I cognize you worked connected that with Andrew Stanton for a while. They conscionable announced that he’s directing Toy Story 5. What is your level of cognition of what that is going to be, and however excited are you to spot what helium yet does with the afloat Toy Story movie?

Cooley: I emotion Andrew. Great friends. I person nary thought what he’s cooking up and I can’t hold to spot it.

io9: There you go.

Cooley: Seriously, being outside, it’s similar it was backmost earlier I started moving there. So I’m excited. I don’t privation to cognize anything. I’m going wholly fresh.

Transformers One opens September 20. Check backmost aft opening for immoderate spoiler treatment with Cooley.

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