The Transformers fans out there who were disappointed by a change of appearance of their beloved Bumblebee can rest easy. There is one piece of news today which is sure to geek out even the most casual robots-in-disguise supporter.
According to Movieweb, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, producer of Transformers, was part of a Paramount panel interview fielding some questions. During this Q&A Michael Bay appeared on a video screen and told the waiting crowd that he had an announcement about an actor who would be providing one of the Transformer voices. At that the screen went black and the crowd assumed it was a cruel joke by Bay.
Suddenly Di Bonaventura's cellphone rang and who was on the line? Only the original Optimus Prime himself, Peter Cullen. The voice actor who provided the authoritative voice of the lead Autobot in the 80s cartoon show confirmed to the crowd that a deal has been done and he WILL be the voice of the movie Prime.
It's just a shame that Cullen will be voicing a character who in no way resembles the Optimus Prime from the cartoons. The single-most iconic character of the whole show. I'm all for making changes as long as you're keeping the spirit alive a la Spider-Man, but to go from a red semi to a black Peterbilt just smacks of compromise for the sake of product placement not compromise to improve the story.
It's such a shame that great news about Cullen has to be taken along with such a kick in the balls. No wonder Paramount want to hide this leaked picture, it'll make the fans 100 times angrier than any pic of Bumblebee ever did.
