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Roberto Orci's Answers to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Questions

by Alex Billington
August 25, 2008
Source: TFW2005

Have any questions to ask screenwriter Roberto Orci? He's been answering numerous fan questions about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on the forums at TFW2005 and has provided some interesting responses, most of which should make a lot of Transformers fans anxious to see the sequel quite excited (including me!). Not only does he mention that it will be a darker film and still rated PG-13, as expected, but they do have a bigger budget which allowed for an upgrade, there are a couple of things that didn't make it into the first movie that will be in this second one, and the plot for this one will follow two parallel stories rather than three individual themes like the first. Read on for some more details on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen from Orci's extensive answers.

First, to settle any rumors about Shia LaBeouf's injured hand, Orci says they did go on set to rewrite some of the script to account for his injury, "but more because we want to make sure Shia's hand is protected for the remainder of the shoot." And as for progress on top of the first movie and using ideas that they originally came up with then, Orci explains that "there were a a couple things we couldn't do [in Transformers due to] budget, but also because they seemed too 'out there' to the studio. Some of those things we get to do in the second movie. After we see it, I'll point out which." And as for the budget on this one? "Yes we do get a bit more dough. Expect an upgrade. And we also know better what we can do this time to maximize the mighty buck. And we have the secret weapon that is [producer] Ian Bryce."

Moving on to themes and inspiration, Orci explains that in this sequel, "one of the themes is about the responsibilities you face when being away from home - reflected by Sam going to college and by the fact that the Transformers themselves, are of course, far from Cybertron." I know I smiled when he made that reference, even though it is quite accurate. As for inspirations, this is also very exciting to hear. Orci says their inspirations for this sequel were Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Terminator 2. "We were emulating the style of movie from the old Amblin days, like Back to the Future and Gremlins, which if you watch today are still very funny. Also, the cartoon itself was quite funny. Also, comedy makes things more accessible to a larger audience."

The last of Orci's answers that I wanted to feature addressed differences between the two movies.

"The first movie is all about the mystery and reveal of the Transformers as a concept and a species, which means we had to hide them a lot in the first hour. In the second movie, now that everyone believes in the universe, we can jump right into the world of the Transformers... The hardest aspect is that you lose the element of surprise. We got away with a lot in the first movies because for a long time, no one thought it would work, or that it was just a silly cartoon, and simply proving that wrong is all we had to do. The first movie was meant to be somewhat of a mystery. For the sequel, we need an entirely different structure and paradigm for the movie, and we can't rely on it being the first."

Roberto Orci is one of my favorite screenwriters because he cares so much about the fans and is so connected with the community. I'm glad that he's answering these questions and addressing concerns, although it's still his own movie (that he wrote with Alex Kurtzman and Ehren Kruger), but I think this is important to the success of the film. A lot of what he says is also quite exciting, including his inspirations. I just hope a lot of those movies provided the right kind of inspiration and the film isn't overly funny, but I am now even more excited to see where Orci and Kurtzman and Kruger took this. Head over to TFW2005 to ask him more questions or check out an enormous amount of answers that Orci has already written. And just know that we've got about 9 more months until we finally see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen!

Explore tags: Hype, Movie News

SlashBeast

I'm curious to see how the Transformers will integrate into human society, and how the public will perceive them, I mean giant alien robots have come to the planet, not everyone is going to be okay with that.
thejugfather

sounds awesome and if they can jump right in to the story then we should expect more action than the first first! i'm so syked!!! 9 months seems like forever but i'm sure this is going to be more kickass than the first and i LOVED the first and can hardly wait for the next. as for slashbeast's comment i think the governments reaction in the first movie will suffice for now but if it comes down to it, they are here to help after all and most would embrace them i think only a small minority would actually speak out against them being here
Dustyman1505

It seems like he's got the right approach. Sequels do need to step up the kickassness more, we know the story so let's just jump in and dive to the bottom. This is going to be a big movie, and I'm glad to see that everyone likes the stories I grew up with and acknowledge that those toys did kick ass.
vu

I'm there no matter what.
UncleMoe

I hope its better than the Dark Knight.
Hulk

whats with the story lines? in the first one they say its about a boy and his car, now they are saying its about sam going away to college. Are you kidding me? Its Transformers for crying out loud!! why must there always be that third party of humans that end up being the main characters instead of the third where they belong? I just hope theres a lot more spotlight on the TF's themselves. And you hope its better than the dark knight?!?! what does that mean? you didnt like that perfection? how do you even compare TF with Batman?? wutever.
SlashBeast

HULK: The producers said that the focus on the humans and Transformers would be a lot more balanced in the next film although I do agree that the humans stole too much attention in the first film.
http://transformersrevengeofthefallen.blogspot.com/2008/09/transformers-2-explosions-filmed-by.html Transformers Fan

Also agree that they spend way too much time with the humans. I think the story should be more centered around them with the humans as secondary characters but that would never happen. Still excited about the movie.
Larry

I've heard rumors that Starscream gets killed in transformers 2, does anyone know if this is fact or fiction. To me Starscream is one of the Transformer icons that you don't want to kill off. But then again Megatron was blasted in the first movie so who knows. Starscream shouldn't be killed off until the last Transformer movie, whenever that is. The final movie could have Megatron return either as himself or as Galvatron, and he and Starscream go at it, not a one shot kill like in the animated movie 1986, an epic throwdown, Megatron/Galvatron wins but after a awesome fight, then of course Optimus Prime and Galvatron fight till the death, Galvatron is defeated, the decepticons are defeated for good. Autobots victorious. Prime is mortally wounded though, and yes he dies, and leadership passes to Hot Rod. Seems like a good way for the final movie to end. But who knows.