Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura has explained why Marvel actor Chris Hemsworth is taking over as the voice of Autobot leader Optimus Prime from voice acting icon Peter Cullen in the upcoming animated outing, Transformers One. Speaking with Collider, di Bonaventura heaped praise on Hemsworth’s vocal prowess, and revealed why they deemed it necessary for a different actor to voice the younger version of Optimus that will lead Transformers One.
“When we first listen to Chris Hemsworth’s voice, you’re like, ‘God, is he gonna be a good Optimus!’ Obviously, he starts as Orion Pax and you don’t become Optimus for a while, so he’s not playing, for most of the movie, what we think of as Optimus, Peter Cullen.”
As di Bonaventura puts it, it is because of this “transition” that Hemsworth was cast, with the Thor star’s voice believably evolving into Peter Cullen’s as time and the character progresses.
“So it’s that transition, and Chris’s voice has a timbre that…it’s logical that Peter Cullen would take over that voice, if you would, which is really great, the fans are gonna really feel great.”
Directed by Josh Cooley and written by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, Transformers One will take place on Cybertron and tell the origin story of the Autobots and the Decepticons, centering on the relationship between Optimus Prime and Megatron.
The animated prequel has amassed an A-list cast alongside Chris Hemsworth, with Oscar nominee Brian Tyree Henry voicing Megatron. The rest of the cast includes Keegan-Michael Key as Bumblebee, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime, Laurence Fishburne as Alpha Trion, and Scarlett Johansson as Elita.
“But Scarlett [Johansson] is amazing, and it’s just coming alive in a way that it’s really rewarding, and we had confidence in our director, and all he’s doing is giving us more and more.”
It May Be a While Before We See Anything From Transformers: One
Despite these updates, it may be a while before we actually see anything from Transformers One. Though Lorenzo di Bonaventura is excited to show-off what ILM have achieved…whenever that might be.
“I don’t know about when we’ll see it. It’ll be a while. I can’t tell you how excited I’m getting about it. It’s one of those things that like, it just keeps progressing in the right direction, you know? You never know, sometimes when you’re making a movie, you’re, like, ‘Well, I think it’s working.’ Everything I’m seeing is working and it’s exceeding my sense of what it was gonna be, so I’m really excited about it. It is a very fresh and different look, I would say different than any animated movie you’ve seen, which is a high bar to set, but ILM is capable of delivering it.”
For now, audiences can embark on another adventure with Optimus Prime in the live action outing, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. The 90s set semi-reboot finds Optimus Prime and the Autobots taking on their biggest challenge yet when a new threat capable of destroying the entire planet emerges. Optimus and his team must team up with a powerful faction of Transformers known as the Maximals to save Earth. Directed by Steven Caple Jr. from a screenplay by Joby Harold, Darnell Metayer, Josh Peters, Erich Hoeber, and Jon Hoeber, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts stars Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Ron Perlman, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh, Liza Koshy, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Pete Davidson, John DiMaggio, David Sobolov, and franchise icon Peter Cullen.
Transformers One is currently scheduled for release on September 14, 2024.
