Excluded – Transformers/GI Joe crossover will have “six main characters”

Since the Annecy festival, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura tells us everything about this crossover that fans are impatiently awaiting.

Officialized during the last CinemaCon, the film which will bring together the Transformers and GI Joe seems to occupy the mind of Lorenzo di Bonaventura, historic producer of the two franchises. During its visit to Annecy (where it was previewed Transformers: The Beginning), we had the opportunity to question him about this crossover that “ fans have been asking for ages », laughs this tall, 67-year-old man. “ But the studio always – rightly – said no. Except that we were starting to make a lot of films, and we needed something new. The reaction to the announcement was extraordinary. There, we said to ourselves: ''OK, it's going to work.'' We don't yet know how the story is going to unfold, because we still have a lot of heated discussions about it. It is complicated », admits the man who entrusted the screenplay to Derek Connolly (Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World, Detective Pikachu…).

“One of the things I insist on is that there not be too many characters »

“Because the problem with this kind of movie is that you have to have Optimus Prime, but also Bumblebee, and then this one and that other… It's endless. Very quickly, you find yourself with 16 characters and the audience is drowning! So how to get out of it? How to structure the story so as not to have to manage the entirety of GI Joe and Transformers? I'm pushing for us to have six main characters. No more. And so far, the danger has come either from the possibility of mass extinction – with the arrival of bad guys from elsewhere – or from problems related to robots and their fight. Nothing that is actually related to humans. So this crossover is an opportunity to tackle a very human wickedness and an earthly problem. I don't know yet how we're going to do it, but for example we could have Cobra forming an alliance with the Decepticons. This is how we should see things, in my opinion. And I want a villain from the GI Joe universe, because they have to admit, they are very good villains (Laughs.) Destro is great, Tomax and Xamot too… Afterwards, we'll see if this will or will not be the main antagonist. Things will still evolve a lot. »

The question of casting

Concerning the casting, Lorenzo di Bonaventura confirms having hired Chris Hemsworth, in a role which remains to be defined (Hemsworth doubles Optimus Prime in the animated film Transformers: The Beginning, which will certainly not be the case in the crossover). “ But you also need Optimus Prime, and we know that Bumblebee is also essential. So that's already three characters. If you add a GI Joe villain, that's four. And after Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, I don't see how we could miss Mirage. Well, we're already starting to get close to the six main characters I was telling you about! Especially since we can't have just one GI Joe, that would be weird. So let's say two GI Joes, and our cast is almost full! We still need to find a story that works on this scale. »

For the moment, the Transformers / GI Joe crossover does not have a filming date and even less a release date. While waiting to find out more, the animated film Transformers: The Beginning will be in theaters on October 23.

Transformers – The Beginning in Annecy: “We wanted to create our own continuity” (interview)