Bumblebee
Last year , Bumblebeebecame one of the highest - blackleg megahit film , and much of that is owed to screenwriter Christina Hodson , who shepherded theTransformersprequel storyalongside director Travis Knight that united the franchise ’s most famous robot with a teenaged lady friend , Charlie , played by Hailee Steinfeld .
determine in 1987 - 30 years prior to the event of Michael Bay ’s firstTransformersmovie -Bumblebeesees the eponymous Autobot , Bumblebee , leave Cybertron and land on Earth . After encountering a Decepticon , Bumblebee loses his voice but gain a friend in Charlie , who he assist - and who helps him - arise up and become a shielder .
Related : Why Bumblebee Was A Box Office Success ( And The Last Knight Was n’t )
Compared to otherTransformersmoviesin Paramount Pictures ' enfranchisement , Bumblebeewas signally different- in a good way . Screen Rant had the chance to talk to Hodson about the film as well as her story choices and whether or not aBumblebeesequelcould happen in the future .
The motion-picture show start off on Cybertron , which we have n’t really seen before , at least on that kind of scale . So whose theme was that ? Was that your idea or did someone else in the writer ’s room do up with that ?
No , I mean that in spades was n’t the writer ’s room . That come late in the biz really . There was a different ending earlier , which is on the videodisk . I do n’t make love where it came from . I think it came from a oecumenical desire to give the fan something they have n’t seen before that they wanted to see before , and Travis just nailed it with that prologue . I mean , all mention to him on that . I thought that was such a marvellous opening . But yeah , originally , I guess , in the very first draft we just had a coil that kind of give you the backstory of what was going on on Cybertron . So to see it get to life-time in that way was really exciting .
Then , from there , Bumblebee depart to Earth and still has his voice . Then losing his voice is a huge part of his taradiddle . How did you guy cable decide to make him lose his voice the way he did and so early on on rather than have him keep it throughout most of the motion picture ?
We screw we wanted it right in the kickoff . That was kind of always how we wanted it because the news report , for me , was really about Charlie and Bumblebee . So we require to get into that news report as before long as possible , and I knew I wanted to come out them both from the position of being kind of crushed . Like , it ’s a broken robot and a broken girlfriend coming together and that being their arc is about them kind of healing one another . So yeah , we always knew it would be former , and the precise way it happened - that , again , is just like the legerdemain of come together and all the piece that did n’t apply to be so specific , and that ’s something that variety of fall about working with Travis .
Charlie and Bumblebee ’s kinship obviously develop several time throughout the film , but it ’s almost as if it ’s a come of age story for Bumblebee as much as it is for Charlie . Because in the beginning he ’s kind of childlike and then he becomes more of a protector . How did you adjudicate on that ?
So I ’ve always love Bumblebee the most because , to me , he feels a little bit like a … both a teenage kid and a Labrador puppy . You be intimate like when they ’re in that awkward phase and they do n’t quite bring in how with child they are and how secure they are , and they have that kind of sweet simple sinlessness but also this big physicality ? I consider that dichotomy is a really fun affair to play with . So I knew I always wanted to do that , but I enjoy the theme of him kind of - because Bumblebee is a badass warrior . He ’s attain amazing thing in battle and he ’s [ Optimus ] Prime ’s right - paw guy .
So I wanted to see the version of , first , how did he get back to being in this childlike state and what was the journeying that took him back to rediscovering who he was and finding the balance of realize he does n’t have to be one or the other . It ’s not a option . You do n’t have to be Bumblebee the sort of naive , clueless , innocuous thing or Bumblebee the war auto ; there ’s something that kind of lie in the heart . So it was about him finding out who he really is .
And he stays that direction up until the original Michael Bay film - which is about a 30 - year remainder . When you guys envision this picture show , was it always more of a prequel or kind of like a pseudo - relaunch ?
You know , I am very grateful that I , as a writer , get to stay out of that . I knew I want to tell the account , I know I wanted to tell it in the ' LXXX , and I make out I want to free myself of too much form of mythology and backstory and AllSpark and all of that stuff that is rich and grand about the franchise , but I think there was … audience wanted to have a report that was a little simpler and about one robot . And Bumblebee was the one that people loved . So I kind of release myself of a lot of that and let the studio make the conclusion on how they would or would n’t kind of calculate it out . But , for me , it was always a standalone story that predated the other motion picture .
You say you always want to do the movie in the ' 80s . So why choose 1987 , specifically ?
in the beginning I in reality choose 1986 , and then it shifted because of denotation and medicine . I care 1986 because that was when the movie came out - the original flick come out - and that was just the one that felt correct to me . But , for various ground , we pitch it to ' 87 .
It never really feel like … you said you wanted to outstrip the moving picture away from the dealership . So it never really feels like it ’s set up one , two , or three sequels , but in the end , we do see [ Bumblebee ] ride off . Was it always the thought of this being just one motion-picture show or could he add up back and be with Charlie again in a continuation ?
Both , I call up is the answer . As a author , I always like to tell a contained story that feels satisfying on its own . And Charlie ’s journey is fairly kind of completed in that one . But I also always dream big and always think of other adventures they could go on . I retrieve there ’s a whole world of hooey they could do . So , yes , there is likely for other affair , but I ’m not provide to speak of it . [ Laughs ]
Now that Bumblebee has come out and it ’s coming out on Blu - ray , in hindsight , was there something you wish you would ’ve added in the film that you did n’t ?
sound question … I ’m indisputable an response will come to me , but it ’ll in all probability take me five year before I , like , sit back and be like , " You bed what I really wish we had ? " I mean there are always second and scene and railway line that kind of got lose in the middle somewhere that I will overlook , but no , I ’m very felicitous with how it ferment out .
Next : Predicting transformer ' Movie Future After Bumblebee
Bumblebeeis nowavailable on home videoand digital .
