Transformers One’s Violence Addressed By Director

Had one serious note not been shown to Transformers One director Josh Cooley, the movie would have been far more violent. A prequel to the entire Transformers franchise, the movie stars Chris Hemsworth (Optimus Prime), Brian Tyree Henry (Megatron), Scarlett Johansson (Elita-1), and Keegan-Michael Key (Bumblebee). It explores the roots of the conflict that would someday consume Cybertron and lead to the birth of the Decepticons.

In an interview with Variety, Cooley explained that he envisioned a much darker movie. He planned to show the violence and its consequences in depth, but he elected to pull back and shroud some of the more serious elements after receiving feedback to tone it down. Cooley believes that it resulted in a Jaws-like effect that made the retained violence more compelling. Check out his

Well, if there was any conversation at all, it was more about how things were presented on screen. We had some more obvious [moments of violence], not even at the end of the movie, but early on we had some shots that were very clear — you’re just seeing it. And the note was, “that might be too much.” And I was glad to get the note, because
it allowed me to almost … not show the shark in Jaws
, you know what I mean? Where, here’s the violent act, but you’re not really seeing what’s coming out of it, which actually makes that even more intense. So
it was just finding that balance
, knowing that this was going to be a film that’s for everyone. I think even with the climax of the film between the two of them, it was like, let’s show what feels right and not get over the top with it.

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Source: Variety