Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a 2011 American science fiction action film based on Hasbro's Transformers toy line. The film is the third installment in the Transformers film series and the sequel to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). The film is directed by Michael Bay and written by Ehren Kruger. It stars Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, John Malkovich, and Frances McDormand. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and Sam Witwicky must lead the Autobots against Megatron and the Decepticons as they battle to possess powerful technology abandoned on the Moon, in order to restore Cybertron on Earth.
The film employed both regular 35 mm film cameras and specially-developed 3-D cameras, with filming locations in Chicago, Florida, Indiana, Milwaukee, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. The film was 3-D rendered specifically for 3-D, and the visual effects involved more complex robots which took longer to render. Dark of the Moon's release date was moved from July 1 to June 29, in order to monitor an early response to footage.
Exclusive early premieres took place on June 28, 2011, one night before worldwide release. Though the film was considered a slight improvement over its predecessor among critics and was praised for the score, visual effects, cast and voice performances, and use of 3D, it was criticized for its screenplay and runtime. Dark of the Moon grossed $1.124 billion worldwide, and it was the fifth highest-grossing film of all time and the second highest-grossing film of 2011 and the highest-grossing film in the franchise to date. Like the first film, it was nominated for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects at the 84th Academy Awards. It was followed by Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014.
In 1960, the Ark, a Cybertronian spacecraft carrying an invention capable of ending the war between Autobots and Decepticons, crash lands on the dark side of Earth's Moon and is detected by NASA. President John F. Kennedy authorizes a mission to put a man on the Moon as a cover for investigating the spacecraft. In 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 lands on the Moon and secretly inspects the Ark before returning to Earth.
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In the present day, four years after Egypt, the Autobots assist humanity in preventing major conflicts. During a mission to the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster to investigate suspected alien technology, the Autobots are attacked by Decepticon scientist Shockwave and his giant worm Driller. After the two escape, Optimus Prime discovers that the technology is a fuel cell from the Ark, thought to have been lost after escaping Cybertron. The Autobots travel to the Moon and discover Sentinel Prime, the Autobots' leader before Optimus, in a comatose state along with five Pillars he created as a means of establishing a "Space Bridge", a wormhole able to teleport matter between two points. On Earth, Optimus uses the energy of the Matrix of Leadership to revive Sentinel.
Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky lives with his new girlfriend, Carly Spencer but is unable to work with the Autobots. At his new job, co-worker Jerry Wang gives him information about the Ark, before being assassinated by the Decepticon Laserbeak. It is revealed that the Decepticons are murdering people connected to the American and Soviet space missions to the Ark. Sam contacts Seymour Simmons, and they locate two surviving cosmonauts, who reveal photos of hundreds of Pillars being stockpiled on the Moon. The Decepticons raided the Ark long before the Apollo 11 mission and intentionally left Sentinel and the five Pillars for the Autobots to find, knowing that Sentinel is the key to activating the Pillars. Meanwhile, Sam and the Autobots fight off three pursuing Decepticons and return Sentinel to their base. However, he betrays them by revealing that he made a deal with Megatron to ensure Cybertron's survival before killing Ironhide.
Sentinel uses the Pillars to transport hundreds of concealed Decepticons from the Moon to Earth. Dylan Gould, Carly's boss, is revealed to be working with them. With the help of Soundwave, he captures Carly. At the demand of the Decepticons, the Autobots are exiled from Earth. However, as their ship leaves Earth, it is destroyed by Starscream, seemingly killing them. The Decepticons invade Chicago while placing Pillars around the world to begin transporting their homeworld Cybertron to the Solar System. They want to use Earth's resources to rebuild their world, enslaving humanity in the process. Sam teams up with former NEST soldier Robert Epps to go into Chicago to save Carly and arrest Dylan. However, they are nearly killed by the Decepticons before the Autobots intervene. It turns out that the Autobots faked their death to gain an advantage over the Decepticons. Sam, along with NEST teams led by Lennox, and Navy SEALs, rescue Carly and begin fighting off the Decepticons. During the battle, Que is executed, and Bumblebee kills Soundwave while Optimus fights Sentinel. Laserbeak, Starscream, the Driller, and Shockwave are also killed in the ensuing battle.
Sam fights Dylan and knocks him into the Pillar, electrocuting and killing him. Bumblebee destroys the Control Pillar, permanently disabling the Bridge and causing the partially transported Cybertron to implode. Meanwhile, Carly convinces Megatron that he will be replaced by Sentinel as the leader of the Decepticons. While fighting, Sentinel is about to kill Optimus before he is incapacitated by Megatron, who is determined to regain his leadership. Megatron then offers a truce, but Optimus refuses and kills Megatron by decapitating him. Sentinel tries to reason his actions to Optimus but is executed by him for his betrayal. Sam and Carly are reunited, and the Autobots remain on Earth as their permanent home.
As a preemptive measure before the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Michael Lucchi and Paramount Pictures announced on March 16, 2009, that a third film would be released in IMAX 3D on July 1, 2011, which earned a surprised response from director Michael Bay: "I said I was taking off a year from Transformers. Paramount made a mistake in dating Transformers 3—they asked me on the phone—I said yes to July 1—but for 2012—whoops! Not 2011! That would mean I would have to start prep in September. No way. My brain needs a break from fighting robots. Screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who had worked on the two previous Transformers films, declined to return for the third film, with Kurtzman declaring that "the franchise is so wonderful that it deserves to be fresh, all the time. We just felt like we'd given it a lot and didn't have an insight for where to go with it next". Revenge of the Fallen's co-writer Ehren Kruger became the sole screenwriter for Dark of the Moon. Kruger had frequent meetings with Industrial Light & Magic's (ILM) visual effects producers, who suggested plot points such as the scenes in Chernobyl.
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On October 1, 2009, Bay revealed that Transformers: Dark of the Moon had already gone into pre-production, and its planned release was back to its originally intended date of July 1, 2011, rather than 2012. Due to the revived interest in 3-D filming technology brought on by the success of Avatar, talks between Paramount, ILM, and Bay had considered the possibility of the next Transformers film being filmed in 3-D, and testing was performed to bring the technology into Bay's work. Bay originally was not much interested in the format as he felt it did not fit his "aggressive style" of filmmaking, but he was convinced after talks with Avatar director James Cameron, who even offered the technical crew from that film. Cameron reportedly told Bay about 3-D, "You gotta look at it as a toy, it's another fun tool to help get emotion and character and create an experience. Bay was reluctant to film with 3-D cameras since in test he found them to be too cumbersome for his filming style, but he did not want to implement the technology in post-production either since he was not pleased with the results. In addition to using the 3-D Fusion camera rigs developed by Cameron's team, Bay and the team spent nine months developing a more portable 3-D camera that could be brought into location.
In a hidden extra for the Blu-ray version of Revenge of the Fallen, Bay expressed his intention to make Transformers 3 not necessarily larger than Revenge of the Fallen, but instead deeper into the mythology, to give it more character development, and to make it darker and more emotional. Unicron is briefly shown in a secret Transformers 3 preview feature in the Revenge of the Fallen Blu-ray disc. Ultimately, the producers decided to forgo a plot involving the planet-eating Transformer, and no further comments were ever made on the subject. Having been called Transformers 3 up to that point, the film's final title was revealed to be Dark of the Moon in October 2010. After Revenge of the Fallen was almost universally panned by critics and audiences despite being a box office success, Bay acknowledged the general flaws of the script, having blamed the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike prior to the film for many problems. Bay also promised the film to not have the "dorky comedy" from the last film. On March 19, 2010, the script was said to be finished.
Casting
Dempsey on the set of Transformers: Dark of the Moon in 2010
Megan Fox was originally attached to the film, and Patrick Dempsey's role as Dylan Gould was to be the employer of Fox's character, Mikaela Banes. According to various published sources, Fox's absence from the film was due to executive producer Steven Spielberg ultimately choosing not to renew her role in light of her comparing Bay and his work ethic to Adolf Hitler, although representatives for the actress said that it was her decision to leave the film franchise. Bay later claimed that executive producer Steven Spielberg told him to fire Fox, a claim that Spielberg denied. "I wasn't hurt", Bay stated, "because I know that's just Megan. Megan loves to get a response. And she does it in kind of the wrong way. I'm sorry, Megan. I'm sorry I made you work twelve hours. I'm sorry that I'm making you show up on time. Movies are not always warm and fuzzy.
With Fox not reprising her role, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was chosen to play Sam's new love interest. Ramón RodrÃguez was initially planned to be in the film, in a role bigger than the one he had in Revenge of the Fallen, but he was dropped during early production. It was confirmed that Bay would return as director in the fourth film. A few well-known actors such as John Malkovich and Frances McDormand also gained selected roles for the film. Malkovich explains: "I play a guy called Bruce Brazos, who's just a loudmouth, kind of business man who's Shia's character's boss. Who's just a jerk, and a kind of a loud one. But a fun character. Nice. It was fun. Very, very enjoyable, just with Shia, Rosie a little bit, and with John Turturro. So, for me, it was a blast. Another well-known actor, Ken Jeong, was cast as an eccentric co-worker and stalker. Jeong described the film, "Yeah, it's a small role in Transformers, but yeah. I had an out-of-body experience working on that one because I just couldn't believe I was there. Still, that was not a thing where oh, I'm going to be a part of a blockbuster franchise like Transformers 3 or even now Hangover 2 for that matter. So I can't believe I'm a part of these franchises in any way. It was amazing. Michael Bay is brilliant and it'll blow your mind.
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For the role of Decepticon scientist Shockwave, veteran Transformers voice actor Corey Burton was originally approached to voice the character after previously doing so in the original television series and Transformers: Animated. Burton declined the offer, citing his work schedule and disinterest in being involved in a blockbuster franchise. David Warner (Burton's influence on his Shockwave voice) was briefly considered, but the role was ultimately given to Frank Welker, adding to his already long list of Transformers characters.
Themes and inspirations
Due to the critically panned Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Bay decided to remove the characters called the Twins entirely from Dark of the Moon: "This one really builds to a final crescendo. It's not three multiple endings. One thing we're getting rid of is what I call the dorky comedy. The twins are basically gone. Due to fan rumors that the Twins would actually be in the film, the director made a public $25,000 "bet" that the Twins would not be seen in Dark of the Moon. They were briefly shown in the N.E.S.T headquarters in their vehicle modes in the film.
Bay acknowledged that Revenge of the Fallen was "disappointing to the fans" and stated that he "doesn't want the third one to suck". Bay stated that he wanted Dark of the Moon's final battle to be more geographic and feature a "small group of heroes" like Ridley Scott's war–drama Black Hawk Down, Joe Dante's science fiction Small Soldiers and Hasbro's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Bay also decided to include Shockwave because he considers the character "bad" and "He's got a much bigger gun a little bit more vicious. According to The A.V. Club, the film had several minor story inspirations from the 1980s cartoon The Transformers, including the usage of a Space Bridge, and the "kicking the Autobots out".
Similar to the previous two installments, the film was told in the human point-of-view to engage the audience. Bay wanted Sam to have a girlfriend like in the first two films. Actor Shia LaBeouf said that Sam and Mikaela had become "one character" and, although he would "miss" Megan Fox, with this change "you have discovery again from a new perspective. LaBeouf also stated that the additions of Huntington-Whiteley and new characters allows Dark of the Moon to keep the "magic" of the first film.
Dark of the Moon also had numerous Star Trek references, partly because scriptwriter Ehren Kruger was a "big Star Trek geek", but also as a nod to the fact that new character Sentinel Prime was voiced by Leonard Nimoy, who originated the iconic role of Spock on Star Trek and voiced Galvatron in The Transformers: The Movie. The first Star Trek reference is when refugee robots Brains and Wheelie, who live in Sam and Carly's apartment complex, are watching TOS episode "Amok Time"; Wheelie comments "I've seen this one. It's the one where Spock goes nuts. The second reference is when Sam meets his girlfriend, Carly Spencer at work, and is being introduced to Carly's employer, Dylan Gould, Sam marvels at their workplace: "It's a beautiful building you guys have. Like the Starship Enterprise in here. The third reference is when Bumblebee says goodbye to Sam at Cape Canaveral: the words "my friend" are sampled from Spock in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan ("You are my friend. I am and always shall be yours."). The fourth and final reference is when Sentinel Prime activates the Control Pillar, quoting Spock's maxim in Star Trek II and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few".
Filming
Explosions on Wacker Drive in Chicago for Transformers: Dark of the Moon filming on location
The shooting of Transformers 3 in Chicago in July 2010, in the foreground the Autobot wrecker Topspin as a heavily armed Chevrolet Impala.
A Peterbilt 379, and a yellow Camaro are beside each other, with two police cars behind. They are near a building complex.
Vehicles used on the set of Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Transformers: Dark of the Moon's production cost was reported $195 million, with the cost of the 3-D filming accounting at $30 million of the budget. Preparation for filming began on April 7, 2010, in Northwest Indiana, specifically around Gary, which portrayed Ukraine in the film. Principal photography commenced on May 18, 2010, with shooting locations including Chicago, Florida, and Moscow. The first six weeks were spent in Los Angeles: locations included Sherman Oaks, Fourth Avenue, and 5. Main. The next four weeks were spent in Chicago. Locations filmed in Chicago included LaSalle Street, Michigan Avenue, Bacino's of Lincoln Park at 2204 North Lincoln Avenue, and areas surrounding the Willis Tower. The scenes set in Michigan Ave featured a substantial amount of pyrotechnics and stunt work. Filming in Detroit was planned to take place in August but the Chicago shoot was extended until September 1. In late September, the production moved to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, just before the launch of Space Shuttle mission STS-133. Scenes were filmed at Launch Pad 39A, the Vehicle Assembly Building and the Orbiter Processing Facility.
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Four men wearing battle fatigues and holding guns and a crewmember wearing a white shirt, a hat and a walkie-talkie attached to its shorts stand on a set resembling a war torn city.
Actors on a Transformers: Dark of the Moon set in July 2010
While filming in Washington, D.C., the crew shot on the National Mall, and Bay stated that there would be a car race on the location. Two further locations announced were the Milwaukee Art Museum and the former Tower Automotive complex on Milwaukee's north side, then under redevelopment for mixed use as well as the city's equipment yard. Filming was scheduled to take place there after work was done in Chicago. On September 23, scenes were filmed at the former city hall in Detroit. On October 16, a flashback scene that takes place in the later 1960s was shot at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, using extras with period fashion and hairstyles. One day of shooting was also spent at the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia. Other planned filming locations included Africa and China. Though about 70% of the film's live-action footage was shot in 3-D using Arri Alexa and Sony F35 cameras, more than half of the film still had to be converted into 3-D in post production to fix technical flaws that 3-D filming produces. Other footage that needed to be converted into 3-D in post production was either entirely computer-generated imagery or shot in the anamorphic format on 35 mm film. 35 mm film was used for scenes filmed in slow motion and scenes such as closeups of faces or shots of the sky that required higher image quality than the HD digital 3-D cameras could provide. 35 mm cameras were also used for scenes where the 3-D cameras proved to be too heavy, or were subject to strobing or electrical damage from dust. Principal photography officially concluded on November 9, 2010.
Dark of the Moon has been found to contain recycled footage from an earlier film directed by Michael Bay—The Island (2005). Bay similarly recycled footage from his film Pearl Harbor (2001) in the 2007 film Transformers.
Accidents
Shooting of the duel between Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and Dylan Gould (Patrick Dempsey) in Chicago.
Filming was delayed on September 2, 2010, when an extra was seriously injured during a stunt in Hammond, Indiana. Due to a failed weld, a steel cable snapped from a car being towed and hit the extra's car, damaging her skull. The extra, identified as Gabriela Cedillo, had to undergo brain surgery. The injury has left her permanently brain-damaged, paralyzed on her left side and her left eye stitched shut. Paramount admitted responsibility for the accident and covered all of Cedillo's medical costs. Nevertheless, Cedillo's family filed a lawsuit on October 5, citing seven counts of negligence against Paramount, and several other defendants (not including Bay), with total damages sought in excess of $350,000. Cedillo's attorney, Todd Smith, said, "This was an attractive 24-year-old girl who had dreams and aspirations involving acting, and this kind of injury may well have a serious impact on her dreams. The filed complaint reads that "Cedillo has endured and will in the future endure pain and suffering; has become disfigured and disabled; has suffered a loss of the enjoyment of a normal life; has been damaged in her capacity to earn a living; has incurred and will in the future incur expenses for medical services, all of which are permanent in nature. In response to the suit, Paramount released the following statement: "We are all terribly sorry that this accident occurred. Our thoughts, prayers and best wishes are with Gabriela, her family and loved ones. The production will continue to provide all the help we can to Gabriela and her family during this difficult time. In May 2012, it was revealed that an $18 million settlement had been reached between Paramount and the Cedillo family.
A second accident occurred on October 11, 2010, in Washington, D.C. While filming a chase scene at 3rd Street and Maryland Avenue, SW, a Metropolitan Police K9 Unit SUV accidentally rammed the Camaro that portrays Bumblebee in the film. The area had been closed off by the Washington, D.C., police, and it is unclear why the SUV was there. Both drivers were uninjured, but the Camaro was severely damaged. Reports indicate that the K9 Unit was heading to a report of a bomb threat as part of a Bomb Squad response, but was not using the same radio frequency as the units guarding the filming and did not realize it had gone the wrong way until it collided with the Bumblebee Camaro. Many fans who witnessed the crash were horrified at the damage the Bumblebee Camaro suffered, and cast and crew members reacted quickly to cover up the damaged Camaro and secure the scene.
Visual effects
As with the previous Transformers installments, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) was the main CGI visual effects company for Dark of the Moon. ILM had been working on the pre-visualization for six months before principal photography started, resulting in 20 minutes' worth of footage. Digital Domain also rendered 350 CGI shots, including the characters Laserbeak, Brains, Wheelie, and the Decepticon protoforms concealed on the Moon, the space bridge, and a skydiving sequence.
External audio
Industrial Light & Magic's interview for the effects of the film.
audio icon Listen to the Interview
ILM's visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar said that "not only were the film's effects ambitious, they also had to be designed for 3-D", and explained the company's solutions for the new perspective: "We did make sure things are as bright as possible; Michael called up theatre owners to make sure they keep the lamps bright in the theatres make everything a little sharper, because we know that through the steps, no matter what, when you get to the final screening things tend to go less sharp. On the last weekend of ILM's work on Dark of the Moon, the company's entire render farm was being used for the film, giving ILM more than 200,000 hours of rendering power a day—or equivalent to 22.8 years of rendering time in a 24-hour period. Farrar embraced the detail in creating giant robots for 3-D, making sure that in close-ups of the Transformers' faces "you see all the details in the nooks and crannies of these pieces. It's totally unlike a plain surface subject like a human head or an animated head." The supervisor said that Bay's style of cinematography helped integrate the robots into the scenes, as "Michael is keen on having foreground/midground/background depth in his shots, even in normal live-action shots. He'll say, 'Put some stuff hanging here!' It could be women's stockings or forks and knives dangling from a string out of focus—it doesn't matter, but it gives you depth, and focus depth, and makes it more interesting.
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Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky: The Autobots human ally whose now a recent college graduate and once again must help stop the Decepticons.
Josh Duhamel as Colonel William Lennox: A U.S. Army Rangers officer who commands the classified strike team NEST, an international joint task-force battling Decepticons with the Autobots.
John Turturro as Seymour Simmons: Former agent in charge of the terminated Sector 7 unit and now a successful professional writer.
Tyrese Gibson as Retired U.S. Air Force Combat Controller Chief Master Sergeant Robert Epps: The former NCO-in-Charge of the NEST strike team who now works at Kennedy Space Center.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as Carly Spencer: Sam's new girlfriend and an Autobot ally. This character was created in place of Megan Fox's character, Mikaela Banes, who was let go from this film due to controversial comments towards director, Michael Bay in 2010.
Patrick Dempsey as Dylan Gould: A wealthy car collector and Carly's employer who is secretly working with the Decepticons.
Kevin Dunn as Ron Witwicky: Sam's father.
Julie White as Judy Witwicky: Sam's mother.
John Malkovich as Bruce Brazos: Sam's employer and boss at Accuretta Systems.
Frances McDormand as Charlotte Mearing: The Director of National Intelligence.
Keiko Agena as the aide and assistant of Charlotte Mearing.
Lester Speight as "Hardcore" Eddie: A former member of NEST.
Josh Kelly as Stone, a former member of NEST.
Alan Tudyk as Dutch Gerhardt: Simmons' personal assistant. Tudyk said he played the role as the same character from the film 28 Days.
Ken Jeong as Jerry "Deep" Wang: Paranoid software programmer at Sam's work.
Glenn Morshower as General Sharp Morshower: The director of NEST, who communicates with the squad from the Pentagon.
Buzz Aldrin as himself: Meeting Optimus Prime at the NEST headquarters.
Bill O'Reilly as himself: Interviewing Simmons through his television program The O'Reilly Factor.
Elya Baskin as Cosmonaut Dimitri: One of the two surviving Russian cosmonauts who gives Sam information on the Moon missions.
Andy Daly as Donnie: A mailroom worker who loathes Wang.
Iqbal Theba as UN Secretary General
Sammy Sheik as Faraj
Mindy Sterling as Martha
Chris Sheffield as Pimply Corporate Kid