Transformers One, from Paramount Pictures, is the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron. While fans know them as sworn enemies, they were once best friends who bonded on planet Cybertron. The fully CG-animated movie was directed by Oscar-winner Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4), and features an all-star voice cast that includes Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm.
Here, Cooley (pictured) shares insight into creating the first fully-CG Transformers movie, the production process and working with VFX powerhouse ILM.
Josh, based on your background, it sounds like you were the perfect person to direct this film?
“Well, after I finished Toy Story 4, I read the script for Transformers One. When I first saw the title, I was like, ‘Okay, another Transformers movie? There have been so many of them. What's new about this?’ There's basically three things: It's an origin story. There's these two characters that I grew up watching, and watching the cartoon, and loving the fact that it's about those two characters, specifically, and their relationship. And it's on Cybertron, which is awesome! This is made for showing something epic, and I love sci-fi as well. And then on top of that, the detail of it not having humans in the movie. The relationship between them is the human part. That's how the audience will connect. And that's the thing I was the most excited about. I could see a clear arc in their character and their relationship going from best friends to enemies. If we could sell in act 1 that these characters really like each other, and they're really good friends we enjoy watching on-screen together, then it would just be absolutely heartbreaking and tragic to see that relationship fall apart. Then you would really understand, it's not just, ‘I'm a good guy. I'm a bad guy.’ You really understand kind of where they're coming from. And I just thought that could be really, really powerful.”
There are lots of visual references out there from past movies, cartoons and comics. What were you trying to visualize?
“I wanted to start with the G1 design - the design from the original cartoon in the ‘80s. That was the ones I grew up with. You could see their faces really clearly. With the live-action ones, they have to match everything in the visual effects to real life, so you have to see every bolt, every screw in there to really make sure to sell it. I knew that if we didn't have Earth, we didn't have humans, we can actually stylize a little bit more and kind of bring our own look to it. I knew I wanted to start with the original design because that's what I grew up with and that's what I loved. We just kind of [worked] with the production designer and all the artists. We updated everything and kind of brought a style to it that I also loved — (an) Art Deco sort of (look) I felt like the city should have. Flamboyance and kind of celebration when everything's great. JC Leyendecker was an illustrator/painter (and a) huge inspiration because of the way his characters would look — really strong humans, but also kind of statuesque.”
How does the production evolve? Are you starting with voice tracks or concept art and storyboards?
“Early on we have a draft of the script and we start storyboarding right away. I like to get everything up on the screen - the whole movie as fast as possible in storyboards and with scratch dialog and scratch temp track music…I wanted to get it into movie form as fast as possible, knowing it's not going to be right. You've got plenty of time to make changes along the way with the animation process. So starting with story. At the same time, I'm also going to the art department and we're developing the look. What's so cool about that is that the story can affect the look in the film, and the look that we're developing can also affect the story, so it's really fun to [work] in different departments and then connecting them into one vision.”
While ILM has a history with the live-action films, this is an ‘origin’ story and there are no existing assets in that case.
“Exactly! That they're starting from scratch. It's as if we're making a completely-different movie. The one thing that's connective is that a lot of our animators also animated the visual effects for the live-action ones, so they're familiar with the scale and weight of these characters, which is great.”
How does the production evolve?
“They're starting to build models based on our art. It's one thing to have a 2D drawing, but then to have it in 3D, it changes things and you can make design changes based on that. Luckily, our art team is so proficient with not just drawing on paper, but also modeling, so we were able to help give these models to ILM and they already had something to go off of. It was a really smooth process…Once they have models, they're doing test animations. They're showing me, ‘What if Bumblebee walked like this?’ Even before they're talking, as they move, it should feel different. Everybody moves differently, so they're playing around just trying to get familiar with the style of the film.”
Photo: Josh Cooley; credit: Elisabeth Caren
Since this is an origin story, where are you drawing visual references from?
“The interesting thing I found out, I didn't realize how deep it was — the lure of Transformers — is they made the toys first back in the early ‘80s in Japan. And then they were like, ‘We need to sell these toys in Japan and in America, so we're going to make a cartoon series to sell these toys.’ Japan was doing their own thing with the same designs that America had, (which) was doing their own thing…Instead of having a timeline, it just kind of spider-webbed out. There is this version of a story where they were friends before they became enemies. (It) has existed in the comic books and probably video games, but never on-screen, so this is the first time it's been brought to the big screen. Hasbro was great. (We’d) ask questions like, ‘Do you have anything from when they first met that's been done before? And they would immediately supply me with whatever we needed, whether it was designs or just story points that they've used before, or the names of things, which was really helpful.”
How did you assemble a team of artists?
“I hired Jason Scheier, who's production designer, and then he pulls together his character designer that works in tandem. He's like, ‘I want to bring in this person or bring on this person I've worked with before.’ So he creates his own team and every department works that way. The layout department are added as well. They're pulling in people that they’ve worked with before, that they trust. And it's awesome because (after) working at Pixar for 18 years, I kind of knew everybody, one way or another. And then coming here, I only knew two people, so I met a whole new crew of people that were just awesome to work with.”
Sound design is so important in helping to sell the massive size of these characters.
“There (were) a few key things that kind of kept me awake from day 1: How are we going to do this? The sound effects were extremely important to me because I did not want it to sound like metal characters on a metal planet. I didn't want it to sound like you're banging pots and pans together. Scott Gershin was sound designer — a phenomenal guy. When I met with him I said, ‘Here's my worry. I don't want my ears to hurt after hearing this movie. But it also needs to sell the weight and all that stuff. He said, ‘I know exactly what you're talking about.’ He had just finished Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, and he said, ‘I had this same issue with wood. I just did this thing, now I could do it with metal.’ And he would do the same thing as the art department. ‘Let me show you.’ (He’d play) a bunch of stuff that he's recorded or had it in the library. And it was awesome. He totally got it. I'm always fascinated by how sound is made for the movies…even back in the early days, where they're using the metal and everything for lightning storms. It's so much fun.”
Sound for animated films is particularly important because there is no production audio.
“Every footstep even! It's real subtle stuff. They’re robots, so I didn't ever want to forget that. It sounds obvious, but there's so much to think about. Even like wheel/shoulder movements, you hear. Really subtle.”
This film has so much motion taking place. Was that one of the challenges that weighed on you?
“Well, the movie definitely evolved over the four-and-a-half years I was on it. The first version didn't have a race in it, I don't believe, but eventually we put it in there. Every scene had something different. I would say, overall, the challenge was there's a lot of movement. I knew there would be in the movie. I knew there would be a lot of crowds. I knew the city would be alive. And the key thing was, I didn't want anybody's eye to get lost. So this was a challenge I gave to animation, as well as the art department in terms of the lighting and the color of the things - that we're always guiding the audience's eye, and even the cinematography. Where's our eye fixed so that on the next shot, we’re still in the same area? Not losing the audience, especially (the) fight scenes.”
The audience really reacts to the big reveal of Optimus Prime and Megatron. Do you have a favorite scene?
“I've been going to screenings and doing Q&As and stuff. (Spoiler) I watch the audience when they finally come face-to-face, and he shoots him accidentally. On the stage. I said, ‘I want the sound to go completely out, like just nothing for when he's shot. Let it ring out.’ You don't hear anything until he grabs him again. At the audience previews that we had, I noticed that in that moment, everybody was completely still. There was not a single movement, and it really shocked me…I loved watching how I affected this audience, emotionally, because it was not a single movement…You could hear a pin drop. It was pretty amazing. The third act was something that I knew (we) needed to land. You're just hearing the music and he's becoming Optimus, and he's become Megatron. The duality of that. That whole third act, I really proud of.”
Was ILM using motion capture or keyframe animation techniques?
“It was all keyframe by hand.”
ILM has multiple locations. Where was this film being produced?
“We had a couple of different offices. We would go to San Francisco occasionally, but then the whole animation team was mainly out of Sydney in Australia, so we flew there five or six times just to have some face time with them. Otherwise, it was Zoom every day for dailies. When we would go over there (we’d) be there for a week or so. Coincidentally and luckily Chris Hemsworth lived right there, and we would record him at his house.”
At what point were you recording the voice talent?
“I would say maybe the last year-and-a-half. You want to start recording, but the story is still changing. There is some overlap there, but…you want to make sure you're getting story pretty solid. It's (got to) be before you start recording.”
I would imagine that a project like this represents years of work?
“It was actually pretty crazy. I agreed I wanted to make this movie. My final day at Pixar was March - Friday the 13th - of 2020, and then the world shut down March 16th, 2020. I was like, ‘No! This movie is still happening.’ So all through the pandemic, I was on this film and the animation didn't really slow down during the pandemic. Everybody was working from home. You’re able to still animate and draw and everything, so it's been a wild ride on this film, but man, that's great!”
What’s next for you?
“There's other irons in the fire, but nothing big to announce yet.”