The Transforming Man
TRANSFORMERS PRODUCER LORENZO DI BONAVENTURA ON THE FRANCHISE’S PROS AND (DECEPTI)CONS
WORDS CHRIS HEWITT
OVER THE COURSE of 16 years, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, producer of all seven Transformers movies, has had a front-row seat for one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood history, and has been able to chart its ups and downs, evolutions and — yes — transformations. “I couldn’t imagine anything going on this long, honestly,” he laughs. With Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts performing something of a soft reboot for the series, di Bonaventura sat down on Zoom with Empire to discuss the series with admirable candour.
TRANSFORMERS (2007)
Produced by Steven Spielberg (along with di Bonaventura), directed by Michael Bay, the first Transformers remains for many the best in the series. Its combination of cutting-edge effects and Shia LaBeouf ’s funny turn as a nerdy hero gave it the AllSpark it needed. “When I first approached Hasbro about the rights, they said, ‘You’re too old to have watched it.’ But I had friends who had younger brothers and sisters who watched it avidly. And at the same time, Steven was chasing the rights, and Steven understood it from a play level. He really got the fascination of something that can transform. What was interesting about the process was that Paramount passed on it, I think, five times. But I kept coming back. I understood how capable the visual effects were of creating something astonishing. And when we saw our first movie preview, we knew we were gonna have a sequel.”