Warning: the following contains spoilers for “Transformers One”
With “Transformers One” opening in theaters Friday to great reviews and generating possible awards buzz, director Josh Cooley is already hinting at a possible trilogy: “There’s definitely more story to tell,” he told TheWrap.
“We’re used to seeing the story begin once the planet’s dying and they leave for Earth, so there’s a whole war that happens once they break apart and once they leave the planet,” Cooley said. “So there’s a lot more story to tell there and it could be really fun.”
The film is the first animated “Transformers” project to hit theaters in almost 40 years. Cooley also shared insights into the visual design of the Transformers’ home world, Cybertron, drawing inspiration from Art Deco architecture. “Loving the G1 design and knowing that the city needs to be massive, but also just everything’s going well, Cybertron isn’t falling apart at this point, nothing’s dying so it made me think about Art Deco,” the filmmaker shared.
He added: “Which is post the Depression, when everybody, everything was good and they’re building these massive buildings in New York and Chicago everywhere that just were all about the opulence. And so that was what was the inspiration for Iacon [the capital of Cybertron] itself and just make you feel like everything was being celebrated.”
Cooley’s approach to the film focused heavily on the relationship between Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) and their evolution from friends to enemies.
“The thing that got me really interested in this was the idea that being a real tight relationship between the two characters and seeing that relationship fall,” he said. “If you go Cain and Abel or ‘Ben Hur,’ Ten Commandments, it just has this epic, legendary tale to it and that would be very cool to ‘Transformers,’ to give more of an emotional connection.”
Cooley also emphasized his desire to add depth to the characters, moving beyond simple good versus evil dynamics, explaining, “I wanted to make these characters deeper, and not just ‘I’m a good guy,’ ‘I’m a bad guy,’ but actually bring some real depth to their character and show why they were friends and why they fell apart — to have the audience really understand the situation, and not just because one’s good, one’s bad.”
Fans of the original 1986 animated film will be pleased to know that “Transformers One” includes several Easter eggs referencing the OG classic. Cooley revealed one such nod: “When you see Sentinel die, he turned — he completely saturated, slightly, the same way that Optimus did in that movie … so does Orion Pax at one point, as he is falling he goes completely black and white.”
Reflecting on the enduring appeal of the “Transformers” franchise, Cooley noted how the Autobots and Decepticons have managed to remain in zeitgeist for the last four decades. “I can’t think of very many franchises that have that kind of history, and so I really think that there’s fans that really love it, but it has real staying power.”
“Transformers One” is currently playing in theaters.
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