Transformers: Dark of the Moon (film)

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Transformers: Dark of the Moon is the third film in the live-action film series. It is scheduled to be released on July 1, 2011.

Confirmed information

Featuring a surprise appearance by Optimus Prime!

• June 20, 2009 — Michael Bay will be returning to directing duties.

• June 30, 2009 — Ramon Rodriguez will be returning as Leo Spitz in a larger role.

• October 1, 2009 — "Day One" of preproduction work. A story has apparently already been worked out. The day begins with a meeting between Bay and Industrial Light & Magic which is followed by Bay and writer Ehren Kruger flying to Rhode Island to meet with Hasbro about new characters. Bay confirms a proposed release date of July 1, 2011.

• October 6, 2009 — Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman will not be returning to write the film. All writing duties have been given to Ehren Kruger.

• Michael Bay states on the video played at the end of the Revenge of the Fallen Blu-ray AllSpark Experiment game that the third film will go deeper into the Transformers' history (cue lots of Unicron imagery from Transformers: The Ultimate Guide) and that it will have more screentime for Bumblebee. But it does say in the message that he'll tell lies...

• January 5, 2010 — James Avery confirms he will be playing a new Autobot named Silverbolt. No word on if this is the same character as ROTF Silverbolt.

• February 7, 2010 — Tony Todd says he'll be back in some capacity

• March 2, 2010 — Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are going to get updated/revised designs that in Bumblebee's case reflects his maturation.

• March 22, 2010 — Michael Bay announces that Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, and Ken Jeong have joined the cast, as well as that a Ferrari 458 Italia will become the "newest Autobot".

• April 7, 2010 — Variety reports that Kevin Dunn and Julie White will be returning as Sam Witwicky's parents.

• April 27, 2010 — Tony Todd hints at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo 2010 that he will be playing a human character.

• May 4, 2010 — Paramount Pictures confirms that Patrick Dempsey has been cast in Transformers 3 to play Mikeala Banes' boss.

• May 11, 2010 — Michael Bay claims: "The Twins are not back in T3." If you believe that, we've got a space bridge for sale.

• May 19, 2010 — Megan Fox is suddenly dropped from the cast. A new love interest for the Sam character is slated to be cast.

• June 2, 2010 — Bay officially announces Fox's replacement as Sam's love interest: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

• June 6, 2010 — Representatives of James Avery, responding to a bizarre rumour that he has passed away, confirm that the actor is indeed alive and will be playing Silverbolt in Transformers 3.

• June 10, 2010 — USA Today reveals that the villian for Transformers 3 will be Shockwave. Micheal Bay and Lorenzo diBonaventura take some of the blame for the criticisms aimed at Revenge of the Fallen and acknowledge the problems the film had. Bay reveals that they will be getting rid of what he referred to as the "dorky comedy" seen in Revenge of the Fallen, and reiterates that the Twins were "basically gone", though John Turturro will return as comic relief. Additionally, the film will explore the Transformers' role in the space race and will be filmed in 3D.

• June 24, 2010 — Several sources, among them the Chicago Tribune newspaper, confirm shooting locations for the film, including Chicago, IL, and Milwaukee, WI, as well as repeat locations such as Los Angeles, CA, Washington, D.C., and Detroit, MI.

• July 20, 2010 — Nelson Lauren, the webmaster of Michael Bay's official website, visits the Chicago set and reveals some news: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's character is named Carly, former American footballer Lester Speight plays a soldier. He later posts an official video of the shoot, revealing the latest modifications to the Bumblebee Chevy Camaro prop vehicle, as well as three partially-transformed NASCAR vehicles.

• July 23, 2010 — An extended version of Nelson Lauren's official video depicts several more Transformer prop vehicles, including the Ferrari 458 Italia, a blue Mercedes-Benz E550 and a convertible version of Sideswipe.

• July 30, 2010 — In reply to a thread at TFW2005.com speculating on the identity of the NASCAR Transformers, Nelson comments that the vehicles are referred to on set as the "Wreckers".

• July 30, 2010 — Maile Flanagan announces at Otakon that she has been cast for the film, but due to her nondisclosure agreement can not discuss her role in the movie.

• July 31, 2010 — Nelson posts a picture of the Mercedes E550, seen on the set in Chicago, onto his flickr.com account, causing fans to misinterpret part of the photo title as a clue to the character's name ("Q"). He later clarifies that isn't the case.

• August 2, 2010 — A new Autobot taking the form of a red Rosenbauer Panther airline fire truck is spotted in Chicago and confirmed to appear by Nelson. He asserts it is not Inferno or Hot Spot.

• August 3, 2010 — Nelson confirms that Jolt is not returning.

• August 6, 2010 — Nelson confirms at the Shoot For The Edit site, that Wheelie returns in the third film and Carly's car is a Mercedes-Benz.

• August 15, 2010 — Lester Speight's character is named Hardcore Eddie.

• October 1, 2010 — Tony Todd stated that he is in fact not in Transformers 3.

• October 6, 2010 — Listings for childrens books on Amazon.com reveal the title of the movie to be "Transformers: The Dark of the Moon," further confirmed by a whois check for "www.transformersdarkofthemoon.com".

• October 11, 2010 — In a second major on-set accident, this time during Washington D.C. filming, a police SUV responding to an emergency call intersects with a stunt, resulting in it being struck in the passenger-side door by one of Bumblebee's stunt vehicles. Luckily no one is seriously injured.

Main cast

Autobots	Decepticons	Humans
Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) Bumblebee Sideswipe Wheelie http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Silverbolt_%28DOTM%29 (James Avery)	Shockwave	Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) William Lennox (Josh Duhamel) Robert Epps (Tyrese Gibson) Hardcore Eddie (Lester Speight) Ron Witwicky (Kevin Dunn) Judy Witwicky (Julie White) Seymour Simmons (John Turturro) Leo Spitz (Ramon Rodriguez) Simmons's assistant (Alan Tudyk) Bruce (John Malkovich)

Notes

• A 126-page script for the movie was leaked, causing much discussion among the fandom. It was later confirmed as fake.
• When word hit that Megan Fox was off the picture, Heidi Montag put an "audition" for her part on YouTube. Sir Ben Kingsley made fun of her, because life is rad.