I had to audition a total of three times, they weren’t quite convinced. In other words could he act in a real-life situation and the way they were going to conceive it and portray it? And I might add that Michael Bay and the people in his department were very concerned whether or not Peter Cullen could act. The character traits were ultimately for me going to be the same, but how to enact them and make the change from a small television screen with painted pictures to a full-on, blown up 45-foot character who is talking to human beings in real-life form in a believable way, that was something that had to be contended with. Jumping ahead a few years when you were first cast for the Michael Bay Transformers movie, was your approach to the film version of Optimus different than his cartoon counterpart? Of course now you realize how beloved Optimus is. But at the time you interpret that as being “my character sucks, God I must have been terrible in this role.” But in my case I was a little disgruntled because there was no explanation, there was no intended meaning behind it, other than years later to find out they were just trying to create a new character to sell more toys. Your hopes shouldn’t be dashed because you didn’t get the part. Most actors are used to that, getting hired for something that means a lot to them. As an actor you either learn to put up with rejections or disappointments or you’ll break, you’ll succumb. Oh damn.” Or whatever curse words were available at the time, I chose those that were appropriate. I was with Frank Welker and I got to the page, and I just read it and when the dust settled in my brain, i said “wait a minute, this is it, I’m not coming back. I was reading the script, getting ready to go into recording. I was stunned when I first read about it. How did you first find out about this plot point, and after Optimus died did you find yourself grieving for the character? I was a 1980s kid, and I remember seeing Transformers: The Movie and just being devastated by the death of Optimus Prime. But this was based on feelings, on relationships, on good and evil, and plotlines. Potato Head, the interaction with assembling puzzles, etc. The conception of a toy that a kid can get involved in was certainly the way to go. Why do you think it has resonated with people so greatly? What’s so amazing about the Transformers is that it has endured for over 30 years since Hasbro created them.
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