Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was one of the most anticipated projects last year, resuming the adventurous journey of the Autobots. Given that the project featured loads of interesting fight sequences, it was given that the inspiration behind the same would have been iconic.
Film director Steven Caple Jr, who helmed Sylvester Stallone’s Creed II, used the sports drama movie as a base to work on the fighting scenes of the 2023 project. He even admitted to bringing the same stunt team he used on his previous project to yield great results.
Sylvester Stallone’s Creed II Contributed to Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ Epic Fight Scenes
The Transformers franchise has managed to gain a strong fan following thanks to its Autobots and fighting sequences among other factors. The explosion-heavy sci-fi face-offs are what made fans more excited about its projects, with Transformers: Rise of the Beasts making the same hype.
It surely managed to impress the audience with action-packed sequences, especially the Terrorcon’s surprise attack against the Autobots and Maximals.
But, these fighting sequences were all a result of director Steven Caple Jr’s previous experience with Creed II. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last year, he explained,
“I actually brought on the same stunt team. [Creed II stunt coordinator] Danny Hernandez reached out and introduced me to this guy named [fight coordinator] Shahaub Roudbari. I just wanted to make sure we had some really cool fight sequences in there.”
He continued,
“I did the same thing on Creed II, but I wanted the fights to be more raw. You felt the punches in Creed, and I was like, ‘How do you do that with robots and no blood? How can we make sure we feel the punches and the blows, and keep the transformation aspect to it? How can we dabble in that?’ So everything is not just shoot ‘em up.”
The director explained that he also noted exploring several ideas while working on the hand-to-hand combat.
“When we were doing hand-to-hand combat, it was like, ‘How can this character bend his arm this way or transform mid-fight? How can we have a weapon transform mid-action?'”
Working on his 2016 sports-drama movie was a major help to him as he became aware of what he could implement for his Autobots movie.
“So, [Creed II] was super helpful, but when you’re making a Creed film, you have to fake the punches. No one could really get hit, or at least you hope they don’t. But on this one, you could really punch the hell outta your robots. You’re trying to make people cringe even though everything they’re seeing on screen is fake. So that is the goal.”
While one would think that Stallone’s project was the only thing that helped him during the making of the Transformers movie, the reality is quite different. He further revealed reaching out to previous directors, especially Michael Bay, for guidance.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ Director Reached Out to Michael Bay for Guidance
In the same interview, the film director, Caple Jr admitted that he didn’t shy away from taking guidance from previous Transformers directors for help. He named Michael Bay as one such figure, who is renowned for his work on big-budget action films. He has helmed the first five franchise films from Transformers (2007) to Transformers: The Last Knight (2017).
He revealed,
“I hit up Michael Bay, who’s, of course, a producer on this project. He was making Ambulance at the time, but he still picked up the phone and hopped onto Zoom.”
Caple Jr continued,
“And a lot of it was like, ‘How do I deal with visual effects?’ because that’s a new area for me…Monday through Friday, I was prepping for the film, and Saturday, Sunday, I was learning a lot from the visual effects supervisor and calls with Michael Bay.”
He added that Bay provided several hints and tips on working with certain things, which was a big help for the former who was starting afresh in that department. However, his efforts didn’t yield great results as the movie turned out to become a financial disappointment, grossing over $437.9 million worldwide via the Numbers.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is streaming on Paramount+.
