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Shia LaBeouf is Sam Witcwicky When Shia LaBeouf first heard that a movie version of the beloved Transformers franchise was on the horizon, he immediately assumed the worst, but he wasn't as worried as many who complained vociferously on Internet websites dedicated to lambasting the filmmakers. He was less concerned about which robots would be showcased and didn't care overmuch about the specific vehicles or their paint jobs; he just hoped the big screen version would not lose the heart of the comic and the toy line, and wondered how in the world a live action movie would be able to make those amazing transformations so feasible in the world of animation. “My childhood was `Yogi Bear' and the `Transformers' shows,” describes LaBeouf.  “I was eight years old and I would play the tapes over and over again.” His favorite Transformer was always Bumblebee, with Decepticon Frenzy running a close second.  When asked about the controversy over changing one or two of the vehicle models and updating some of the design aspects of the robots and their characters, LaBeouf is philosophical."You have to keep up with the times, you have to update,” he says. “You can't keep the story in the `80s. It might work for 25 hardcore fans, but for the rest of the world, you can't portray Megatron as a handgun.  Cinematically speaking, you need to amplify the danger. Megatron is now an alien jet the likes of which you've never seen before.” There's no American mythology,” he goes on to explain. “There's no folklore, and for some, no religion. A lot of people in my generation didn't even read Catcher in the Rye. But most of them know about Barbie, Lego, Tony Hawk and the Transformers; it's pop culture. The scary thing about jumping in to pop culture is you don't want to sell out. But once I met with Mike, I saw that we weren't going to make a film about some guy in tights and a cape. It was more a movie about the fact that we, as humans, don't know everything; the idea that machines can, in a certain respect, overpower humans.” During production, LaBeouf became close to veteran actor Jon Voight who gave him a book abut the theater.  “In Greek, the word `theater' means `the seeing place,'” LaBeouf explains.  “People used to come to the theater to see something they weren't experiencing in life; to see exaggerations on social situations, on mechanical possibilities, on the human condition. But every exaggeration begins in truth, which is what Michael and I talked about.” When the two first sat down together, they discussed Sam Witwicky's coming-of age-story and the dilemmas he must face when finding himself at the center of a war of two worlds. “It was never a discussion of technology,” says LaBeouf, “or `Let's talk about the robots.' The first thing we talked about was how to make Sam's story real.  How do we make the characters honest? How do we make the relationships work so that the audience can follow the story? Because if you don't give a crap about the characters, even the animated ones, you're not going to watch the movie.” “Sam is just a normal kid,” says Bay.  I didn't want him to be the stud or the geek, just a normal Joe.  He's the type of guy who finds his edge through humor.  He's a little awkward, but you immediately like him. “And like every guy, he's consumed with getting his first car,” says Bay. “When I was growing up I had to save for my car fund and when I built it up enough my Dad was going to match it, just like Sam. I got a VW Scirocco and I had it painted at this place called Keystone Body Shop in Santa Monica, which coincidentally is the same building, the exact space in fact, where the edit bays in my office now sit. How bizarre is that? I remember walking in with my $900. Picking up that car was the most important moment, just like picking out the car for Sam. “At the car dealership he gravitates to the Camaro,” he continues, “because it's got the slick wheels and a racing stripe and it looks semi cool, but we do give a wink to the VW when Bernie Mac tries to sell him the bug. But you know immediately there's a connection between Sam and that Camaro.” “Sam becomes a messenger for the robots,” LaBeouf says. “He referees the entire situation between the Autobots and the Decepticons.  He's the human anchor for the movie so that you can have this outlandish plot of two kids in high school with no special skills, no cape, no big gun, who get the upper hand over evil robots, the government, hackers, everyone. “Robots aside, Sam is very sheltered,” says LaBeouf, “he hasn't seen much of the world, so he's searching for an adventure. Of course, in his mind adventure comes in the form of a girl named Mikaela, but he finds out soon enough that his adventure is more than finding a girlfriend. When he's first approached by Optimus, it's not something he's ready for, but through the course of the film he becomes a man. Sam starts as a kid with no responsibilities and big dreams, but his focus changes. His friendship with this girl grows from a shallow infatuation to a very intimate relationship and he finds a best friend and a guardian in these robots.” Di Bonaventura who knew LaBeouf from working with him on “Constantine,” believes the actor's likeability quotient is enormous and allows audiences to root for him which is essential to the story's progression. “There's no question that having grown up in the movie business Shia has learned how to make a character his own,” he says, “how to interpret the character's choices and how to create the character's inner world.  For his age, Shia is beyond sophisticated.” “Shia's quite a sensation,” Voight agrees. “He's the real thing.” Next Page: Megan Fox as Mikaela Banes