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Chapter 6 - The Action / Stunts “I never imagined myself in an action film of this magnitude,” says LaBeouf. “Not that I'm giving myself kudos, but 90 percent of the actors I know could not have done what Megan and I did in this film. I mean there are action stars who wouldn't have been as dumb,” he laughs, “hanging off the roof of a 15-story building from a single wire with nothing below but the asphalt alley. It was insane!” Bay's excitement and enthusiasm for monstrously large stunts seems to infect the entire cast every time. Sooner or later, on every film, actors find themselves agreeing to participate in acrobatics and physical feats they would never normally envision themselves attempting. Even 60-something Jon Voight loved what he calls “the physicality of his role.” Similar to the rest of the cast, Voight hit the ground running when need be and literally hit the floor as well. In one scene when his character is seriously injured, Voight shocked the crew when he threw himself to the cement floor of the soundstage as though he'd actually been shot by a stray bullet. “He kept pace with every 20-year-old on the movie,” says Michael Bay. “I think Jon was trying to sell it a little hard,” says Anthony Anderson, “making us younger guys look bad. Michael would look at Tyrese and me and say, `Look, if Jon can run down there, you can run there!'  I'd tell Jon, `Relax, you could break a hip,'” he jokes. “It's like playing when you're a kid,” says Voight. “When I was growing up, I liked physical comedy and I'm still amazed when I see people do anything extraordinarily physical. But you get shot, you fall on the ground.  The only shocking thing is that I'm a little old to be playing at this kind of stuff, but I really like it.  I'd hear the guys say, `Hey, did you see that?' and I'd tell them, `Guys, I'm not gone yet, I'm still in the game here.'  I mean we're not Cirque du Soleil.” LaBeouf landed the role of Sam Witwicky while he was shooting DreamWorks' “Disturbia.” At the time, he weighed 130 pounds but despite the action of the blockbuster thriller, the young actor needed to strengthen his body in preparation for this next job.He began working out five days a week for three months and gained 25 pounds of solid muscle by the time he arrived on set in New Mexico.  His first evening, LaBeouf spent the night being chased by guard dogs around a dilapidated lumber mill. He quickly realized that his training, which had focused on building bulk and mass, was not what he needed.  His role required stamina and speed. “It was all running.  I should have been doing calisthenics. And there's the pain tolerance,” he laughs.  “That's not something you can train for.” Actress Megan Fox swears that she gained 10 pounds of solid muscle during production from all the running and strength training the role required, and she gives the camera crew special accolades for keeping up with the pace. “They really deserve a lot of credit,” Fox says, “for being able to follow us the way they did. They'd give us general directions where to run and we'd head where we were told, but it's almost impossible to hit exact marks on a movie like this.” LaBeouf calls co-producer/stunt coordinator/second unit director Ken Bates a savior. “He's the only reason I am alive,” LaBeouf jokes. Bates disagrees. “Shia was very focused,” he says. “He's a strong, agile kid and he's smart. He pays attention and follows directions well, and he has respect for what we do, which really contributed to his being able to handle his own stunts.” When Bay extended a challenge to LaBeouf to perform his own stunt at the top of the building, he knew his young star would never turn down the offer. To prepare LaBeouf, Bates put him on a wire to give him a feel for the system and had him walk a small parapet wall. Once the young actor was comfortable in his movement, Bates taught him to focus on the wall in front of him and pay attention to nothing else. When LaBeouf was steady walking a plank, Bates took him to the top of the building. “That was all Shia up there,” says Bates. “In the midst of explosions and charges going off he remained calm and focused. It was a personal challenge that Bay put forth and Shia came away a winner.” “But you've got to do things like that because Michael puts the cameras so close,” says LaBeouf.  “The best part is that he puts the cameras in bulletproof boxes so they don't break, but it's your face right next to the camera and you start thinking, `Hey, they're protecting these cameras and I'm sitting right here. Why don't I have a bullet proof box?  What the heck is going on?” he laughs. Bates has been working with Bay since 1989, overseeing the stunt work not only on Bay-helmed movies and commercials, but also on his Platinum Dunes productions. Obviously familiar working with stunt people and actors, Bates also spent a good deal of time discussing action sequences with visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar. “We worked hand-in-hand, putting scenes together,” he says, “because half the fight sequence was built in CG. That direction isn't written on a call sheet for people to follow. We work it out during prep, and then again once the film starts shooting and again when we rehearse right before we shoot. And with Michael, you always have to be three steps ahead.” One of the most dangerous sequences of the film was shot at the end of Interstate 210, currently called the Foothill Freeway. Many film and television companies shoot on this section of the freeway in San Bernardino near the 215 junction because it remains unfinished with no end date in sight as construction seems to stretch further and further eastward. The sequence is one that Bay had in mind since he first accepted the movie - the robots transforming at 80 miles an hour - and he and Bates worked tirelessly to plan a stunt that would surpass Bay's chase over the MacArthur Causeway (that links Miami with Miami Beach) conceived for “Bad Boys II.” In the third act, as Megatron realizes that Sam, Mikaela and the Auobots have escaped with the “Allspark,” a chase ensues. Despite thorough planning, the stunt team had only one day to actually test the bus gag. In the sequence, stuntman Richard Epper drives the bus as Bates follows in a camera car the crew lovingly calls the “Bay Bomber:” a small, souped-up go-cart that sits low to the ground in order to shoot a vehicle's first-person point of view. “Richard was towed into the action at 60 miles per hour,” Bates describes. “Once he reached speed, he threw the bus sideways, hit a charge, and cut away the tow cable. As the bus blows up, it splits in half and slides sideways, at which time Richard hit another button that triggered a `bomb' that detonated three canons in the back of the bus that sent that back end tumbling end over end. The front half of the bus hits the median, jumps up and comes back down. “The bus sequence on the 210 was something we've never done before,” says Bates. “Even though we planned it down to the last detail, we had no idea what the bus would actually do. Frazier's guys rigged a separate set of wheels on the front of the bus so that Richard could brake when it snapped and he would have some form of control. But no one really knew what would happen. The effects guys made us look good.” Bates, Epper, Corey Eubanks, and Steve Kelso were the main drivers responsible for the spectacular stunt driving throughout the film. Bay's usual agenda is to put safety above all else, but also to allow the scene, even a dramatic action sequence, to unfold realistically. Talent are given strict guidelines in terms of where and when to run as explosions are detonated, but they never know exactly which “bomb” will pop at what point during the scene. “It's like being on a football team,” LaBeouf says, likening the adrenaline rush of running a 100-yard field for a touchdown. “The effects guys point out every bomb, so that no one is in danger, but you never know which will go off first, second, third, fourth. I'm just a normal kid,” he says in mock desperation, “I'm not supposed to know how to do Jet Li-style acrobatics.” LaBeouf got so deep into the action he would show up on set on days when he wasn't scheduled to work.  (He would also bring friends and sneak onto the stages to show off the phenomenal sets or into the garage to ooh and ah over the astounding cars and trucks.) During Fox's audition Bay asked her questions about her physical abilities.  “He wanted to know if I could run and he asked if I had a nice stomach,” she laughs recalling their interview. “So I figured, all right, I'm going to be running in a belly shirt, but I had no idea I would be doing most of my own stunts and I am not a girl who likes to work out. I'm lazy. So to be honest, my stunt double did some incredible things that I can only pretend to have done.  It's just that Michael would rather never use stunt doubles if he can help it. “My knees had no skin on them,” she says. “I ran, I jumped, I crawled around the Los Angeles River for days. At a certain point it was 90 percent running and 10 percent acting, but I think that's appropriate because people are coming to see the action and the Transformers, not Sam and Mikaela.” Fox does, however, take umbrage with her character for not wearing a seatbelt. “Mikaela never once wears a seatbelt, except when she's sitting on Sam's lap, and you should definitely wear one when you're driving 130 miles an hour in an alien robot car. It is the law,” she says in hopes of reminding her audience to always buckle up. Next Page: Acting With Transformers That Aren't Really There...