How Michael Bay Tracked Down The Perfect Car For Transformers' Bumblebee
Michael Bay's "Transformers" movies were never shy about changing the Robots in Disguise, including what they transformed into. Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, gained a flaming-paint job. The Autobot medic Ratchet, bafflingly, turned into a yellow Hummer instead of an ambulance.
On some changes, they made the right call. Instead of arch-villain Megatron shrinking down into a human-sized handgun, he transformed into an interstellar jet — a far more fitting form for the leader of the Decepticons. The writers of 2007's "Transformers" also had the genuinely novel idea to make a police car into one of the Decepticons.
The movie incarnation of Bumblebee is simultaneously one of the characters most alike in their original version, yet also worlds apart from them. Like in the original series, he's the best friend of the human lead, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf). Bay's Bumblebee, though, gained a new wrinkle of characterization — thanks to a damaged voice box, he communicates with "radio-speak," selectively editing broadcasts into sentences.
Bumblebee also turns into a totally different car, a Chevrolet Camaro rather than a Volkswagen Beetle. Bay vetoed using a Beetle because he wanted something more "badass." To be sure, Bumblebee's classic car mode isn't imposing, but the point of his character was to be the cute Autobot, the type every kid would want as their best friend.
Bay, though, doesn't do cute — he does cool. "I just was never going to use the Volkswagen Bug for Bumblebee," Bay explained during a behind-the-scenes featurette. "It just reminded me of Herbie the Love Bug." Hasbro Toy Designer Aaron Archer was fine with the change; his main stipulation was that Bumblebee had to be colored yellow. Eventually, it was Bay himself who found the stylish Camaro now synonymous with Bumblebee.
Choosing the cars
In the behind-the-scenes feature about the making of "Transformers," Transportation Coordinator Randy Peters said Bay and his team considered several different cars for inclusion in the film. The decision came down to money. As producer Brian Goldner notes, a movie the cost of "Transformers" needed corporate sponsorship — this was 2007, when VFX had rarely been used on such an ambitious scale.
The obvious choice for moneymen was car companies — what better product placement could there be than making their cars into heroic Autobots? Optimus Prime transforms into a trailer truck — a Peterbilt 379, produced by commercial truck manufacturer PACCAR. Ford, meanwhile, apparently didn't mind having one of their cars be a bad guy; Barricade, the aforementioned cop car Decepticon, transforms into a Saleen S281 Mustang police cruiser. Barring Barricade and his six-foot minion Frenzy, the Decepticons all transform into military vehicles — Bay's usual backer, the Pentagon, helped by supplying jets and helicopters.
General Motors, though, apparently gave the best offer. Plus, according to Goldner, the crew was wowed by the "sexiness" of their cars. This is why most of the Autobots transform into the then-latest GM models: a 2006 Pontiac Solstice for Jazz, a GMC Topkick C4500 for Ironhide, a Hummer H2 for Ratchet, and of course, a Chevrolet Camaro for Bumblebee.
The right Camaro
Bay personally visited GM during the production and as he tells it, that's where he first met Bumblebee. As he said:
"I went to GM and I got into their skunkworks there. It's a place — I can't tell you where it is, but that's where they make their stealthy concept cars. But I saw this car, they didn't know what kind of car it was going to be, but now it's the Camaro. And what I liked about it was it kind of had a retro look, it was a muscle car, and right then and there I knew it was Bumblebee."
The 2006 Camaro isn't the only car Bumblebee transforms into, though. He's initially disguised as an older model — a 1977 Camaro, to be precise. When Mikaela (Megan Fox) suggests that an alien robot should have a better look, Bumblebee scans the newer, classier model, which he keeps as his vehicle mode for the rest of the film.
This is justified by the narrative. Sam gets Bumblebee as his first car — there's no way he'd be able to afford a shiny new Camaro. A decades-old, banged-up model, though? That's believable. Goldner recounts how this meant tracking down and refurbishing cars no one previously wanted.
"Nobody wanted [the '77 Camaros], nobody needs them, they're hard to find. This one was pulled out of Palmdale, the other two were pulled out of Oklahoma. We're gonna redo 'em, repaint 'em, new engines, everything redone so that [stuntman] Kenny Bates can drive the heck out of 'em for these stunts."
The film also managed to slip in a nod to Bumblebee's original design. When Sam goes to get his car, Bumblebee parks next to a yellow Volkswagen Beetle. When Sam's father (Kevin Dunn) drives a hard bargain, the salesman (Bernie Mac) suggests Sam buy the Volkswagen instead. But like Bay, Sam refuses to settle for a Bug.