Some of the voice talent for Transformers is beginning to step out of the sound rooms and, well, back behind other microphones. One such person to surface is Peter Cullen, who has been doing Optimus Prime for a long time.
Peter Cullen Talks Optimus Prime and Transformers
The good people at SHH have caught up with Peter Cullen to discuss Transformers and the nostalgia of coming back to do a live-action film.
SHH!: It's been over 20 years since the original show. What was it like coming back to do it again?
Cullen: Well, overwhelming I guess. You know I was thrilled, after so many years, and I must add Optimus Prime wasn't by any means my favorite character back in the early '80s and when I was bumped off I didn't really know why. I mean, it wasn't explained to me. I had no indication as to any reason for it. So he certainly wasn't one of my favorite characters then and I even questioned his popularity. I said this guy can't be all that great if they're getting rid of him, until I find out years later.
SHH!: You said you had to look at it on a big screen, have you seen what it's going to look like yet?
Cullen: I've seen portions. Everything else that I've seen has been on television. I worked in front of a huge screen, nothing like IMAX or anything and nothing like High Definition, it was just working prints in the studio, but enough to indicate to me that this is huge and it's overpowering. I was just explaining to a person earlier that when I watched Optimus for the first time and the beeps went off to signal me to speak I was speechless. My jaw kind of hung down. I went "oh wow." And they rolled it again and I was speechless still because I'm gawking at it and it was rather humorous. I had to apologize – "I'm sorry guys but this is awesome." So that's how that went.
Check out the interview with Peter Cullen on Transformers at SHH.
Transformers opens to theaters on July 3rd and somewhat July 2nd.
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