Hello everyone! Earlier this month, on June 8th to be exact, I got a chance to interview a couple of cast members from TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION: Nicola Peltz & Jack Reynor. It’s part of their press tour around the country and they showed clips from the movies as well as signed autographs for fans. Surely most of of you already know what the movie is about, after all it’s the fourth one in the franchise. I personally have only seen the first movie which was years ago, so I’m not exactly well-versed in the Transformers universe. So here’s what to expect in this latest movie:

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION begins after an epic battle left a great city torn, but with the world saved.  As humanity picks up the pieces, a shadowy group reveals itself in an attempt to control the direction of history…while an ancient, powerful new menace sets Earth in its crosshairs. With help from a new cast of humans (led by Mark Wahlberg), Optimus Prime and the Autobots rise to meet their most fearsome challenge yet.  In an incredible adventure, they are swept up in a war of good and evil, ultimately leading to a climactic battle across the world. 

 Trailer:

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Thanks ALLIED for co-ordinating the interview roundup at Mall of America. There are seven interviewers in the roundtable so below are all the questions, I marked MY questions with an (*) in front of it.

Here’s the transcript from the interview with Jack Reynor and Nicola Peltz:

Q (for Veronica): With a lot of the strong female leads in entertainment films these days, does your character continue the strand of [being] strong female character in this movie?

Nicola: Tessa is definitely… you know how in the beginning of the movie she lives a normal life day to day, and she’s suddenly thrust into this extraordinary situation where she has to fight for her life and get back with her family. But she’s definitely a tough girl, she lives in a farm. She definitely gets her butt kicked a lot… a lot, but she has her moment.

Jack: I think she’s probably more of a bad ass than a lot of the other franchises that are around right now, in all honesty. She’s not the sensitive wilting flower [Nicola: she’s no wilting flower]… more of a bad ass, I mean she’s going out with a race car driver so she better be [laughs]

Q: So what scene do each of you guys enjoy shooting the most?

Nicola: I don’t know if you guys saw the trailer but when we were running, Jack, Mark and I were running in slow motion and there’s this huge explosion…well that was real. We found out about it like four minutes before. We got on set and we had no idea. We saw all these explosives, twelve cameras and we’re like ‘What is going on?’ Michael does add random scenes so we’re very pleased. So he got on set and said: you have to run from here to here in 4.6 seconds and we had our practice runs and then he said, ‘Ok are you ready?’ And we’re like ‘Ok, yeah.’ And so we just did it and he said, ‘Well don’t mess it up ’cause we can only do it once.’ It was so exciting though, I mean your adrenaline was going crazy, it was really fun.

Q: To follow up on that… could you just talk about the different challenges about doing television or independent films versus doing a monumental blockbuster film like this one?

Jack: Well for me at least, independent films and films like this aren’t really that different in terms of my approach to my character and a performance. You still have to try your best to suspend your disbelief and draw on your imagination and your emotion and invoke certain thoughts for yourself to invest in your character. The real differences are that with a film of this kind of budget and scale is that there are so many more people around all the time. And the effects are so heavy and the wait time between shots are kind of substantially longer. So things like that are really different. Y’know people ask all the time how does it feel like to star opposite a giant imaginary robot, well I think it’s not so different from any other films you try to do. Like I said it’s about drawing from your imagination, so it’s an extension of that from the world of independent film and television.

And with Mark being on set, and Michael, and don’t get me wrong, Stanley [Tucci] and Kelsey [Grammer] as well, these are all veterans of the industry, they’ve all done a movie like this before. So for Nicola and I to be able to observe them in the environment, ehm making a blockbuster film has been an eye-opener for us and it’s taught us a lot on how to relate to the industry and how the industry relate to us. It’s very beneficial for us at our stage of our careers.

*Q (for Jack): Since you’ve done a bunch of independent films like What Richard Did and then this movie. You sort of touched on that a little bit but then you’re going to be doing Macbeth [Jack: I’ve finished Macbeth]. Is there anything that’s particularly memorable in filming this as opposed to those indie films?

Jack: Yeah again, it’s that crazy scale… rolling through f***in’ giant explosion y’know, crazy car chases. I mean driving rally cars having helicopters flying over my head. Cars with cranes chasing me and stuff like that. I shouldn’t be driving behind the wheel of a car like that, that’s mental. But yeah, it’s a really fun experience. It’s great. It’s a massive departure for me from the world of independent films so I enjoyed it, I relished the challenge, certainly.

Q: Transformers is a whole different animal from what the work you’ve done in the past. Have you found that your life changed now with the added exposure that comes with being in the Transformers 4 movie?

Nicola: My life? No, not at all. I still walk around and no one really cares. But then we just started this tour. We haven’t had the premiere yet which I’m super excited for but yeah, it’s been amazing.

Jack: Well on a personal level, for both of us on a personal level, things hasn’t changed an awful lot as of yet. In Ireland for me, a lot of people are really happy there’s an Irish guy as part of a massive franchise like this. We don’t have an Irish character in movies like this ever, this is kind of the first time we’ve actually seen an Irish character kind of in a large supporting role so that’s a real great thing. But professionally, on a professional level I think both of us have certainly noticed that we’re in a position that we can potentially finance the kind of projects that we want to make ourselves and we have a lot more freedom and leeway in what we want to do. And it’s afforded us a lot of opportunities in the industry and we both want to take full advantage of that. So that’s been a definite difference.

Q (for Nicola): Transformers is known as more of a guy film. So what do you think will bring the female audience in.

Nicola: Well I grew up with six brothers so I’ve always been into more of the guy movies and action films, those are the kind of movies I’m excited to go see. But Tessa is really relatable to a lot of girls, I know I can relate to her. Her dad is overprotective, I know I can relate to that definitely with six brothers. She’s in a no-dating household so I get all of that. But she is definitely relatable to a lot of girls. She is a tough girl, I think a lot of girls would be into this. I know I am.

Q: I saw an interview with Mark Wahlberg, and he had said ‘Jack and Nicola’s life is going to change quite a bit when the movie comes out. And it’s something you could deal with so well or it’s going to be a problem.’ Specifically as a mentor and father figure, as you enter huge celebrity, can you tell us a bit what that meant to you and what his best advice was?

Jack: Well the thing is, during filming at least, Mark really lead from the front. And just to be able to observe him in that environment is something that’s very beneficial to us. It helps us to develop a healthy work ethic in this industry.

[ed note: Jack and Nicola has quite a lot to say about working with Mark Wahlberg and their thoughts on fame and celebrity. I figure I’ll let you take a listen to it yourself so you can hear what both of them sound like. Jack still has a pretty thick Irish accent as he still resides in Dublin.]

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Q: So going more into the story of the film. What’s at stake for each of your character. What does your character stand to lose if you fail?

Nicola: Our lives [laughs] Well like I said in the beginning of the movie you see them live their lives, how they’re all normal relatable people and they’re thrown into this crazy situation. So in the film my character got separated from my dad and being a 17-year-old girl it’s really scary. And for her to be in this crazy situation and not being with her dad is super intimidating and scary. So she’s definitely scared about her life and also not only worrying about herself but also worrying about her dad. Is my dad ok? Is my boyfriend ok? So yeah there’s a lot of that.

Jack: At the heart of my character. Well he’s a young Irish guy who lands in Texas and he has this incredible ability to race rally cars. It gives him confidence in himself and y’know gives him the ability to assume his position in that world and also in terms of his relationship with Nicola’s character. I think that throughout the course of the film, he’s trying to find his place, he’s trying to prove who he is, what he’s worth. At the same time, his relationship with Nicola’s character is something that helps her to become more independent and to grow and approach the adult world and to diverge her relationship with her dad in a healthy way. So that’s the purpose that my character serves.

Q: So Transformers is like an extremely beloved series. Do you guys feel any pressure to live up to what has become of this franchise?

Nicola: Well we’re not replacing any character, so there’s no pressure to live up to something that we’re not replacing. But as me being a huge fan of Transformers and growing up with boys and being obsessed with it and I knew the whole story… I’m also a huge fan of Michael Bay and everyone involved in this film, so even being able to audition for this film and then to being able to be a part of it is so exciting for me. That’s all I was worried about. I’m just so excited to go on set and to work with such talented people.

And that’s a wrap! 😀
The interview was only 15-min long so that was the last question.

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Pardon the blurred photo. I was actually standing to the left of Jack in this photo but it was so blurry it’s best to just cut me off from the picture.

JACK REYNOR BIO

Reynor recently wrapped filming on the human trafficking story Glassland, alongside Toni Collette in Dublin, Ireland. This is the second feature from Irish director Gerard Barrett. Reynor has recently begun filming the upcoming adaptation of Shakespeare’s MACBETH, directed by Justin Kurzel. He will be playing the role of Malcolm alongside Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender.

Last winter, Reynor garnered rave reviews for playing the titular character in the Irish independent film What Richard Did. Labeled as one of the best movies to come out of the Tribeca and Toronto Film Festivals, it is a story about a young boy who has to confront the question of who he is and who he wants to become. Reynor delivered a spectacular performance receiving glowing remarks from film critics around the globe. “Mr. Reynor’s portrayal of this man-child is an extraordinary screen performance…,” stated Stephen Holden of The New York Times. Leslie Felperin of Variety wrote “Promising young thesp Jack Reynor particularly impresses as the title character… The climactic scene between Peter and Richard is powerfully thesped, especially by Reynor.”

Proving his multifaceted talent, Reynor made his US film debut in the recently released Vince Vaughn comedy DELIVERY MAN (Dreamworks) which came out in theaters nationwide on November 22nd 2013. Reynor was born in Colorado, but grew up in Ireland.

NICOLA PELTZ BIO

Later this summer Peltz will also star in Kevin Asch’s Affluenza which is set for limited release in July. The film is a coming of age story inspired by The Great Gatsby and is set amongst the upper class in the Long Island suburb of Great Neck during the weeks leading up to the financial meltdown of 2008.

On the small screen Peltz is currently reprising her role as Bradley Martin, a troubled high school student, in the second season of A&E’s critically acclaimed series Bates Motel. The series is a modern reimagining and prequel to the1960 Alfred Hitchcock cult classic Psycho, which focuses on the life of Norman Bates and his mother Norma portrayed by Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga.

In 2012, she starred alongside Melanie Lynskey and Campbell Scott in Eye of the Hurricane, a compelling family adventure about a small Everglades community struggling to put their lives back together in the wake of a devastating hurricane. In 2010, Peltz starred in M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender opposite Dev Patel and Jackson Rathbone. The film was written, directed and produced by Shyamalan and was based on the first season of Nickelodeon’s animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Peltz made her feature film debut in 2006 in Deck the Halls with Danny DeVito, Matthew Broderick and Kristin Chenoweth.

A New York native, Nicola made her stage debut in 2007 opposite Jeff Daniels and Alison Pill in the Olivier Award-winning production of “Blackbird” at the Manhattan Theatre Club directed by Joe Mantello.
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 TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION in out in theaters this Friday, June 27

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Hope you enjoy the interview! What are your thoughts on Transformers movies and/or the cast?