AICN Peter Cullen Interview

AICN interviewed Peter Cullen via telephone about Transformers. The highlights:

Quint: Was it weird for you to have to audition for a role that you are so tied in with in the first place?
Peter Cullen: Yeah, there’s a lot of mixed feelings there, Eric, because you can’t help but feel that “No, I did this once before and evidently I was successful and they got rid of me,” and… yeah, kind of personal.
Years later, you’re brought back again, but you’re not really brought back, because you have to audition for the role all over again.

Quint: Have you recorded all of your dialog?
Peter Cullen: Yes I have, but then again, you know up until the [Laughs]… up until the final word is in… I’m poised and ready to go in. As early as a week and a couple of days ago, I was tentatively on hold for another recording and I’m still kind of waiting, but that was 11 days ago, so I’m not really convinced that they finished all they’ve had to do… but ready, you know, ready at any moment to do whatever they need.

Quint: It looks like just the hugest, most crazy science fiction action thing… like nothing that we have ever really seen executed at this level, you know?
Peter Cullen: Yeah it’s better with Michael Bay, you know even just a couple of cars would be special… the guy is just brilliant. I mean, he really is brilliant and he’s got a vision. He had a marvelous vision for the entire beginning from conceptual… through the process. He’s responsible for so many great things, including giving Optimus Prime a sense of humor, which makes him more believable, working in the human relation situation along with the real people. Prime is actually charmingly funny. That’s a step in the right direction!

Quint: Yeah, well I think the very first thing the talkbackers and the readers of Ain't It Cool, the site that I write for, are going to want to know… is your opinion on the redesign of the robots, specifically Optimus. What do you think about flames on… you?
Peter Cullen: Well, number 1, just to see it, it’s overwhelming, there are changes, but everything in life changes… cars change every year and I think if one uses his imagination and you separate the sentiment and the history and the memories and tradition and that stuff, because nothing really stays the same anyway, you can actually justify Optimus Prime… a mechanical situation, going to advanced… advanced designs, which makes perfect sense to me, because he still maintains the core of character, with all the ingredients of leadership and that’s what made him an icon. I mean, the writers are fantastic and they have never gone away from that. They have maintained a very strong commitment with his qualities and they did a wonderful job. They’re brilliant, brilliant guys… wonderfully talented…

Quint: Cool, you said that when you were recording your dialogue that Bay was always right there. Was he very hands on with your performance?
Peter Cullen: Yeah. We collaborated and he was very encouraging. He had a calm control that gave me a confidence and the level of relaxation that… just great ideas. I could well understand why he is the director he is. He is everything of that, a pleasure to work with… a real pleasure.

Quint: Now you mentioned that Optimus has more of a sense of humor in this one, is there anything else? Optimus has had many iterations in the past… Is there anything besides the sense of humor that’s kind of new and different about Optimus in the movie?
Peter Cullen: I think that any changes that were made were subtle and defined in the area of well… that the human relationship with the mechanical becomes more believable as they go into the more human qualities for him for sample. On another level, his size, compared to a human being is huge, so there will be minor subtleties in sound to compensate for that for that size and on a big screen outlook, you are going to feel that in the theater and it wouldn’t make sense to have Prime’s voice… I was a little hesitant at first when they said they were going to give me a fuller sound and then when I heard it I realized perfectly (what they meant). The only thing I cared about was did they maintain his characteristics and they did, so I felt great.

Quint: Was there any difference in how you personally approached the character?
Peter Cullen: Not at all, no. Prime is Prime and yeah, he still has all the traits that were first initiated in the break down, the first character breakdowns that I read back 1983 or 84. He hasn’t changed one bit. Hey if it’s not broken, don’t fix it!

Quint: What’s next for you? I can imagine that this movie is kicking off such a demand for more Optimus stuff, because I know that for the video game that you have done…Peter Cullen: Which is fantastic… I saw some stuff on it. It’s brilliant! It really is… and yeah, you’re right there are other things too, like commercials… Optimus Prime is stepping out of the box you know, he’s even doing Burger King…

Full article here.