After ten years of movies, audiences will finally get to hear Bumblebee speak in the new Transformers movie that debuts this month.
Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura reveals that Maze Runner star Dylan O’Brien will voice Bumblebee.
“Since we were approaching this as an origin story, we felt that it was appropriate that you got to hear his voice,” di Bonaventura told IGN. “That’s the simple logic that we employed. The longer term implication of that is different. But the short-term implication of that is, since we really are resetting the mythology, essentially, of who Bumblebee is. And so, that seemed to us to be the appropriate, to get the chance to hear what he sounds like.”
In the Michael Bay Transformers movies, Bumblebee has been using various forms of media to talk (such as radio or TV sound).
“Dylan has that great quality in his voice of youthful exuberance, and also sort of trustworthiness,” the producer explained. “I think those are the two qualities that we wanted Bumblebee to have.”
Test audiences are also pretty happy with O’Brien.
“Thankfully, we’ve showed it to a few audiences, and people seem to think that it’d be right and an appropriate voice,” he said. “You never know, obviously that can be a sensitive thing for people. But it turns out, they imagine his voice that way.”
In the original animated series, Dan Gilvezan provided the voice of the yellow bug.
Bumblebee opens December 21 with an early-access screening taking place two weeks early on December 8.
On the run in the year 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken. When Charlie revives him, she quickly learns this is no ordinary, yellow VW bug.
Bumblebee is directed by Travis Knight starring Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, Pamela Adlon and Stephen Schneider, with the producers including Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Tom DeSanto, Don Murphy and Michael Bay, with executive producers including Steven Spielberg, Brian Goldner, Mark Vahradia and Chris Brigham.
