Michael Bay broke down remembering Peter Cullen in a new TMZ interview, revealing that the family of the Optimus Prime voice actor wants donations made to Make-A-Wish, and that even Bay couldn’t believe the voice the first time he heard it in person.
Bay spoke with TMZ from his edit room about Cullen, who died August 26 at the age of 85.
The director said he found out through a flood of morning texts. “Let it settle, and an hour later I cried.”
Bay said Cullen’s family wants donations to go to Make-A-Wish: “I’ve hosted so many Make-A-Wish kids, and that’s how they want to be remembered.”
“Where Did This Guy Get That Voice?”
Bay recalled Cullen’s first recording session for the 2007 movie, in Santa Monica, where Cullen read the very first line from the very first film.
“I’m like, where did this guy get that voice?” Bay said. “I was awestruck and the chills went down my spine.”
Bay films his voice actors so the animators can reference their mouth movements, and he remembers turning to a longtime Bay Films staffer in disbelief while the cameras rolled on Cullen.
He put Cullen’s voice in rare company: in that same room, Bay recorded Charlton Heston for Armageddon, and the other voices he named as awe-inspiring were Sean Connery and Leonard Nimoy, who married into Bay’s family, voiced Galvatron in 1986’s The Transformers: The Movie, and played Sentinel Prime for Bay in Dark of the Moon.
As for the man himself, Bay described a cowboy-boots horse guy, old-Hollywood nice: “He was a very, very sweet man.”
Grown Men Crying In China
Bay’s proof of what Cullen meant came at a massive screening in China, where he said only three cartoons were allowed in the country back in the day, and one was Transformers.
“I remember looking to the right, looking to the left,” Bay said. “I saw grown men crying when he was talking.”
Cullen’s closing monologue from the 2007 film has gone viral again since his death, and Bay remembered how the actor treated it: “He would want to get it right every time… he was Optimus.”
During the interview, Bay played a clip of what he called Cullen’s last recording and teared up: “His voice was amazing, and he encompassed everything about Optimus.”
“We should be as lucky to live that old,” Bay said. “Billions of people have heard this man’s voice.”
Cullen’s Final Performance Hits Theaters This Month
Cullen’s final original voice performance as Optimus Prime arrives in “Optimus Prime: Awakening,” the 12-minute animated short playing after select Transformers: The Movie 40th anniversary screenings September 17-22, opposite Frank Welker’s Megatron and Soundwave.
Rumors continue that Bay could return for more Transformers, as Paramount confirmed more movies are coming at CinemaCon, and a Rise of the Beasts follow-up is in the works by writer Jason Fuchs. Bay’s next confirmed project is the Iran pilot rescue movie at Universal.
Bay also told TMZ about his last phone call with Shia LaBeouf — an emotional Transformers story involving LaBeouf’s daughter: “He cried twice.”
