Get excited, cinema lovers! Work on Transformers 3 — the follow-up to the first-place winner of Vulture’s 2009 Critics’ Poll — is already underway, and in a grammatically flawless dispatch on his official website, Michael Bay has just announced four new cast members (only one is a car).
Take it away, Mike:
Hey, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted. Just been a little busy.
Transformers 3 has been going very well. We are going to shoot in LA, Chicago, Washington DC, Florida, Texas, Africa, Moscow, and China. On the talent front, we just locked in Frances McDormand and John Malkovich. Both amazing actors I’ve always wanted to work with. We also just got Ken Jeong, he is the super funny actor stuck in the trunk from “Hangover†and the Doctor from “Knocked Up.â€
We start shooting pre-shoots in about one month.
I also was at a Ferrari charity event this week raising money for a hospital being built by Ferrari in Haiti. I announced that night the newest Autobot to join Transformers: the Ferrari 458 Italia.
I also want to thank everyone on this site that donated to the Make -A-Wish charity. We raised $20,000 which I will personally be matching. This is a great charity where they make wishes come true for kids who are very ill. We have had many Kids from Make-A-Wish visit us on our Transformers sets and this time we will be posting video of their visits on Transformers 3.
Mike Fleming says McDormand will play the National Intelligence Director and Malkovich will be Shia LaBeouf’s boss. Still no word yet on Jeong’s character, but given his and Bay’s separate histories, the smart money says he’ll have the ability to transform into a wildly offensive Asian stereotype.
Transformers 3 Update From Michael Bay [Official site]
Malkovich, McDormand Join Transformers 3 [DHD]