Edwards 'transforms' into blockbuster movie set

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Brad Kimberly
  • 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
It was "more than meets the eye" when a film crew arrived here Feb. 28 to shoot additional scenes for the upcoming "Transformers" movie. 

The film crew had previously filmed several scenes at Edwards in September 2006. 

Based on the mid-'80s animated television program, the live-action movie follows a race of robots with the capability to morph into vehicles, airplanes and other disguises. 

One of the characters disguises himself as the F-22A Raptor, another first for the advanced fighter. 

"It will be the first time non-computer-generated Air Force F-22s are depicted in film, and it also marks the film debuts for the CV-22 and C-130J," said Capt. Christian Hodge, chief of future operations at the U.S. Air Force Entertainment Liaison Office in Los Angeles. 

"This movie has a lot of Air Force in it," he said. "We've filmed on three Air Force bases with many Airmen as extras." 

Several Edwards Airmen were given the opportunity to appear in the movie as extras, a term describing actors appearing on screen without dialogue. 

A few Airmen were selected for speaking roles in the film, but not all of them were ready for the transition from Airman to actor. 

The initial reaction to being offered a speaking role was that of horror, said Master Sgt. Michael Brown, the chief air traffic controller with the 412th Operations Support Squadron. 

"I wanted to get as many of my people into the movie as possible but had not planned on being in the film at all," he said. "I was asked a few questions by the director, Michael Bay, and the next thing I knew, he was giving me a few lines." 

One Airman not only had the opportunity to act in the film, but he also wrote his own dialogue. 

"I actually wrote my own lines," said Tech. Sgt. Toshiya Jones, also an air traffic controller from the 412th OSS. "I was very surprised that he asked me where the sheet of paper that I wrote my lines on were, and that I was actually going to get to speak the lines I wrote." 

This second and final shoot on Edwards culminates about two years of work to involve Edwards and the Air Force. 

"I started working on 'Transformers' in June 2005," said Captain Hodge, who was previously stationed at Edwards as a public affairs officer. "I read about the movie online and wrote Michael Bay a letter. In September 2005, we started facilitating location scouting trips to Edwards and other Air Force bases, and we received the first-draft script shortly thereafter." 

The film, starring Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight, Shia LeBeouf, Megan Fox and nearly 75 Team Edwards military and civilian Airmen, is set to release in theatres on July 4.