Well, it appears that director Michael Bay has been influenced by the various web dialogue that’s taken place since the rumor of Mark Wahlberg appearing in TRANSFORMERS 4 was shot down by the man himself. From his official site, Bay reignited the rumors of Wahlberg’s involvement in the franchise sequel, saying:
“I squashed a rumor that was on the internet last week. It was about Mark Walhberg. Mark was rumored to be staring in Transformers 4. We are working on another movie together, not T4. I had such a great time working with Mark on Pain and Gain, and he gave such a great performance – well let’s say that very internet chatter gave me some ideas. We are at the inception of our story process right now on T4. Let’s say some ideas are gaining traction with me and my writer – so I’m here to say thanks internet chatter.”
Hmm, interesting. Let me just put this out there; I personally think that the involvement of a high profile actor, especially one who belongs in a big-budget action film, is a good move. Shia Lebouf did well in the first outing, but it was a steady decline of screaming “Optimus!” at the top of his lungs in the sequels and coming off as genuinely annoying that kind of soured the lead. Granted, the movie is about robots that talk, but having a human that we can root for sure does help.
If Bay does actually cast Wahlberg I think it has potential to be cool. If there’s anything TRANSFORMERS 4 needs is some star power we can cheer on. Also, a good script, coherent story, more robots, less people. Y’know, the usual.
I hope Bay makes a solid film. I gain nothing from another bad TRANSFORMERS films, because I’m a fan of Bay’s and I’ll see whatever he does, even if I hate myself in the morning. I’d rather wake up happy for once.
Bay and Wahlberg will release PAIN AND GAIN, co-starring Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Rebel Wilson, Ed Harris, Ken Jeong, and Rob Corddry, on April 26, 2013, while TRANSFORMERS 4 is slated for a June 27, 2014 release.