Transformers movie alters story in San Francisco
Paramount’s upcoming Transformers spinoff Bumblebee had its ending changed to accommodate a San Francisco filming location.
By Nick Goundry 8 Sep 2017
Paramount’s upcoming Transformers spinoff Bumblebee had its ending changed to accommodate a San Francisco filming location.
Scenes are being filmed in Vallejo in San Francisco’s northern Bay Area, which the movie’s producers particularly warmed to after principal photography had already started, local media outlet the Vallejo Times-Herald reports.
Bumblebee is a spinoff from the main Transformers franchise and is set in the late 1980s.
“Vallejo has got great bones,” said JJ Hook, the film’s location manager, in comments to the outlet. “It’s an Anywhere America, Back-to-the-Future type vibe. The great thing about Vallejo is there aren’t these huge chain stores. There a few other cities in California like it, but not that many. The city hasn’t been turned into a strip mall.”
Big-budget studio features are frequently criticised for going into production with incomplete scripts. However, Hook commented that this can be beneficial for a location manager as it can allow for greater creativity and the chance to help build the screen story around locations that are only discovered during the shoot.
Bumblebee is one of the biggest movies in years to film entirely in California, with producers having received incentive support of more than $20m.
San Francisco has faced challenges attracting large-scale films and TV productions in recent years partly because of its limited studio infrastructure, but the Bumblebee shoot could help boost the city’s profile when it opens at the end of next year.
Image: Paramount
Bumblebee is a spinoff from the main Transformers franchise and is set in the late 1980s.
“Vallejo has got great bones,” said JJ Hook, the film’s location manager, in comments to the outlet. “It’s an Anywhere America, Back-to-the-Future type vibe. The great thing about Vallejo is there aren’t these huge chain stores. There a few other cities in California like it, but not that many. The city hasn’t been turned into a strip mall.”
Big-budget studio features are frequently criticised for going into production with incomplete scripts. However, Hook commented that this can be beneficial for a location manager as it can allow for greater creativity and the chance to help build the screen story around locations that are only discovered during the shoot.
Bumblebee is one of the biggest movies in years to film entirely in California, with producers having received incentive support of more than $20m.
San Francisco has faced challenges attracting large-scale films and TV productions in recent years partly because of its limited studio infrastructure, but the Bumblebee shoot could help boost the city’s profile when it opens at the end of next year.
Image: Paramount
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