Joseph T. Cool

WC HOF'er

Whitney Matheson over at USA Today's "Pop Candy" blog recently had a chat with original Optimus Prime voice Peter Cullen who, as revealed at Comic Con this year, is back voicing the character in Michael Bay's upcoming live action TRANSFORMERS. Here's a little snippet of what he had to say:

And now you're working on the live-action Transformers movie. Were you approached for the part right away?

"No. I (heard) the movie was going to be done, and then I heard rumors that big actors ... were being considered for the role. And that's when I found out about (my) fan base -- I was very, very surprised. That's when I started thinking, "Gee whiz, I hope these guys get what they want. Then I started saying, "Boy, I hope I get it, too!" I finally got a call from my agent. I met with Michael Bay, the director, and I didn't hear anything for a little while. And then when I met with Michael again. I guess he had a few feelings that he wanted to rectify in his own mind, and then go over a couple of scenes, and then he realized that, yes, I could in fact act. "