Transformers: Age of Extinction, starring Mark Wahlberg, hits theaters this summer, and we can't wait to be...transformed by hunky Irish actor Jack Reynor.
Jack plays the love interest of Mark's daughter (Nicola Peltz), and he spent five months filming the blockbuster in more than six different cities. Check out our Cambio Q&A with him below:
Cambio: What makes this film bigger and better than the previous Transformer movies?
Jack Reynor: Over the last three or four years since the previous film's come out, there's been an exponential development in film technology, so you're going to see much bigger affects than you've ever seen before, incredibly dynamic shots and of course the introduction of dino-bots is something that will definitely draw people's attention I think. It's definitely going to appeal to a lot of people, it's a broad film, but it has very important themes I think, as well.
C: What are those themes?
JR: One of the themes is really just about family and the importance of knowing your place in your family and who you are, and at the same time, having the fore sight to know that you have to give the people around you the independence to do what they need to do. On top of that, having seen the film for the first time the day before yesterday, I was really struck by how it highlights the dangers of irresponsible developments of technology and that's something we're seeing a lot of in the world at the moment where we're all kind of addicted to social media these days and we're all addicted to our devices and we really have no consideration for what it's actually costing us in the real world. It's a really important and prominent theme in the film.
C: Tell us about your character, Shane.
JR: I play a young, Irish race car driver who lives in Texas and he's trying to carve out a place for himeslf there, like so many young Irishmen who've left, because of the economic downturn in our country over the last few years. He's somebody, who through his confidence and his ability as a driver and through his relationship through Mark Wahlberg's daughter's character, is able to assume his place in that world. It's not so different being a young, Irish race car driver in Texas to being a young, Irish actor in Hollywood, so it was definitely a character that I could relate to. His function in the film is really that he encourages Tess' character to take those steps away from the home life and the family life and in to her own independence and adulthood. He has her best interest at heart and he cares about her, and that's where he and Mark's character find mutal respect for one another and it's the real driving force behind the film I think.
C: What was your favorite part about working on set?
JR: It's fun to show up every day and run through massive explosions and drive fast cars, jump off helicopters and whatever, you know what I mean? It's crazy, but it's an awful lot of fun. It's just a very exciting and exhilarating set to be working on.
C: Did you do a lot of your own stunts?
JR: I did do a lot of my own stunts that happen and we had a great stunt team at 5150, really great guys who we completely trusted, but at the end of the day I say we did about 80 to 90% of our stunts, which was again a great experience. It's a lot of fun to do that and it makes the world a lot more tangible for you.
C: In the film, you also are from Ireland and speak with an Irish accent. Was that always a part of script, or did they change the script once they found you?
JR: Once they cast me in the film, Michael (Bay) and I had some conversations about it and we thought that it might diversify the film a little bit and make it a little bit broader, so that was what we did.
C: When you were on set, is it difficult to image being in that world with huge Transformers without actually being able to see them?
JR: It is, but that's where trusting your director comes in and that's what we had do and we did completely, because Michael is a visionary and he sees everything in the frame that you don't see and sometimes you might feel a little bit stupid doing what you're doing but at the end of the day, he's going to take it and turn it into a product that's really cool and represents you in a very positive way and like I said, you just have to trust him in that.
C: When you're on set and supposed to be looking at something, is there anything there? Do they put like a stick on a pole or something?
JR: They put up a stick sometimes, but really after about a month of that you get to the point where you just want them to leave it blank, because like any other type of film you're being asked to suspend your disblief and draw from your imagination and imagining giant robots is an extension of that, so really you get to the point where you just don't want to have the pole there anymore you just want to let your imagination do the work for you.
C: Why should people go see Transformers: Age of Extinction?
JR: It's a level beyond anything that was there before and it's really a Hollywood blockbuster and it's best. It's on a very grand scale and I just think it's an increbily exciting film. It's a fun film for people to go and see. It's a good two and a half hours of your life that you won't regret spending on it.
Check out this exclusive clip (sorry, Jack's not in it, but Mark, Nicola and T.J. Miller are):
