Development Before the release of
Transformers (2007),
Paramount Pictures began developing two sequels. As a preemptive measure before the release of
Revenge of the Fallen, Michael Lucchi and Paramount announced on March 16, 2009, that a third film would be released on July 1, 2011, which earned a surprised response from director
Michael Bay: "I said I was taking off a year from
Transformers. Paramount made a mistake in dating
Transformers 3—they asked me on the phone—I said yes to July 1—but for 2012—whoops! Not 2011! That would mean I would have to start prep in September. No way. My brain needs a break from fighting robots." Screenwriters
Roberto Orci and
Alex Kurtzman, who had worked on the first two
Transformers films, declined to return for the third film, with Kurtzman declaring that "the franchise is so wonderful that it deserves to be fresh, all the time. We just felt like we'd given it a lot and didn't have an insight for where to go with it next".
Revenge of the Fallens co-writer
Ehren Kruger became the only screenwriter for
Dark of the Moon. Kruger had frequent meetings with
Industrial Light & Magic's (ILM)
visual effects producers, who suggested plot points such as the scenes in Chernobyl. Additionally writer
Jenni Konner was brought on to help punch up the script, fleshing out the female characters, and adding humorous jokes. On October 1, 2009, Bay revealed that
Dark of the Moon had already gone into pre-production and its planned release returned to its originally intended date from 2012 to July 1, 2011. Due to the revived interest in
3D filming technology brought on by the success of
Avatar, talks between Paramount, ILM, and Bay had considered the possibility of the next
Transformers film being filmed in 3D, and testing was performed to bring the technology into Bay's work. Bay originally was not much interested in the format as he felt it did not fit his "aggressive style" of filmmaking, but he was convinced after talks with
Avatar director
James Cameron, who even offered the technical crew from that film. Cameron reportedly told Bay about 3D, "You gotta look at it as a toy, it's another fun tool to help get emotion and character and create an experience." Bay was reluctant to shoot with 3D cameras since in test he found them to be too cumbersome for his filming style, but he did not want to implement the technology in post-production either since he was not pleased with the results. In addition to using the 3D Fusion camera rigs developed by Cameron's team, Having been called
Transformers 3 up to that point, the film's final title was officially revealed to be
Dark of the Moon in October 2010. After
Revenge of the Fallen was almost universally panned by critics and audiences, Bay acknowledged the general flaws of the script, having blamed the
2007-08 Writers strike before the film for many problems. Bay also said the film will get rid of the "dorky comedy" from the last film. On March 19, 2010, the script was said to be completed.
Casting Megan Fox was originally attached to the film, and
Patrick Dempsey's role as
Dylan Gould was to be the employer of Fox's character,
Mikaela Banes. According to various published sources, Fox's absence from the film was due to executive producer Steven Spielberg ultimately choosing not to renew her role in light of her comparing Bay and his work ethic to
Adolf Hitler, although representatives for the actress said that it was her decision to leave the film franchise. Bay later claimed that executive producer
Steven Spielberg told him to fire Fox, a claim that Spielberg denied. "I wasn't hurt", Bay stated, "because I know that's just Megan. Megan loves to get a response. And she does it in kind of the wrong way. I'm sorry, Megan. I'm sorry I made you work twelve hours. I'm sorry that I'm making you show up on time. Movies are not always warm and fuzzy."
Ramón Rodríguez was initially planned to be in the film, in a role bigger than the one he had in
Revenge of the Fallen, but he was dropped during early production. A few well-known actors such as
John Malkovich and
Frances McDormand were also selected for roles in the film. Malkovich explains: "I play a guy called Bruce Brazos, who's just a loudmouth, kind of business man who's Shia's character's boss. Who's just a jerk, and a kind of a loud one. But a fun character. Nice. It was fun. Very, very enjoyable, just with Shia, Rosie a little bit, and with John Turturro. So, for me, it was a blast." Another well-known actor,
Ken Jeong, was cast as an eccentric co-worker and stalker. Jeong described the film, "Yeah, it's a small role in
Transformers, but yeah. I had an out-of-body experience working on that one because I just couldn't believe I was there. Still, that was not a thing where oh, I'm going to be a part of a blockbuster franchise like
Transformers 3 or even now
Hangover 2 for that matter. So I can't believe I'm a part of these franchises in any way. It was amazing. Michael Bay is brilliant and it'll blow your mind." For the role of Decepticon scientist Shockwave, veteran
Transformers voice actor
Corey Burton was originally approached to voice the character after previously doing so in
the original television series and
Transformers: Animated. Burton declined the offer, citing his work schedule and disinterest in being involved in a blockbuster franchise.
David Warner (Burton's influence on his Shockwave voice) was briefly considered, but the role was ultimately given to
Frank Welker, adding to his already long list of
Transformers characters.
Themes and inspirations Skids and Mudflap were omitted from
Dark of the Moon in response to
Revenge of the Fallen negative reception and the characters' "dorky comedy", which Bay realized that they formed "a final crescendo". Despite fan rumors that Skids and Mudflap would appear in the film, Bay made a public $25,000 "bet" that the characters would not be seen in
Dark of the Moon. Bay said that he wanted
Dark of the Moon final battle to be more geographic and feature a "small group of heroes" like
Ridley Scott's war–drama
Black Hawk Down,
Joe Dante's science fiction
Small Soldiers and
Hasbro's
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Similar to the previous two installments, the film was told in the human point-of-view to engage the audience. Bay wanted Sam to have a girlfriend like in the first two films. Actor Shia LaBeouf said that Sam and Mikaela had become "one character" and, although he would "miss" Megan Fox, with this change "you have discovery again from a new perspective." LaBeouf also stated that the additions of Huntington-Whiteley and new characters allows
Dark of the Moon to keep the "magic" of the first film.
Dark of the Moon also had numerous
Star Trek references, partly because scriptwriter Ehren Kruger was a "big Star Trek geek", but also as a nod to the fact that new character Sentinel Prime was voiced by
Leonard Nimoy, who originated the iconic role of
Spock on
Star Trek and voiced
Galvatron in
The Transformers: The Movie. The first
Star Trek reference is when refugee robots Brains and Wheelie, who live in Sam and Carly's apartment complex, are watching
TOS episode "
Amok Time"; Wheelie comments "I've seen this one. It's the one where Spock goes nuts." Preparation for filming began on April 7, 2010, in
Northwest Indiana, specifically around
Gary, which played
Ukraine in the film.
Principal photography commenced on May 18, 2010, with shooting locations including
Chicago,
Florida, and
Moscow. The first six weeks were spent in Los Angeles: locations included
Sherman Oaks, Fourth Avenue, and 5. Main. The next four weeks were spent in Chicago. Locations filmed in Chicago included
LaSalle Street,
Michigan Avenue, Bacino's of Lincoln Park at 2204 North Lincoln Avenue and areas surrounding the
Willis Tower. The scenes set in Michigan Ave featured a substantial amount of pyrotechnics and stunt work. Filming in
Detroit was planned to take place in August but the Chicago shoot was extended until September 1. In late September, the production moved to
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, just before the launch of
Space Shuttle mission
STS-133. Scenes were filmed at
Launch Pad 39A, the
Vehicle Assembly Building and the
Orbiter Processing Facility. While filming in
Washington, D.C., the crew shot on the
National Mall and Bay said that there would be a car race on the location. Two further locations announced were the
Milwaukee Art Museum and the former
Tower Automotive complex on
Milwaukee's north side, then under redevelopment for mixed use also the city's equipment yard. Filming was scheduled to take place there after work was done in Chicago. On September 23, scenes were filmed at the former city hall in
Detroit. On October 16, a flashback scene that takes place in the later 1960s was shot at the
Johnson Space Center in
Houston, using extras with period fashion and hairstyles. A day of shooting was also spent at the
Angkor Wat temple complex in
Cambodia. Other planned filming locations included Africa and China. Though about 70% of the film's live-action footage was shot in 3D using
Arri Alexa and Sony F35 cameras, more than half of the film still had to be
converted into 3D in post production to fix technical flaws that 3D filming produces. Other footage that needed to be converted into 3D in post production was either completely computer-generated imagery or shot in the
anamorphic format on
35 mm film.
Dark of the Moon was found to carry recycled footage from an earlier film directed by Michael Bay—
The Island (2005). Bay recycled the same footage from his film
Pearl Harbor (2001) in the first
Transformers film.
Accidents Filming was delayed on September 2, 2010, when an extra was seriously injured during a stunt in
Hammond, Indiana. Due to a failed weld, a steel cable snapped from a car being towed and hit the extra's car, damaging her skull. The extra, identified as Gabriela Cedillo, had to undergo brain surgery. The injury has left her permanently brain-damaged, paralyzed on her left side and her left eye stitched shut. Paramount admitted responsibility for the accident and covered all of Cedillo's medical costs. Nevertheless, Cedillo's family filed a lawsuit on October 5, citing seven counts of negligence against Paramount, and several other defendants (not including Bay), with total damages sought in excess of $350,000. Cedillo's attorney, Todd Smith, said, "This was an attractive 24-year-old girl who had dreams and aspirations involving acting, and this kind of injury may well have a serious impact on her dreams." The filed complaint reads that "Cedillo has endured and will in the future endure pain and suffering; has become disfigured and disabled; has suffered a loss of the enjoyment of a normal life; has been damaged in her capacity to earn a living; has incurred and will in the future incur expenses for medical services, all of which are permanent in nature." Indiana
OSHA's investigation was criticised. A second accident occurred on October 11, 2010, in Washington, D.C. While filming a chase scene at 3rd Street and Maryland Avenue, SW, a Metropolitan Police K9 unit SUV was accidentally rammed by the Camaro that portrays Bumblebee in the film. The area had been closed off by the Washington, D.C., police, and it is unclear why the SUV was there. Both drivers were uninjured, but the Camaro was severely damaged. Reports indicate that the K9 unit was heading to a report of a bomb threat as part of a Bomb Squad response, but was not using the same radio frequency as the units guarding the filming and did not realize it had gone the wrong way until it collided with the Bumblebee Camaro. Many fans who witnessed the crash were horrified at the damage the Bumblebee Camaro suffered, and cast and crew members reacted quickly to cover up the damaged Camaro and secure the scene.
Visual effects As with the previous
Transformers installments,
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) was the main CGI visual effects company for
Dark of the Moon. ILM had been working on the pre-visualization for six months before principal photography started, resulting in 20 minutes' worth of footage. ILM's visual effects supervisor
Scott Farrar said that "not only were the film's effects ambitious, they also had to be designed for 3D", and explained the company's solutions for the new perspective: "We did make sure things are as bright as possible; Michael called up theatre owners to make sure they keep the lamps bright in the theatres ... make everything a little sharper, because we know that through the steps, no matter what, when you get to the final screening things tend to go less sharp." On the last weekend of ILM's work on
Dark of the Moon, the company's entire
render farm was being used for the film, giving ILM more than 200,000 hours of rendering power a day—or equivalent to 22.8 years of rendering time in a 24-hour period. The most complicated effects involved the "Driller", a giant snake-like creature with an eel-like body and spinning rotator blades, knives and teeth. In
Revenge of the Fallen, it took 72 hours per frame to fully
render Devastator for the IMAX format, which is approximately a frame amount of 4,000. For the Driller, which required the entire render farm, it was up to 122 hours per frame. The most complex scene involved the Driller destroying a computer-generated
skyscraper, which took 288 hours per frame. ==Music==