Chris Hemsworth may not have been every Transformers fan's first choice for Optimus Prime, but there was one important reason Peter Cullen wasn't right for the job. Spoilers ahead.
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00:00Chris Hemsworth may not have been every Transformers fan's first choice for Optimus Prime, but
00:04there was one important reason Peter Cullen wasn't right for the job.
00:08Spoilers ahead, Peter Cullen will forever be whom many fans think of for the voice of
00:12Optimus Prime.
00:13And while Cullen's many performances as the Autobot leader make him inseparable from the
00:16character, he's not the only one who's played the part.
00:19We're Autobots.
00:20We're from Cybertron, a planet far from Earth.
00:25Some Prime voice actors, like Jake Boushi, do Cullen impressions.
00:28Now our world will transform again.
00:32Others offer more distinctive takes, like Gary Chalk as Optimus Primal in Beast Wars.
00:36I've got a lot of catching up to do.
00:38Or David Kaye in Transformers Animated.
00:40All the great Autobot leaders learned from the past.
00:42Now there's a new member of this pantheon, Chris Hemsworth, who voices a young Optimus
00:47Prime, then known as Orion Pax, in the new animated film Transformers 1.
00:51My finger can transform, guess which one?
00:53Reactions to the casting in Transformers 1 were mixed, as using celebrity performers
00:57instead of seasoned voice actors can often be a controversial move.
01:01Does Hemsworth shake off the skepticism and fill these big shoes?
01:04Well, he can obviously play a superhero, as he's been acting as Thor for over 13 years
01:08now.
01:09But are such straight-laced roles where he thrives the most?
01:11Earlier this year, Hemsworth played biker gang warlord Dementus in Furiosa.
01:15While he's a totally different character from Optimus, he is another charismatic leader
01:19whose followers would surely give their lives for him.
01:21As Crosshairs once said about Optimus,
01:23You just want to die for the guy.
01:26That's leadership.
01:27The same could be said about how Dementus gets his troops' blood flowing into battle.
01:31Even so, the question remained as to whether or not Hemsworth could still leave such an
01:34impression in a role that doesn't let him go hog-wild the way Furiosa did.
01:38For its part, Cullen's Optimus Prime voice has changed over the years.
01:42In the original The Transformers cartoon, he was a bot of action with a John Wayne drawl.
01:46He'd even trash-talk.
01:47You're old, Megatron, yesterday's model, ready for the scrapheap.
01:52As Cullen aged, his Optimus voice deepened, and his performances reflect that.
01:56He plays the part more solemnly, delivering every line with earth-shaking gravitas.
02:01What if we leave, and you're wrong?
02:06His more recent performances in the live-action films and 2010 cartoon Transformers Prime
02:10reflect how Transformers isn't just a job for him anymore.
02:13Cullen has been playing Optimus for over 40 years, and the character is an inseparable
02:18part of his life.
02:19He also based his voice as Optimus on his brother, the late Larry Cullen, who advised
02:23him that a hero like Optimus should, quote, "...be strong enough to be gentle."
02:27As a result, some might think Hemsworth's involvement with Transformers 1 is all about
02:31securing a movie star to headline the cast.
02:33However, the film is a prequel.
02:35For most of the movie, Hemsworth is playing Orion, not Optimus.
02:39Cullen's current Optimus voice radiates grandeur and wisdom.
02:41It wouldn't fit for a younger character who doesn't have those qualities yet.
02:45As longtime Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura explained to Variety,
02:49We couldn't use Peter because the audience needs to feel the character's youth.
02:52Indeed, War Dawn, the original Transformers cartoon episode that revealed Optimus' backstory,
02:57featured Orion voiced by the more youthful-sounding Lori Fazo, not Cullen.
03:01I'm Orion!
03:02Orion Pax!
03:03Luckily, Hemsworth's performance as the character is undeniably solid.
03:06He's a natural comedian, and the film plays into that skill set, depicting Orion as a
03:10hothead who never lets an ill-advised idea or plan get away from him.
03:14The film's core journey is seeing how this hotshot becomes Optimus Prime, and Hemsworth
03:18rises to the occasion as his lines get more serious.
03:21As he rallies his fellow Miners into the Autobots, he speaks with conviction born of empathy.
03:26Orion only truly becomes Optimus Prime in the final minutes of the film, and when he
03:29does, Hemsworth's voice drops in pitch.
03:32While Hemsworth has said he wasn't going for a Peter Cullen impression with his performance,
03:36in the film's closing moments, especially the customary, I am Optimus Prime speech,
03:40he starts to speak with Cullen's grave cadence.
03:43No one will mistake it for an exact impression, but it still channels the spirit of the original
03:47Optimus Prime.