Ramon Rodriguez to have a bigger role in third Transformers?
How many of you simply loved Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen? Ok, and how much of you loved Sam Witwicky’s roommate, Leonardo Ponce de Leon Spitz? Well, if you answered “more than meets the eye!” to either of those, I’ve got great news. News that is way better than the idea of watching a robot hump Megan Fox’s leg.
Recently, while talking to the Los Angeles Times, action-movie visionary Michael Bay hinted that the character played by Ramon Rodriguez might have an even bigger role in the third Transformers film, if the threequel “plays out like he expects.” However, that’s where the details ended, as Bay then went on to praise the actor.
“We went looking for a sidekick for this movie, Shia’s sidekick, and we find this new kid who really pops on the screen. I think he’s going to have a real bright career. It’s great to work with big stars, but it’s always fun to discover people,” he said to Hero Complex, a special divison of the LA Times.
The verbal leg humping didn’t stop there, as Bay continued: “He’s got a street edge and a realness to him … he adapted to the actors very well, which isn’t always easy in a big movie, a sequel, where a lot of the cast chemistry has been set already. He’s funny, charming, comes off cool and accessible.”
Earlier in the article Rodriguez described his audition process, which sounds pretty legitimate to how Bay would pick his next superstar.
“For 90 minutes, he had me jumping, running, and diving over the furniture in his office – that was the audition. I was drenched in sweat. He told me, ‘OK, hide behind the desk!’ ‘Now, run over here!’ And man, I was looking in his eyes, and he was enjoying it. He’s got a passion for action. It shows in the movies too.”
My fond memories of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen don’t involve Leo, the misogynistic, misguided, and more importantly obnoxious roommate. He reminded me less of an action hero sidekick but more of the total creeper one hopes their girlfriend never runs into at college (that, or Leo was the second coming of Jar-Jar Binks). Leo felt like extra weight for much of the film, and his only contribution was to make the overall experience even more annoying. So no, Michael Bay. I hope you’re still in la-la land, or your mind isn’t thinking straight because your ears are ringing from listening to your own movie.
But if you do decide to make the most annoying Transformers yet, please – no Bad Boys II posters hanging “discreetly” in Sam Witwicky’s dorm room.
Source: Los Angeles Times
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Visual Effects Supervisor Scott Farrar – Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
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nick thanks for the update. however i disagree… i actually really enjoyed Ramon as Leo. everyone who watched the movie with me cracked up a bunch of times in several of his scenes…and misogynist??? he loves Alice and Mikaela so how is he a misogynist?? can’t wait for part 3!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9LC0Yc6Q_U
Megan Fox tribute
I used the word “misogynist” as another way of saying he disrespected women, though the same word can also be defined as “hatred for women.” Of course Leo doesn’t hate Alice or Mikaela, but he has no respect for them at all as human beings (or in Alice’s case, faux-human, lol) but as walking sex objects, yadda yadda. Of course, you’re thinking, “he’s a boy, in college, so it’s a no-brainer he’s going to be chasing tail.”
But I found Leo to be a pretty epic pervert, one that surpassed the qualifications of a regular skirt chaser (Harpo Marx, for example, chased women, sometimes carrying weapons in sequences that lasted an entire film, but he was always harmless.) That “Hot Freshman 55″ list Leo had? How did he make that list on the first day of moving in? How did he know who was living in his building? Was he spying on them before coming to college? Worse enough, how did Leo get those profile shots of each one of those girls? Did he have them sit down in some photo booth, possibly without them knowing what his intentions were? Did they know these pictures were going to be plastered on a wall in a dormitory full of dudes? Or did Leo and his real effing deal friends hack into the student ID system? If so, what other pictures do they have?
All of these questions I found to be a tad disturbing, and certainly not beneficiary to my thoughts against Leo “Jar-Jar Binks II” Spitz. Really, if John Turturro’s character was doing the same thing, would we all still like him?
The character of Leo is that of a total creeper who would probably do anything to get with a girl. He’s that slimebag whose every move should be watched at a party, especially if he gets around a girl not in full control of herself. (By the way, were they distributing absinthe at that college party? What the f***?!) Like I said above, he’s the exact kind of person you wouldn’t want your girlfriend to even ride the elevator with.
If it’s any compensation, I still find Sam Witwicky to be a pretty great hero, much like Will Smith in the Bad Boys movies. Sometimes awkward, and sometimes throwing himself right into the action, doing each with the same conviction. I hope the only action that Leo Spitz ever gets is from the next Michael Bay self-referencing in Transformers 3, which will he’ll probably say, with his jaw dropping, “WOW! THIS IS JUST LIKE ARMAGEDDON!”