Never one to turn away a good chance for sneaky publicity, or indeed to lie to journalists’ faces when asked about plot developments on his upcoming films (cough Megatron in Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen cough), Michael Bay has now brought the saga of the will-he-won’t-he Mark Wahlberg in Transformers 4 to a close with a resounding, er, yes.
After shooting down rumours and then this week making references to “internet chatter” affecting him and “his writer” (Ehren Kruger), Bay revealed on his website that he intends to continue the bromance hatched working with Wahlberg on bodybuilding action comedy Pain And Gain.
“Mark is awesome. We had a blast working on Pain And Gain and I’m so fired up to be back working with him. An actor of his calibre is the perfect guy to re-invigorate the franchise and carry on the Transformers’ legacy,” said Bay. So we’ll see the Ted star face down the Decepticons and help out Optimus Prime. Or whatever he ends up doing.
The most recent plot talk, taken from casting sides, had another young pair – a racecar driver and his girlfriend (or a racecar driver and her boyfriend) – involved with the robots this time. Whether Wahlberg will play one of those roles remains to be seen.
Transformers: Whatever The Subtitle Ends Up Being is scheduled to begin shooting in the spring and will hit screens on June 27, 2014. Bay has its completion will see him handing the franchise’s AllSpark on to someone else, but who knows what the future holds? Or if Mike’s telling the truth? We’re on to you, dude. We’re bringing a polygraph machine to the next interview. Oh, and in case you didn't guess, the image at the top of the page is the film’s first logo treatment.