Paramount held a presentation Las Vegas’ CinemaCon Monday night, where Michael Bay took the stage to help promote his body-building crime comedy Pain & Gain. But while entertaining the masses, Bay revealed that Stanley Tucci joined the cast of the upcoming Transformers 4 in an as-yet-undetermined role.
Tucci will act alongside Pain & Gain star Mark Wahlberg in the fourth Transformers movie, which Bay recently described as a “chase from hell.” During the same presentation, it was revealed that Bay plans to film scenes from the sequel with IMAX cameras. But just about everything else about T4 is being kept under wraps. We believe that the main character will be a teenage girl with a boyfriend who dabbles in race-car circuits. Josh Duhamel might return to the franchise, but all roads likely will flow through Wahlberg, who now has good chemistry with Bay thanks to their time on Pain & Gain.
Tucci, meanwhile, quietly has amassed a string of roles in major franchise installments. While largely accepted as a gifted character actor able to steal scenes in movies like The Devil Wears Prada or Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal, Tucci recently has logged time in The Hunger Games, Captain America: The First Avenger and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.
And while Bay has a reputation for his explosive cinema, he always has had a penchant for casting outstanding actors for his ensembles. Ed Harris and John Turturro have become Bay players. The director has recruited Sean Connery, Frances McDormand and Tony Shaloub for his features. So there will be pockets of acting amidst the explosions, even in Transformers 4.
