Yahoo News Pete Davidson brings 'The Mask meets Bugs Bunny' to Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
While 2018's Bumblebee was set in the 1980s, this year's Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is dripping with '90s flair. Audiences may notice a visual homage to the Tupac Shakur film Juice, or the Walker Wear clothing among the costumes, or Lauren Vélez of New York Confidential within the cast — among many other callouts.
Director Steven Caple Jr. couldn't help it. The Creed II filmmaker, 35, was an '80s baby who grew up watching Beast Wars — the Saturday morning Transformers cartoon that would inspire his franchise entry — in the same decade that gave us Bad Boys. It's also why Mirage, the Autobot voiced by Saturday Night Live alum Pete Davidson, is a Porsche 911. The first time Caple saw a Porsche was in that Martin Lawrence, Will Smith two-hander.
"For me, it was like, whatever felt nostalgic and made me think of my childhood," Caple tells EW, a month out from the film's release on June 7. "Even from selecting the cars and the characters, it was just like, how can I pay homage to that era?"
Davidson, 29, was a big help in that regard. According to Caple, the star of Bupkis and The King of Staten Island infused even more '90s references in the dialogue when he arrived to record his voiceover. "One of them actually made the trailer," Caple points out. He's referring to when Mirage, the Autobot with the neat trick of creating illusions, delivers his version of a Jim Carrey line from 1994's Dumb and Dumber: "I like it a lot."
"He did that throughout the entire film and found ways to bring in a little bit of Adam Sandler, while all under the umbrella of Pete Davidson," Caple says.
Paramount Pictures Pete Davidson's Mirage is like the 'young teenager' of 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,' says director Steven Caple Jr.
Caple didn't know if Davidson would even be interested in voicing a role in a Transformers movie. It didn't seem like it would be up his alley, but that's exactly why Davidson wanted to do it. "He was like, 'Dude, me in a Transformers movie? That might not even mix. That's why it's a good idea,'" Caple recalls. "He's like, 'No one's gonna see this coming.'"
The director wanted a character to act as a foil to Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), who's not the same leader of the Autobots audiences met in the Michael Bay movies. At the start of Rise of the Beasts, he's burdened with the task of getting his team back to Cybertron — and then the Maximals, ancient Transformers that take the shape of animals rather than vehicles, enter the mix.
Mirage isn't up for the return trip home just yet. He's been living on earth for the seven years that precede the events of Rise of the Beasts, and he's been soaking up the culture of the time. Hence all the '90s references that are inherent to the character. "Personality-wise, he's an outcast and a rebel," Caple mentions.
Keeping with the '90s, the director remembers how Davidson threw out an image: "The Mask meets Bugs Bunny." Similar to Jim Carrey's Stanley Ipkiss character, who transforms into a chaotic personality when he puts on the titular green mask of the 1994 movie, Caple says the "fast-talking" Mirage is someone you can't hold down. Similar to Bugs, "He's a good character, but sometimes he toes the line," Caple adds.
Mirage became a fun character to put in the same arena as the Maximals. Led by the gorilla-shaped Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman), this group comes with a deep history and understanding of sacrifice. "Mirage just goes with the flow," Caple explains. "He's a live-in-the-moment type of guy. As much as everyone's talking about the past or the future, he's living in the now. And honestly, it's weird, I feel like that's Pete Davidson."
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