Peter Cullen Interview: Creating the Voice of Optimus Prime, Predator & More
620Before Transformers: Rise of the Beasts opened in theaters, Collider and IMAX offered fans in Los Angeles the opportunity to see the film early. Partnering with Paramount Pictures, we invited readers to check out director Steven Caple Jr.’s entry to the live-action Autobot universe that Michael Bay’s Transformers kicked off in 2007, but this screening had a very special, very esteemed guest. Following the movie, Editor-in-chief Steve Weintraub sat down with the voice of Optimus Prime, Peter Cullen.
Whether Transformers or pop culture, in general, brought you here, if you’re reading this, you’ve heard Cullen’s voice. The Emmy nominee has lent his talent to numerous iconic characters, including the loveably melancholic Eeyore in The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh as well as conceiving and performing the unmistakable clicks of the franchise apex, Predator. In Rise of the Beasts, Cullen reprises arguably the most notable voice of them all as Optimus Prime, often the golden voice of reason among his fellow Autobots. When hearing the Transformer’s booming, “Autobots, roll out,” alongside co-stars Liza Koshy, Pete Davidson, Ron Perlman, and Michelle Yeoh, it’s easy to imagine it’s edited to sound so majestic. At the screening, we found out that — and many other voices and sounds — come so naturally to Cullen.
During the Q&A, Cullen reflects back on his career, all the way back to the first sounds he learned and the first voices he mimicked, a talent that, at the time, landed him in hot water. He shares the difficulties of voice acting, which character is his favorite to do – besides Optimus – and the origins of the Predator’s noises. Cullen also tells the emotional and personal story of how he found the legendary voice of the leader of the Autobots, what it was like to work with Bay and Caple Jr., and talks about how the job has changed since the ‘80s. Check out all of this and more in the video or transcript below.
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