Korean press get mad at ‘Transformers’ stars, director

Michael Bay and cast felt the wrath of the Korean press yesterday when they showed up 30-minutes late to their news conference to promote “Transformers 2: The Revenge of the Fallen.”

The Dreamworks-Paramount PR machine had shot itself on the foot the day before, appearing one hour and 20 minutes late to the film’s premiere at the Yongsan CGV I’Park Mall in Seoul.

Megan Fox is dazzling in her body-hugging dress in Seoul

Yesterday’s late appearance saw many of the same photojournalists attend the news conference who had braved the downpour the day earlier. Their tempers finally overran when the director and his two leading stars, Shia LeBouef and Megan Fox failed to arrive in time yet again with one photographer shouting, “This goes to show they have no respect for Korea so I propose a boycott of this press conference,” before packing his equipment and staging a walk out.

Miffed and seeking satisfaction, the upset band of photographers became vocal of their disapproval of what they saw as a snub from the cast and crew of the upcoming film. Several others followed suit with the event’s host, a television presenter with the Arirang cable network snapping back at the photographers saying, “Isn’t it also rude for you to walk out like this?”

After the conference had began, the film’s hot commodity and rising starlet Megan Fox, 24, explained her recent declaration to GQ Magazine that all actors were prostitutes.

“Actors are in the business of selling their image so in that regard you can say we are prostitutes,” she said adding, “I didn’t mean for that to be literal or aimed at actresses or anyone – I meant all actors.”

About the film, Director Bay said the film was really about Sam and Mikhaila and that he wanted to portray heroism and self-sacrifice in the mold of the “samurai spirit.”

Bay apologized to the reporters and photographers for being late but immediately left a bitter aftertaste by claiming Korea had never been on their PR radar until they heard how well received the original was by Korean movie-goers.

The sequel to last summer’s box office smash takes the Hasbro cash-cow into more pseudo-mythical theatrics, re-uniting the cast with Optimus Prime and his band of Autobots battling the evil Decepticons. The story takes place two years after the events of the first film. Sam, played with admirable conviction by Shia LeBoef, is now a college student wanting to go back to a normal life after saving the world from ruin, but he is thrust back into the fray when a new threat emerges.

This time, the sequel delves deeper into the “Transformers” universe through various and preposterously illogical expository scenes and sequences, one of which explains the origins of the film’s newest threat – an overlord of the Decepticons who is in hibernation inside what looks to be a space satellite inspired by H.R. Giger.

Although the sequel’s production came with a larger budget, more robots, and a longer running time, a cohesive plot and the concept of cuts lasting more than 3-seconds appear not to have been considered by Bay and crew.

The film opens nationwide in Korea June 24. (Korea Herald)