When you inevitably go see Transformers 4: Age of Extinction for it eye candy, pay attention to the backdrops and locations as a few of them were General Motors facilities. The Design Center within the campus of the Warren Technical Center is one of them, with the lobby, staircase, design dome, design executive garage, VR room all being utilized for filming. As was the office of Vice President of Global Design, Ed Welburn.
The Design Center served as the headquarters for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, with Welburn’s office serving as the office of a CIA executive. Which, ironically, is played by Welburn himself, judging by his angry line of “My office, 15 minutes. I think you know where that is,” to actor Mark Wahlberg, who stars in the movie. Welburn wouldn’t give away anything else, but the calm and serene GM design executive admitted that it took a few takes to really come off angry enough for the scene. Last he heard, the scene made the final cut.
Welburn’s office is one that would shame the production designers of Mad Men, as it’s the original office to that of the late and great Harley Earl. Even the furniture is original, yet nothing appears weathered or aged. There’s an impressive collection of little GM concept models on one shelf, like the ’50’s Firebird concepts, and even a mighty Futureliner. Behind his desk, which cascades out of the wall, is a figure of Bumblebee, the Transformer that disguises itself as a Camaro, in case you forgot. Overall, the auto memorabilia in Welburn’s office is fantastic, but it was all shuffled out of the location to film the scene. In the place of all the car stuff were prop CIA books, folders, documents, and a massive CIA crest fitted on the wall. Welburn got to keep it. Filming was also done within the Wind Tunnel Facility. Each time, film crews worked for about a week to get the scene in, doing their best not to disturb the work of the engineers and designers at the same time. Total filming time within the Warren Technical Center spanned about three weeks.
For much of the highway scenes, director Micheal Bay turned again to General Motors to see if the many roads of the Milford Proving Grounds could be utilized, instead of clogging up actual interstates. This also explains the spy shots over a year ago showing the Transformers vehicles moving about within the limits of the massive testing facility.
Transformer 4: Age of Extinction will begin showing in theaters in the United States starting Friday, June 27.
Comments
First off isn’t Harley Earl known by enthusiasts as the father of the corvette as we know it today? Second, I’m not surprised Welburn needed a couple tries to get angry, he never striked me as an angry person, he’s one of those guys that no matter how bad the situation, can always stay calm enough to think straight, still kind of interested in seeing his performance, maybe this his ticket in to Hollywood, eh? Too bad we have to wait 6 more days for the premier in the states, bring the damn movie already!
If you have not seen Earls office it is amazing. It is a piece of history as is nearly everything in the room. Ed has the best office in GM.
I JUST saw Transformers 4! I have an ex girlfriend who works at an Air Force base, and they had an early premier of it. She pulled some strings and got me a ticket!
They also briefly showed the Cadillac Elmiraj concept. It’s a super quick pan of the driver side and front headlight, before zooming out on it. I don’t believe it was used as a transformer. It was super neat that the movie had little Easter Eggs for both Transformers fans and GM fans!
Ed Welburn’s cameo is in the movie still, but he doesn’t say it to Marky-Mark.
I was sitting there totally nerd-ing out all over the place, and tried to explain to her that it was Ed Welburn and who he was…but she didn’t really seem all that interested. No one else in the theater seemed to know or care either. Just me.
Be cautious, y’all, the movie is about 3 hours long. And holy poop sauce, does it feel like a long movie.
In all parts of TRANSFORMERS i most like the TRANSFORMERS-4 Age Of Extinction this is the best part of this movie’s
Would like to have some luxury cars like this Too bad the import fees are expensive.