Chris Hemsworth on the Most Unnerving Aspect of Dubbing Optimus Prime

Chris Hemsworth does a great job voicing Optimus Prime in the new Transformers One animated film, but let’s face it, it’s not Peter Cullen.

Cullen is Optimus Prime, and there was really no reason to replace him. Sure, the directors will tell you they wanted someone new to voice a younger version of the character, but seriously, they just have to be honest… they wanted a big, A-list actor attached to the role. They wanted Chris Hemsworth’s name used in all the marketing, not Peter Cullen’s.

So now we have an Optimus Prime that sounds like Chris Hemsworth. When talking about taking on the role of this iconic character, Hemsworth shared what made him so nervous:

“I was grateful that what I wasn’t required to do was come in and imitate/copy what Peter Cullen had done. This was the younger version. Playful, before he became the all-knowing and wise Optimus Prime.

“Towards the end of the movie, there’s a kind of speech or two where we really lean into the cadence and the vocal quality of what Peter was doing. And that was the most nerve-wracking part for me.”

He continued to talk about being directed by Josh Cooley and how he had time to recover, saying: “There were moments in the movie where I leaned a little too far in this direction, a little too soon, and Josh (Cooley) was like, ‘Oh, this looks great, but we’re not there yet.’

She added: “It was something that really excited me about the film and the character. It was a new take and something unique.”

The version of Optimus Prime we meet in this movie is not the same character many of us grew up with. This is a reimagining of the character, and they made that clear with this movie. Regardless, this is a really fun movie that tells a solid story.