New Interview With Transformers: The Movie Cast & Crew Reveals New Details Of The Making Of The Animated Film

(Flint Dille): Well, it did from the point of view that we knew this was going to be a very big movie. Of course, the purpose of the movie was not only to have something in theaters, but also to introduce next year's product line. Which meant that we had to first kill off the old product line to make way for the new toys.

TR: So Optimus Prime had to die?

FD: Exactly. We just didn't realize that it was going to bother anybody! :laughs: But I'd argue that had we not killed him, we wouldn't be talking about Transformers right now. Still, we didn't know the can of worms that we were opening when we wrote those scenes.

TR: Can you talk about writing his death scene?

FD: Well, Gerber and I were trying to figure out how to kill Optimus, and we probably re-wrote that scene at least five-hundred times. And one day he tells me that he's got some comic book guy coming over to the office for lunch. So the guy comes in, and he's been working on some Batman book, and we start talking about killing Optimus. And I mentioned that I wanted to do it like Davy Crockett dying in The Alamo. You know, that old John Wayne movie? And the comic guy says, "Have you heard of The 300 Spartans? You should do it like that!" And of course, it was Frank Miller.

TR: That's amazing.

FD: Yeah, it's pretty cool to think about.