Mark Wahlberg reveals filming Ted was perfect preparation for Transformers

Gun-toting Mark Wahlberg takes over from Shia LaBeouf in the lead role of Transformers 4: Age of Extinction.

There aren’t many practical ways of preparing for a Transformers movie but Mark Wahlberg’s was still unconventional.

The actor takes on the lead role in the re-launch of the all-action, metal crunching franchise and says that acting alongside a 25ft Autobot was similar to his experience playing off a 2ft cuddly toy.

“Ted was definitely a good warm-up,” says Mark, who starred in Seth MacFarlane’s 2012 movie about a foul-mouthed toy bear.

“With Ted, it was a more intimate setting. But this movie is much bigger and more intense. You’ve got eight Autobots talking to you at the same time. There’s nothing but a pole or a stick really there. You’ve got to believe and totally commit.

“The most difficult part of acting is when you look ridiculous and have to confront the risk of looking foolish. You’ve got to be on the whole time you can’t phone it in.”

Transformers 4: Age of Extinction is set four years on from the end of the last outing, with its climatic battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons which left Chicago in ruins and claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians.

The divisive Michael Bay is still in the director’s chair, but Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky is no more, although the troubled star managed to steal some of the headlines from the release of his former franchise by being arrested for disruptive behaviour during a Broadway performance of Cabaret last weekend. It has since been reported he has checked himself into rehab.

Gone too (hopefully to drama school if she ever wants another acting role) is British model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who replaced Megan Fox as the eye candy in Bay’s none-too-subtle appeal to teenage boys.

In their place is Wahlberg, the 43-year-old former boy band member who is well placed to offer LaBeouf advice having turned his life around after spending 45 days in jail in his late teens for assault, and Nicola Peltz, the 19-year-old blonde beauty best known for her role as Bradley Martin in Universal Channel’s Bates Motel.

They play a father and daughter who discover a dilapidated Optimus Prime and decide to help him evade capture by the US government, who have now turned against the Autobots following the decimation of Illinois’ Windy City.

“I loved the fact I was playing a dad with a teenage daughter, which is something I will be faced with in the near future so it was good practice,” smiles Mark, who is dad to two daughters, Ella, 10, and Grace, four, as well as two sons, Michael, eight, and Brendan, five, with wife Rhea Durham.

“I hadn’t really envisioned myself in that role until recently, but that whole thing about having to deal with the boyfriend and stuff are things that I think about all the time.”

Shooting on the $165 million blockbuster took six months, filming in various locations across America before moving on to China (in a sign of the times, half of the budget was raised by a Chinese production company and the film had its worldwide premiere in Shanghai) for the decisive battle in the packed streets of Hong Kong.

Bay then got to work adding his trademark special effects and gimmickry, but calling Mark back some months later to reshoot a couple of scenes caused a small problem for the actor as he was nearly four stone lighter.

“I had to come back for some pick-up shots and when Michael saw me, he freaked,” laughs Mark, who lost the weight to portray a literature professor with a gambling addiction for the remake of James Caan’s 1974 hit The Gambler.

“He was used to seeing me on the healthier side, but here I am skinny with long, stringy hair. He was like, ‘You can’t look like that!’”

In the end, the director managed to film Mark in a way that obscured his own transformation.

Our verdict: 1/5

American director Michael Bay is the Marmite of the movie-making industry.

I was not alone in liking his opening to the Hasbro toy franchise, but the loud and lousy sequels have left film reviewers bitter even if they took over a billion at the box office.

This relaunch is certainly not trying to reconnect with the critics as it’s pretty much the same deal as the second and third movies only with different actors (although, frankly, I missed the light relief provided by the model who couldn’t act her way out of an awkward situation in a lift).

When it comes to character development, editing (it’s nearly three hours long!) and the copious amounts of product placement, this film can accurately be described as an abomination.

But until one of Bay’s blockbusters bomb at his nation’s box office, why would he care?