Transformers 3 Taking Over LA

While MB.com's Nelson was confirming the casting of Rosie Huntington-Whitey, he also posted an article to LA Times about Transformers 3 taking "over L.A. streets" for about six weeks in the 4 and half long shooting schedule for the film. They also indicated that the film's estimated budget is in line with the previous film with a $200 million budget. Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (going to get tiresome writing that name all the way), and Patrick Dempsey will be all over L.A. shooting scenes. Apparently "attractive rebates" drove some of the decisions on where to shoot. I wonder why they skipped over Georgia's rebates which just recently scored Vampire Diaries and The Walking Dead. The previous two films also shot in LA, with the city used for the climactic battle in the first movie.

The DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures production has been shooting on a sound stage at the former Spruce Goose Howard Hughes hangar at Playa Vista and will film exterior shots throughout the L.A. area over the next several weeks, including Long Beach, West Hollywood, Century City and Malibu.

"Mike, [producer] Lorenzo [di Bonaventura] and I are all big fans of trying to keep as much of our production in L.A. as possible," said Bay's producing partner, Ian Bryce. "It's a big movie. All our stage work is being done here."

In all, six weeks of the 4 1/2 months of shooting will occur in the L.A. area, with the rest of the filming spread across Chicago, Detroit, Washington and Cape Canaveral, Fla., and a few foreign locales, including Russia and an undisclosed African country, Bryce said.

Bryce said the science-fiction action movie starring Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Patrick Dempsey required more diverse locations than L.A. could offer, and also cited the advantages of "very attractive rebates" offered in Michigan and Illinois, which will also host the production for six weeks.