One week ago, rumors were passing through just about every tube of the internet that Michael Bay was looking to cast Mark Wahlberg in Transformers 4 after their collaboration on the upcoming Pain and Gain. Bay himself denied this speculation, stating that the two were merely discussing a different future project altogether.
Now, Bay has implied on his blog that the internet may have persuaded him to cast Wahlberg in the new Transformers movie after all. He writes:
I squashed a rumor that was on the internet last week. It was about Mark Walhberg. Mark was rumored to be staring [sic] in Transformers 4. We are working on another movie together, not T4. I had such a great time working with Mark on Pain and Gain, and he gave such a great performance – well let’s say that very internet chatter gave me some ideas. We are at the inception of our story process right now on T4. Let’s say some ideas are gaining traction with me and my writer – so I’m here to say thanks internet chatter.
Most are now interpreting this coy post to mean that Michael Bay is looking to find a way to work Mark Wahlberg into the Transformers 4 script, in some capacity. Not only would this be a noteworthy breath of life into the franchise thanks to Wahlberg’s action credentials, it would give the online community a real sense of ownership in this movie. And with Bay seemingly now open to ideas from “internet chatter,” there’s no telling what other unexpected populist turns this highly anticipated project could take. The second coming of Snakes on a Plane, perhaps?
What do you think? Would Michael Bay have success just turning his films over to crowdsourcing at this point? Is Mark Wahlberg’s potential involvement enough to get you excited about Transformers 4?
Let us know in the comment section below.