Brian Tyree Henry Stars In ‘Transformers One’ [Interview] – Essence

Once again, Brian Tyree Henry is showcasing his versatility as an entertainer. The North Carolina native stars in the newly released Transformers One as the voice of D-16, who ultimately becomes known as Megatron. Heralded for his powerful performances across film, television, and theater, Henry brings an unexpected depth to this iconic character.

“I never go into a role thinking I’m the bad guy,” Henry explains to ESSENCE. “I wanted people to leave the movie feeling conflicted about Megatron, maybe even understanding him.”

The complexity of playing the Decepticons’ leader isn’t foreign territory for the actor, as he delivered an Academy Award-nominated performance in Causeway, the 2022 film that highlighted his ability to delve into emotionally layered roles. Prior to that, he shined as Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles in Atlanta, and also received critical acclaim for his supporting role in If Beale Street Could Talk, along with a standout outing in Godzilla vs. Kong.

Henry’s role in Transformers One marks a return to the world of animation. In previous years, he was the voice behind Jefferson Davis in the Spider-Verse franchise, and also played an integral part in The Magician’s Elephant. His current role, however, is serendipitous for the 42-year-old. “I grew up watching Transformers on Saturday mornings,” Henry recalled, adding that being part of such a legendary series was a no-brainer. “It’s fascinating to explore how Megatron, before becoming the villain we know, was shaped by friendship and betrayal.”

With his new film now in theaters, Henry’s portrayal adds yet another remarkable performance to his already impressive career. His ability to humanize even the most notorious characters continues to solidify him as one of Hollywood’s most dynamic talents.

ESSENCE: How did the opportunity to star in Transformers One come to you initially?

Brian Tyree Henry: I got a call from Paramount saying that they wanted me to play Megatron. I thought I was being punked, at first. I was like, “There’s no way that they want me.” It’s just such an iconic character. And I immediately was like, “Sure, man.” My 10-year-old self was like, “You gotta do it.” I could hear my 10-year-old self in the background, pushing me really hard, saying “You’ve got to take this opportunity.”

So once the part came, man, it was a no-brainer to be a part of it. And then once I realized who I’d be playing opposite of, once I saw that Chris Hemsworth was a part of it, Scarlett and Key, I was like, “Oh, well, this is such a great ensemble.”

Speaking to that; did you feel any pressure or increased responsibility becoming such a well-known character in an iconic franchise?

Absolutely. I come from the generation—Transformers has been out for almost 40 years now. Its origin was in the 80s, and it was a Saturday morning cartoon, which I definitely woke up to. My ritual was waking up on Saturday, like most of us, getting up, putting our face close to the TV, watching like a four-hour block of cartoons. And then going outside and playing with the toys of those cartoons, if you were lucky enough to have them. I was not lucky enough to have them like that. So I had to find my own way of joining the Transformers circles.

But it’s such a part of the nostalgia of growing up as a 80s kid. And so I just remember thinking when I was watching these shows, how very few Black voices I heard, and how very few Black characters there were. I took that into consideration when taking this part. To be able to be a part of animation now in such a broad way with inclusion and how diverse these characters are now. It’s something that I wish I had growing up, honestly.

I also knew the stamp that Frank Welker put on doing Megatron. He has made this villain so iconic and so legendary. It was something that was always in the back of my mind. But what was really great about this movie is that we’re starting at the very beginning. Right?

Right.

It’s an origin story. So you’re actually meeting Megatron and Optimus Prime before they become these two formidable foes, before they become leaders. So you’re actually meeting them in the youth. So that gave me a lot of playing space to figure out who I wanted him to be, how I wanted viewers to receive him. The entryway into understanding who he really is and how he became the Megatron we know him as today.

With this being an origin story, how did you prepare for this particular role of Megatron?

Well, with every role that I do, I always feel like there’s a part of me that’s in there. I have to start there, always. And with Megatron, it was no different. I’ve always had a fascination with villains my entire life. I’m always like, “Well, they just tell us we’re supposed to hate them.” And, “They’re always evil and they’re always dark.” And, “We’re always meant to be opposed to villains.”

I’ve always just been intrigued about how they became that way. We so rarely get a chance to know how villains become villains. They usually don’t start off that way. This film allowed me to really peel back those layers of that onion to see that. So I first started with, “Where is he in his life? And what stage of development is Megatron at?” And so I figured he was at that coming-of-age time, like 18, 19, 20.

So I thought about myself. I thought about myself at 18, leaving home, going to Morehouse College. Trying to figure out my identity, trying to figure out who my best friends were, trying to figure out who I wanted to be in the world. And also when I realized that the world wasn’t what I thought it was going to be, I realized the moment that I went through disillusionment for the first time, I was just like, “Wait, this isn’t right.” The moment that I noticed that injustices were happening around me and what kind of man I wanted to be amongst all that.

So I viewed that with D-16, and I was like, “Oh, I feel like this is exactly what’s going on with him.” We meet him in the movie and he has a job that he’s okay with, it satisfies his needs. But he has a best friend that is also his co-worker, but really becomes his confidant and his closest ally. And then also, he’s living in a world that he’s always known. He’s never veered off any further than Cybertron. He’s never seen the surface before. He has never done any of these things. And so I just thought about my 18-year-old self and my 19-year-old self and development of who I wanted to be and I just put that into Megatron.

You just spoke about playing the villain, which I wanted to discuss with you. A lot of actors that I’ve spoken to in the past say they love playing a villain because villains a lot of times they get the best lines, they’re in the best scenes, they’re the most memorable. What’s your take on playing a villain as opposed to playing a good guy in your roles?

I never view them as villains.

Really?

I never go into it experiencing it as that, “Oh, I’m doing something bad. I’m doing something wrong.” Actually, I believe that everything I’m doing is just. Everything that I believe I’m doing is for the betterment of everyone around me. The thing I’m doing is just, but I’m in a world that has told us we have to be this way and that we should color within these lines. And I’m like, “No, why do we have to do that?”

So I, actually, try to come to my villainhood in this movie by trying to understand his heart, honestly. Because I was like, “At the end of the day, what I want to leave viewers with is a sense of confusion, in a way. Like kind of dismantling everything they’ve known over these past decades of what they’ve been told about Megatron.” I really wanted to confuse them and shock their senses a bit to be like, “Oh, wait, that’s what he’s about? Oh, I actually rock with that. Actually, I truly understand.” I wanted people to leave the movie being like, “I’m about that deceptive kind of life now. I didn’t think that I was, but I actually think that I understand it.”

Because I think that that is a service to the character. It’s hard to have that kind of moniker on you to dismiss that you shouldn’t be liked and you shouldn’t be cared about. And I, personally, know what that’s like. You know what I mean? That was something that I truly carried into the character. I was like, “I know what it’s like for people to put labels on you and to deny you either, because of how you look or where you come from. I know exactly what that feels like.”

So I was like, “I wonder if I can crack people’s minds open, make them question a bit why they felt the way they did about Megatron. And maybe leave with a completely different perspective of actually caring about him.”

Do you find a  difference in your preparation for traditional films, as opposed to an animated film?

It’s really interesting, because with animated films, I know I can roll out of bed and go into the studio with what I was wearing in bed. That to me, was the biggest perks, because you have to remove all ego, you’re doing animation. It’s not about how you present yourself. It’s not about what fancy restaurant or what full event you went to. It’s really about your voice and truly the heart of who you are, because that’s what is captured. 

So what I do love is that you kind of have to check your ego at the door, which I didn’t realize in any way that I had a sense of ego. Because I was like, “I don’t really have an ego. I’m still trying to figure out what my ego is.” But whatever that is, leave it at the door, because you’re going in and it’s in service to these characters. Because the first interaction that people in those seats are going to have is hearing your voice. And that will inform the journey, so on.

It’s also quite silly what we do when you’re doing animation. Because you’re in a booth and you’re doing your efforts. And efforts are, basically, any kind of onomatopoeia effort that you give. Like, breathing hard when you’re running, or making fighting sounds, or having to sob when you’re sad… it’s a lot.

But it really requires a sense of imagination. You really have to go in and live your biggest fantasy life. Because you don’t know what the story is going to look like in front of you. You just have a script and you have the circumstance and the stakes, but you don’t know if that’s a mountain you’re climbing. You don’t know how high the mountain is. You don’t know the proximity you are to certain people in the scene. You have no clue what it is. So you have to just go in, and put in the work.

Being that this is an animated film, in what ways were you able to build chemistry with your co-stars during the filming process?

It’s so crazy. Animation is so fascinating, because you are never in the same place with your scene partner. But like with Chris, he was definitely in Australia doing it and was filming a series at the time, and doing a couple of other projects, as well.

So you’re going in the booth with all these different circumstances going on in your own personal life, and you’re not in the booth with your partner. So you just have to imagine what you think their reactions would be, what their timing would be.

We were pretty fortunate enough on this one that our director, Josh Cooley, would sometimes play things from Chris’ side and would sometimes play Chris’ things from my side, so we could make adjustments where we needed. But for the most part, you were really just sitting there with the script. And I love that, though. That’s my favorite thing.

Even when I was doing Spider-Man, my wonderful super partner, Luna Velez, who plays my wife, we were never in the same place. But we had to somehow make sure that people felt that this was such a united bond, like a true marriage that felt real and felt grounded in love and intimacy. And so I just always would think about, I know how great Luna is, I know what her deliverances are like. So I wonder if like, “She says it this way. If I put “baby” here, maybe I’m close to her and maybe we steal a kiss.” So you’re just playing. You really get to going and have a sense of play.

And the same thing happened here when I was playing Megatron opposite Chris. I just tried to figure out how I thought his delivery would be. Because there’s a certain kind of playfulness that comes along with them that you don’t get to see. There’s a certain sense of worry that happens between the characters that you’ve never seen before. So I just use my imagination to try to see what kind of sense of play and what kind of sense of character that Chris was bringing.