Reality show to find Chinese actors for Transformers 4

A reality show will find Chinese actors to appear in the forthcoming Chinese-US co-production of 'Transformers 4', it has emerged.

The TV project has been given the descriptive – if perhaps not all that catchy – title 'Transformers 4 Chinese Actor Talent Search'.

[Related story: Transformers 4 will be a Chinese co-production]
[Related story: How Hollywood films were censored for the Chinese market]

Four roles are to be up for grabs on the show, and contestants will be judged by Sid Ganis, the former head of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 'Transformers 4' producer Lorenzo DiBonaventura, the film's casting director Denise Chamian and Megan Colligan, Paramount's marketing chief.

They will seek two hopefuls without any acting experience, and two with acting experience for the four available roles.

The winners will join 'a number of talented Chinese actors and actresses' in the production.

The opportunity, said judge Ganis, will give actors and fans of the 'Transformers' franchise the opportunity to be appearing in a major motion picture, and it will provide the world audience yet another glimpse of the Chinese people, the Chinese culture and China itself'.

The show will air in June.

It follows news that the fourth film in the 'Transformers' series, directed once more by Michael Bay, will be a co-production and partly shot in China.

The last 'Transformers' film, 'Dark of the Moon', made an enormous $165 million in China alone.

The next film will star Mark Wahlberg and Nicola Peltz in starring roles, and recently announced the appointment of Stanley Tucci to the cast.

It's due out in June, 2014.