Transformers 3 Updates

With visions of 2009's Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen still fresh in audience's minds, Michael Bay is already hard at work on Transformers 3, which he promises will be bigger, better, and 100 percent less Megan-Foxy when it hits theaters in 2011.

Speaking with USA Today while on set recently, director Bay revealed that the newest Transformers film would ditch the elements that made its predecessor the subject of ridicule, including what he terms the "dorky comedy." The twin robots that came under fire for being racist characters are "basically gone" confirms Bay, though Sam Witwicky's (Shia LaBeouf) annoying college roomie, played by John Tuturro, will be back to provide for laughs.

Definitely gone and forgotten though, is Megan Fox and her character of Mikaela, who functioned as Sam's love interest and eye candy for the audience in the first two films. Depending on who you ask, and what unnamed source you trust, Fox's departure from the franchise was either the result of her quitting thanks to verbal abuse from Bay, or Bay firing her for her very public comments criticizing him.

But when on the record, Bay defers to politeness, telling USA Today that, "I love Megan and I miss the girl. But Sam and Mikaela became one character, and here ... you have discovery again from a new perspective."

The new perspective is none other than Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, a Victoria's Secret model who will enter the world of acting by making her screen debut as Sam's new object of desire.

As for the actual plot of Transformers 3, Bay promises a story that deals with mystery and the space race between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. -- but the story will still have a clear-cut robot villain (Shockwave, a robot who turns into a laser cannon) and a definitive, hopefully non-robot-heaven ending.

Promises Bay, "It could be rebooted again, but I think it has a really killer ending."