We need to talk Stanley Tucci's cameo in Transformers: The Last Knight. It's so weird some of you reading this may not have even realized he was in the film, but serves as an emblem of how utterly bonkers the film is.
Whether or not it winds up being his last, the fifth entry in the franchise very much feels like a cap on Michael Bay's time as the franchise's chief creative voice. Not only does it take his obsession with dominating human history with Transformers - the film reveals both that Earth's greatest minds are part of secret cabal the order of Witwiccans and the planet itself is Transformer Unicron - but most of the key characters from across the movies (not played by actors who openly badmouthed the director) appeared in some form.
Shia LaBeouf got a crazy faced photo-spot, Nicola Peltz had a one-way conversation with Mark Wahlberg and John Turturro squeezed in one day of filming as Seymour Simmons, now hiding out in Transformer-sympathising Cuba. Tyrese Gibson was even reportedly meant to reappear before his role was cut down to a blink-and-you-definitely-missed-it cameo (he's reportedly in one of the helicopters at the end).
By far the weirdest, though, is Stanley Tucci. You'd be totally forgiven for not even realizing that the chameleon actor was even in the film. His returning involvement was first announced all the way back in September 2016, but since then there's been no word on where he fits and a complete absence from the marketing (although he did make a revealing appearance on the red carpet at the premiere). And, as it turns, this isn't just a returning role, rather a bizarre new part seemingly done as random as any of Mr. Bay's usual action.
Stanley Tucci's Age of Extinction Role
To really hammer home just how strange Tucci's The Last Knight part is, first we should take in where he was up to in the franchise. Fitting of how the series (or rather, the films' immense talent budget) has attracted many big names over the years, he signed on for the fourth film in the series, Age of Extinction. There he played Joshua Joyce, a multi-billionaire industrialist who'd made his name in tech and was now working to construct his own manmade Transformers using the newly discovered element Transformium. This was successful but less profitable than expected, with his "Galvatron" serving as a reincarnation of Megatron (who previously had his spine removed by Optimus Prime at the end of Part 3). When things went to pot he turned sides, working with Mark Wahlberg's Cade Yaegar to take down Lockjaw's attack in Hong Kong and drink some Chinese branded milk.
Obscene product placement aside, Joyce was the single acceptable thing in an otherwise disastrous movie. Whereas Mark Wahlberg and Kelsey Grammar (yes, he was in it) took everything straight faced, Tucci went in with the misplaced zaniness of his Hunger Games character Caesar Flickerman. This resulted in a completely ridiculous, self-aware comic relief character who actually successfully altered the movie's otherwise oppressive tone.
Typical of a continuity flippant franchise, The Last Knight ditches a lot of what's established in Age of Extinction. Wahlberg remains as Cade but his daughter is dropped and invention obsession downplayed, while pretty much every impact the film has on the world bar Optimus' departure to space is backtracked; Autobots are once again being hunted and the most pivotal world event in terms of the aliens is Dark of the Moon's Chicago. This made it hard to figure out how Joyce would return. And, it turns out, he doesn't.
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Stanley Tucci Is Merlin
The Last Knight opens with an extended, Gladiator-esque action sequence featuring burly King Arthur and his Knights of the Roundtable in the midst of battle, slowly losing grip on Britain. The future legend has seemingly put all his hopes in Merlin, who far from the wise mage of age old stories is a posing drunk whose entire magical powers come from the technology of a crashed Transformers ship (like the MCU, the film subscribes to the Arthur C. Clarke ideology that magic is just extremely advanced science). We follow Merlin to the craft where he's finally revealed to be being played by Tucci under heavy makeup.
That Merlin played a key part in the movie's opening sequence was first confirmed with the CinemaCon footage in March, but it noticeably avoided showing the character's face. This was presumed to be to hide the true identity of the actor playing him, which fed the long-standing suspicion he was Anthony Hopkins' obscenely knowledgeable aristocrat. However, Hopkins' Edmund Burton really is just an old English Earl born some time in the 20th Century linked to the magician by the Witwiccan association and little else. Instead it's Tucci, who has excellent fun chewing the scenery as a drunk Brit poser.
In a movie full of weird moments (Mark Wahlberg has a Cybertronian talisman that writhes around his entire body including nether regions that becomes a modern-day Excalibur in the climax), this cameo is one of the most ridiculous for just how understated it is. Tucci's credited in the role but there's no typical focus on the movie star nor any reference made to his previous role.
In fact, what makes his appearance so weird is that the film brings in the idea of modern day descendent of Merlin and totally sidesteps bringing in Joyce. Per the film's mythology, the wizard's staff - a shrunken piece of Cryptonian tech - can only be wielded by Merlin or someone in his bloodline. While this at first feels like a setup for a Tucci double role, it turns out this descendent is Laura Haddock's Viviane Wembly, a British Professor/Doctor/Master who is picked up by Burton and Hot Rod.
How Did This Happen?
So, having laid out the specifics of Tucci's cameo, the question now becomes how did this happen? Why has he come back for a bit-part with nary a mention of his previous involvement? As we're dealing with a big franchise, it's possible that, along with Wahlberg, Tucci signed a multi-film deal and was required to be in The Last Knight, something that was only really considered after the story had come together. This would explain why he was only confirmed in the film last September, long after it had finished shooting.
However, the initial reporting of his casting suggested he would be playing Joyce again. This would instead suggest there was a part for the CEO that, like Gibson, found itself cut. Perhaps it was going to be an addressing of that descendent issue, with Joyce a distant relative of Wembley who served as a red herring Merlin-inheritor before being stricken from contention. That said, it's it's worth noting that the announcement came from Tucci speaking at a French event and had no direct quote, so it's possible that some details were lost in translation and gaps filled with wrongly assumed context.
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Whatever the cause, that shouldn't take away from what is a truly strange part for the actor. It's one of the earliest indications that The Last Knight is going to be an over-the-top exercise in randomness that borders on camp, and when you get that from a Michael Bay summer tentpole it's hard to complain.
