Months of rumours were finally laid to rest yesterday when film director Michael Bay confirmed that Jack Reynor (20), star of What Richard Did, is taking up a lead role in Bay’s Transformers franchise.
The deal was months in the making, but Reynor had to remain silent until Bay announced it. “In a way it wasn’t hard to keep it to myself, because I knew that I needed to be careful. Of course, I wanted to tell all my friends and family, it’s such a huge thing. I’m just delighted to be a part of it and for those reasons I knew I had to keep it under wraps.”
Reynor, who was born in the US and grew up in Humphrystown, Co Wicklow, can be forgiven for sounding like a man who can’t quite believe his luck. After his star turn in Lenny Abrahamson’s What Richard Did, for which he has been nominated for a best actor Ifta, few people doubted his talent.
But for the 20-year-old to move straight into the top tier of a major Hollywood franchise is an impressive achievement.
“It’s a big Hollywood action film. It’s amazing to be able to come out of Irish independent cinema and do this. I’m absolute thrilled about it, as you can imagine. It’s such a different animal, I’ll have to adapt as I go and that’s the nature of the beast.”
Bay has announced three new films in the franchise.