How Cleveland’s Steven Caple Jr. quickly rose from indie director to the mammoth ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’

Mar 19, 2023

Director Steven Caple Jr. on the set of "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts."Jonathan Wenk

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- As a kid in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood, Steven Caple Jr. was first introduced to "Transformers" by watching a VHS tape of the original animated film. That movie came out in 1986, two years before he was born. By the time "Beast Wars: Transformers" came out in 1996, Caple was hooked, watching episodes on WUAB Channel 43 before school and then breaking them down with his friends afterward.

Little did 8-year-old Steven know then that by the time he was 35, he would make a film, "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts," based on that very cartoon, and that it would premiere in theaters across the globe on Friday. It's the kind of story Hollywood makes up if it wasn't already true.

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