Transformers: Rise of the Beasts crew had to go to extreme lengths to protect ‘sacred’ Machu Picchu during filming in ‘tough’ conditions-Kitty Chrisp-Entertainment – Metro

There were some pretty specific challenges involved in filming at Machu Picchu (Picture: Paramount/metrograb)

Director Steven Caple Jr. has spoken about what it was like to film at the sacred site of Machu Picchu for the new Transformers film – and it wasn’t all smooth sailing.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, released last week and starring Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, is the seventh installment of the multi-billion dollar franchise.

Visually, the crew didn’t do anything in halves for the film as they took an epic car chase to the real Williamsburg Bridge in New York City, and even trekked up to Machu Picchu in Peru for the inevitable autobots showdown.

Now, director Steven, 35 – who also worked on Creed II and The Land – has divulged details of how the crew managed to respect such a sacred site while getting all the shots they needed.

The director explained how it was ‘tough’ as cameras weren’t allowed to touch the ‘sacred’ ground – not even for a breather – while filming on the mysterious Incan Empire site.

He also explained how they even had to ‘shut down’ filming on several occasions; on one because of extreme mist, and on another because of a frog.

Machu Picchu was seen in the new Transformers film, but not quite as you know it (Picture: Paramount/metrograb)

The crew had to be super careful about protecting the ‘sacred’ place (Picture: Paramount/metrograb)

They couldn’t put their cameras on the ground at all on site (Picture: Paramount/metrograb)

Chatting exclusively to Metro.co.uk, Steven said: ‘Macchi Picchu is beautiful, very majestic. We shot there for roughly two weeks, and it was tough.

‘You know, it was one of those scenarios where we weren’t in control of the environment at all, so it would rain at any given moment, clouds would get in front of us, we can’t see like 2ft in front of us, so we had to shut down the cameras.

‘We couldn’t let any of the equipment touch the ground, everything was sacred so we had to carry things for hours. And I’m talking camera equipment, all of it.

‘So it was tough to shoot there but it was well worth it, it was an experience. I think we captured a lot of the magic that was there, and even a little bit of the history too. ‘

The final results of the crew’s hard work were truly epic (Picture: Paramount/metrograb)

Anthony Ramos stars in the film alongside Dominique Fishback (Picture: Paramount/metrograb)

Anthony is known as the star of stage play Hamilton (Picture: Paramount/metrograb)

The filmmaker went on to recall how one day a ‘poisonous frog’ forced the crew to ‘clear’ the set and halt filming when it was spotted next to actor Dominique.

‘Apparently this frog we were warned about this entire time was behind Dom and Dom saw it, and so we had to clear set to see if we could find this frog,’ he explained.

‘So that was pretty scary.’

They also had to re-record all the sound in one section of the film because bats were flapping away in a nearby cave.

Alongside the Hamilton actor Anthony, 31, and 32-year-old Dominique, Peter Cullen voices Optimus Prime, and Pete Davidson is the man behind Mirage.

The Capture’s Ron Perlman voices Optimus Primal, while Everything Everywhere All at Once’s Michelle Yeoh is Airazor.

Meanwhile, Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage does a brilliant job of depicting evil antagonist Scourge.

Steven’s favourite scene though is the one on Williamsburg Bridge, which is a car chase with a twist.

‘The fact that Anthony Anthony Ramos’ character Noah is learning about this robot while they’re having this car chase sequence feels really unique to me,’ he explained.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is in cinemas now.

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