Transforming the film industry. Photo: Jamie McCarthy/WireImage
SOURCE: Axios Cleveland | Troy Smith
June 7, 2023
A Cleveland native is at the helm of what promises to be one of this summer’s blockbusters.
Driving the news: “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” opens this week and is directed by John Marshall High School grad Steven Caple Jr., who left Tremont for USC film school.
- Here’s a look at the projects that propelled Caple to blockbuster glory:
Caple’s big break came in 2013 when his student film “A Different Tree” won HBO’s Short Film competition.
- It follows an 8-year-old girl who builds a relationship with her absent father through a school family tree project.
Caple’s first feature film was shot in Cleveland over three weeks in July 2015.
- “The Land,” which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016, centers on four teenage boys who hope to use skateboarding to make it out of Cleveland but get caught in the web of a local drug queenpin.
Caple stepped up to the big leagues when he took over the “Rocky”/”Creed” franchise from former USC classmate Ryan Coogler (“Black Panther”).
- Caple directed Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone in “Creed 2,” which grossed more than $214 million worldwide.
“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”
Caple directs the seventh entry in a “Transformers” film franchise that has grossed nearly $5 billion worldwide.
- “Rise of the Beasts” is expected to earn around $70 million during its opening week in North America, which would be the largest haul yet for a Caple-helmed film.
What’s next: Caple will direct and produce “Byall,” according to Deadline.
- The film is set in a dystopian world without police, where justice is crowd sourced.