Isabela Moner steps into the spotlight in ‘The Last Knight’
Isabela Moner admits she isn’t an imposing creature among the towering Decepticons and Autobots in Transformers: The Last Knight.
“I’m 5 feet tall, and that’s on a good day,” she says.
But Moner, 15, steals scenes in director Michael Bay’s fifth Transformers, exploding in theaters this week.
Five keys that allowed the Cleveland native to go from Nickelodeon’s 100 Things to Do Be
fore High School to big-screen breakout as plucky survivor Izabella:
SHE WORE A MYSTERIOUS BANDANNA FOR HER AUDITION VIDEO.
Moner took exceptional care filming her audition tape for Bay. “I put up a white sheet (as a backdrop); I had to iron it since it was wrinkly,” she says.
Moner rocked the performance with a bandanna tied around her arm. It made an impact.
“I figured Izzy would need that to wipe the sweat off her face since it’s so hot outside,” she explains. “Even now, (Bay) remembers that, of all things, I don’t know why.”
SHE CRIES LIKE A CHAMP.
The tear Moner sheds during one emotional Transformers scene is 100% real. She swears: No help, no special effects. Bay had no idea she could cry on command, calling for fake tears when it came time to shoot the scene.
“I was like, ‘Oh, you don’t need that, actually,’ ” says Moner. “I have to get into the mood. It doesn’t take me long.”
Enter the big tear. “(Bay) liked it so much, we watched it again on playback. And for the rest of the movie, any chance he got, he’d be like, ‘I need you to cry a little bit.’ ”
WHEN THINGS BLOW, SHE RUNS LIKE HECK.
One pyrotechnic-filled scene had Moner and star Mark Wahlberg running from Decepticons. The robots were added later, but the explosions were real. “There were explosions behind us, cars were flipping,” she says. “I was just nervous for my life because I was trying to stay up with Mark Wahlberg in these little heel boots. You have to allow your primal instincts to kick in to stay alive. I made it.”
SHE SOLDIERS ON.
After a grueling multicountry
Transformers shoot and traveling around the world to promote the film, Moner popped a blood vessel in her eye before Tuesday’s Chicago premiere.
“The doctor said people under 40 don’t normally get that,” says Moner, who still stunned at the premiere in a pink halter-neck Marchesa gown. “I just tell people I got into a fight. And that they should see the other guy.”
SHE HAS MANY TALENTS.
Playing the daughter of a drug lord in Soldado (2018), the followup to the gritty drama Sicario, Moner bonded with co-star Josh Brolin in an unusual way.
“I can make the best fart noises,” says Moner, who gave Brolin a giant whoopee cushion. “I can make like 10 different sounds at different levels. It was super-fun on set as serious a movie as it is.”
When it came time to act, it was all drama. “You’ll see me cry more in Sol
dado,” she promises. “A lot more crying.”