Steven Spielberg’s influence on Bumblebee extends beyond his role as executive producer on the film. The Jurassic Park director has exec produced all the Transformers films to date, and director Travis Knight has revealed that Spielberg actually came up with the concept for the first Transformers spin-off.

“The original idea for this film actually was Steven [Spielberg’s],” Knight tells Yahoo Movies UK. “We can thank him for this film even existing.”

Bumblebee is a prequel to the first five Michael Bay-directed Transformers films which began in 2007. Set in 1987, it sees Bumblebee – or B-127 as he’s known to his Autobot chums – landing in California to scout out Earth as a potential home for a group of Cybertron rebels, led by Optimus Prime.

Hailee Steinfeld and her Autobot friend Bee (Paramount) More

Wiped of his memory and having lost the ability to speak, he strikes up a friendship with Hailee Steinfeld’s Charlie Watson who adopts Bee as her car, and her confidant. However Sector 7, a shady government agency working with the Decepticons, and headed up by John Cena’s Agent Burns, is after Bee for their own nefarious needs.

So far, so E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial, a Spielberg film that Knight admits has a huge influence on the film.

“At heart of it [Bumblebee] is a film about relationships, and this beautiful love story between these two characters,” Knight, who last directed Kubo and the Two Strings, explains.

UNIVERSAL CITY, CA – MAY 24: Filmmaker Steven Spielberg at Universal Studios “Transformers: The Ride-3D” at Universal Studios Hollywood on May 24, 2012 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Alexandra Wyman/Getty Images) More

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