The guys that run the official Michael Bay website have gotten a chance to visit the Chicago set of Transformers 3 and have lived to tell about it. Check out their report along with new production photos...

"I arrived at the Chicago Michigan Ave. set on Friday, July 16th. I was greeted by Mike Case (Bay's assistant) and was taken to Bay's monitor tent which was in the middle of a war zone. Michael greeted and proceeded to ask some things about the site. He then took out his iPad and showed me animatics of some sequences. Holy moly. This movie is going to be huge!!! In my opinion, more epic than TF2 with the first time amazement of TF1. I wish I could tell you what I saw on the animatics, but I can't.

Bay was filming a scene with Shia (Sam) & Rosie (Carly) in which they were hiding within a wrecked and flipped car. At around that time the temperature hit 102 degrees (including humidity index). It was so hot that Shia was sweating through his leather jacket and as was Rosie. Back to the scene... apparently the scene is one in which a Decepticon is hunting for them. As Bay filmed this, a cue from the score was played to add to the suspense...

...Later, I got to meet the rest of the cast: Shia, Rosie, Tyrese, and Josh.

I had the pleasure of talking to Shia for for about 30 minutes and with Tyrese and Josh for another 30 minutes. All these guys have an impressionable work ethic, are fun to talk to and down-to-earth people. And that goes for the rest of the crew. I many many nice and professional people that are working their hardest to make this movie successful and entertaining.

As the day came about, Bay, Shia, Tyrese & Josh all came to meet than fans that had been waiting since 7am to catch a glimpse down the street. They also were interviewed by CBS 2 TV in which Bay praised the city of Chicago.

As always, Bay left the best for last. Explosions and gunfire!!

That's it for now. I will post a video of some of the activities later."

Ferrari 458 Italia (Parked on Rush St) on the set of Transformers 3
Michael Bay setting up a shot on the set of Transformers 3
Tyrese Gibson on the set of Transformers 3
Tyrese Gibson on the set of Transformers 3
Lester Speight and Tyrese Gibson on the set of Transformers 3
Bumblebee Hope
Shia LaBeouf with fans on Michigan Ave
Tyrese Gibson on the set of Transformers 3 in Chicago
Michael Bay on the set of Transformers 3
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and Transformers Director Michael Bay

As well, another tipster sent in his notes and pics from the set here:

"These Transformer 3 set pictures attached are from Sunday Morning's filming.

They were on the Chicago River near the Michigan Ave bridge. Both Josh Duhamel and Tyrese were both on set. They are hard to spot in the photos but they are in them. The crew had 3 Burning boats and filmed the Swat team running up and down the stairs pointing guns in all directions.

I also attached some photos of a few cars..most were covered up because they were not being used. And the turned over bus is part of the set on Wacker Drive that they are using this week."

Transformers 3 Set Photo #1
Transformers 3 Set Photo #2
Transformers 3 Set Photo #3
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Transformers 3 Set Photo #7