'My character is a superhero without any special power'

Hong Kong: Actor Hailee Steinfeld says she loved the idea of playing a young female character who is a normal girl in Transformers spin-off Bumblebee.

The 22-year-old actor plays the role of a headstrong vulnerable teenager Charlie Wilson who befriends the affable autoboot Bumblebee in the Travis Knight-directed film.

How Wilson and Bumblebee end up helping each other in times of crisis is the plot.

"She doesn't have any special powers but she has the qualities of a superhero. She is brave, strong, smart and fully capable to handle obstacles that come her way. Although she might not necessarily know that, she discovers that with a help of a Transformer friend named Bumblebee'. I feel lucky to be part of a story that feels honest, real and authentic", she said at a press conference here.

John Cena, who plays the hardened Lieutenant Jack Burns and holds a grudge against the Transformers, said it was "total luck" that brought him to the project.

"I didn't know the script was for this movie. They were casting for the film. I started reading it. It read really well. It reads like a good book that you can't put down. I then met this guy and this guy (points at the producer and the director). He said about me (pointing at Knight), He's alright' Then he did this (shows a thumbs up)," Cena, 41, quipped.

Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura said, "narrating Bumblebee's story was the easiest choice as the team wanted to make a really human story. He's the most accessible, fun and emotional. In trying to make a really human story, you would need the most human of all Transformers.

He's a fan favourite. We always had fun in the other movies. Bumblebee was our favourite character. So it was pretty much easy to sign on that."