The return of the Summer Blockbuster is officially upon us with the release of Steven Caple Jr’s action-packed Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - making Caple Jr the first Black director of iconic franchise. This moment was a fulfilment of a lifelong dream for director, who fondly recalls falling in love with Transformers through watching VHS tapes as a boy growing up in Cleveland.

The charismatic American director made time for an insightful conversation with TBB on his UK press run. With his trademark openness, Steven spoke about honouring the legacy of the franchise, undergoing his own personal transformation in the form of fatherhood and opening up the Transformers universe to a fandom that is often excluded from the conversation because “Black people like Transformers too!”

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is in UK cinemas now.