SAN DIEGO — Shia LaBeouf is currently recovering at Cedars-Sinai Hospital from extensive hand surgery, as well as injuries to his knee and head caused by a car accident in Hollywood on Sunday morning, but the "Indiana Jones" star won't be getting any sympathy cards from his "Transformers" co-star Tyrese Gibson, who downplayed the incident when MTV News caught up with him on Sunday at Comic-Con.
Asked if there were any contingency plans in place given the early word that LaBeouf might be in the hospital upwards of a month, Gibson scoffed: "A month? He won't be in the hospital for a month. He just hurt his hand. He can afford a private nurse."
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" had a buffer window built into its hectic shooting schedule early on, given fears of a possible SAG strike last month. Whether that buffer will be used to accommodate LaBeouf's potential absence is unknown, but for now, production is moving full steam ahead, Gibson said.
"Right now, there's only three films being shot in this country," he proudly declared on where production stood at the moment. "We got two and a half more months. I just did two night shoots in a row out there in Long Beach. We rolling, man. Right now, we rolling."
A Paramount spokesperson had no comment when MTV News asked how long filming could be delayed due to LaBeouf's accident.
LaBeouf was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and released. A statement from his spokesperson indicated he had plans to return to "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" within the month.
As for what we can expect out of the highly anticipated sequel, Gibson said he's most looking forward to, well, more of himself.
"Go on the Internet — a lot of the fans out there were like, we want to see more of my presence in the film, and the studio and Michael Bay heard that, so Michael's been putting the camera on me a lot more Epps in that film," he revealed. "So thank you all for those e-mails. I appreciate it."
To prepare for his expanded role, Gibson confessed that he called for help from a trusted friend. Could it be, then, that the most important addition to the "Transformers" crew isn't a new Decepticon or Autobot but — Will Smith?
"Will Smith and I have been working out every day," Gibson said. "Because of that, I've lost 46 pounds for this movie."
On the subject of new cars in the film, Gibson was decidedly more mum, although he did reveal that, like with the first film, director Michael Bay was working with car manufacturers to get the very latest designs.
"We have some cars in this film that you will not be seeing into 2011, and that's top-secret. You won't be able to buy them until 2011, they already in the film. Crazy," Gibson said.
It's a philosophy of "more" and "bigger" embraced by Bay but never before seen on this scale, Gibson said.
"There's way more robots, way more craziness. Once again, you are going to see some things that are Oscar-worthy as far as special effects," he said, smiling. "I'm just honored to be a part of it."
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" opens June 26, 2009.
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