MTV News currently has an article on their site about how Shia LaBeouf got injured on the set of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” (relax, apparently it’s not that bad, he pulled a rotator cuff in the hip, whatever that means), but they also have a little blurb from Shia about “Transformers 2″ at the end of the article. From Shia’s own mouth: “We’re gearing up for ‘Transformers’ in June.” Oh hell yeah!

It’s cooooooooming. That’s right, folks, “Transformer 2″ is gearing up for production. Maybe it’s not in production NOW, but it’s gearing up, and casting notices have already been sent out for actors. From these casting breakdowns (below), we know a couple of things: one) The movie will move forward a few years, since by the time of the movie Sam (Shia LeBouf) will be in college (Princeton, no less!); two) No mention of Megan Fox at all; three) Tyrese’s Sgt. Epps character will return, since they’re already casting his wife; and four) Also returning is John Turturro’s uber asshole G-Man character.

Okay, now you gotta admit, something is definitely going on with “Transformers 2″. A few days ago, the Decepticon Barricade, in police cruiser form, was spotted on the highway going somewhere in Los Angeles, and today, SuperheroHype has this picture of Optimus Prime, in big rig form, going through L.A. on a flatbed truck! Okay, so is “Transformers 2″ gearing up to shoot or what? It certainly appears that way. Or at least, something is going on with the sequel…

The last time we heard about “Transformers 2″, we were told that Michael Bay was currently writing the script (don’t get all excited; Bay writes all his scripts, mostly outlines, and gives it to the real writers to fill in the blanks), and everyone was excited to get back to shooting. Then comes word from Film School Rejects, who posted pictures of the Decepticon Barricade (the police car) being towed somewhere in Los Angeles. Does this mean that “Transporter 2″ is gearing up for production? Well, probably not; mostly, I think someone was just towing the Barricade cars (there are more than one) somewhere.

In a Variety article about a possible actor’s strike (what, another strike? Stupid Hollywood, what is it with striking nowadays?), there is an interview with Michael Bay, and a mention that the director was trying to keep “Transformers 2″ locked into its expected 2009 release date. To me, that seems overly optimistic, as the movie requires oodles of special effects and post-production work, but hey, if the director says so…

Previously, we reported that Michael Bay, director of “Transformers”, has already finished up his script for “Transformers 2″, and now it appears as if he’s already shown it to the film’s star, Shia LaBeouf. The young buck tells Empire Online that the sequel will have “insane shit”. No, really. Read the rest of what Shia says below.

Writer’s strike be damned. While the “real” writers were out there protesting, Michael Bay was sitting at home writing the script for “Transformers 2″. Sort of. Bay says he writes all the scripts to his movies, and it’s from that template that the paid writers write the final script from. But never mind that. What does Bay have planned for “Transformers 2″, ass-kicking robot-wise?

There is no surprise that the Powers That Be are gearing up a “Transformers 2″ with Michael Bay (excitedly) back behind the cameras. Why wouldn’t they? It was a major hit when it opened last year, and it’ll be an even bigger hit when the sequel finally gets released, either in 2009 or 2010. Word is, the latter is more likely.