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Jarret LeMaster has played some sinister roles as Satan, Adolf Hitler and Judas Iscariot — but now he’s stepping into one of pop culture’s most beloved franchises as Bumblebee.
The Christian actor, writer and former worship leader voices the Autobots in “Optimus Prime: Awakening,” the new animated short accompanying the 40th anniversary theatrical re-release of “The Transformers: The Movie.”
But LeMaster told Fox News Digital there is one thing he would rather not do on camera: kiss another woman.
“I don’t wanna kiss anybody, and so playing bad guys makes a lot of sense for me,” LeMaster said. “They never kiss anybody, you know, they just murder them.”
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“When you’re murdering somebody, you’re always pretending,” he continued. “When you’re kissing someone, you are always actually kissing them. And so, you know, that’s my line. I don’t wanna cross that line.
“Playing bad guys really works for my family,” he joked. “And then my kids can look up to me as a great villain.”
It’s an unusual résumé for someone who spent years working in church ministry.
LeMaster said he still volunteers and leads worship at his local church, although he tends to keep some of his acting work “on the DL.”
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“Sometimes people are upset that I play ‘Woke Jesus.’ Sometimes people think that it’s weird that I played the devil. Sometimes people were offended that I would, you know, play Adolf Hitler,” he said. “The one that is not offensive is Bumblebee. People are very excited about that for some reason.”
LeMaster’s path from church ministry to professional villain began when he got a call one day asking him to play a Russian murderer in a sketch for Christian satire outlet The Babylon Bee.
“We need a Russian murderer. You kind of look like that,” LeMaster recalled being told.
At the time, he was working full time at his church and with the Bee. He initially assumed the company must be based somewhere like “Idaho or Narnia,” only to discover it was in California.
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One villain eventually led to another.
“I don’t know why I always get cast as bad characters,” LeMaster said. “I think it’s probably just because I’m bald… I blame the media. I blame [actor] Jason Statham.”
His latest role puts LeMaster firmly on the other side of the good-versus-evil divide.
“Optimus Prime: Awakening” features LeMaster as Bumblebee alongside Frank Welker as Megatron and Soundwave and the late Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime. The short accompanies a 40th anniversary rerelease that exceeded initial box-office projections, prompting additional theatrical dates through Oct. 7.
LeMaster said he initially underestimated the significance of the project because director Josh Wassung was a friend.
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“I thought this was my friend’s little movie, this little Transformers movie that he was making for Hasbro,” he said.
Then he learned Cullen was involved. LeMaster praised the longtime Optimus Prime actor for embodying “strength and gentleness and kindness” and “protecting the weak.”
“Who am I? Why do I get to play Bumblebee?” LeMaster recalled wondering.
For LeMaster, even the Transformers role connects back to his faith.
“It’s an opportunity to sort of spread good news in the kingdom through, you know, robots,” he said.
And despite joining the Autobots, LeMaster admitted Satan remains particularly fun to play.
“I love playing the devil because he is so much like me,” he said. “I know that sounds really weird.”
His Babylon Bee version of Satan is less fire-and-brimstone than frustrated corporate middle management.
“What if the devil was an HR director?” LeMaster said.
“You know, guys, it’s been a rough quarter,” he said in character. “Make sure that you put cover letters on all the things you turn in, please.”
Beneath the joke is a serious approach to portraying villains. LeMaster said he looks for something good in a character’s motivations and then considers how it became distorted.
“There’s nothing that the devil can create in and of himself. He can only take what’s good and he can twist it,” he said.
“You always start with a good guy and then you can twist it to something evil,” LeMaster added. “That’s kind of what I think the best villains end up being like.”
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