5 seconds with Michael Bay

[nelson]

Here's the thing about talking to director Michael Bay. It's always fun. He always has something to say. He's a fired-up guy. And usually it's not something confectionary about how much he loves everyone.

How do I know? We spoke last night at the after-party for the Hollywood Film Festival's Hollywood Awards at the Beverly Hilton.


How's your night so far?
I've never seen such a rude awards show. Could you believe that? I've never seen a show where everyone talks through the first seven awards. The worst awards show I've ever been to—oh, my God, the worst. It was like, thank God somebody finally said something.

Yikes. Happy subject. So...the next Transformers. Does Shia LaBeouf have creative input?
He has zero creative input.

Yeah, but he's like the man now—Mr. Indiana Jones—so he's totally gonna show up and be all, "I know what works!"
No, but I'm friends with Shia. I really love working with him.

So, where do you go with it? How do you up the stakes?
It's not about upping it. It's about still keeping the heart.

Any new characters coming in?
Oh, yeah…a lot of fun stuff. I keep telling the writers, remember the heart and the magic, remember the heart and the magic. It's not about being bigger.

Speaking of bigger, the DVD is doing great. Did you watch the American League Championship series? It's the smartest advertising for Transformers.
No, but we're number one. Go figure!

Source: E!

[Tobi]

Here's the thing about talking to director Michael Bay. It's always fun. He always has something to say. He's a fired-up guy. And usually it's not something confectionary about how much he loves everyone.

How do I know? We spoke last night at the after-party for the Hollywood Film Festival's Hollywood Awards at the Beverly Hilton.


How's your night so far?
I've never seen such a rude awards show. Could you believe that? I've never seen a show where everyone talks through the first seven awards. The worst awards show I've ever been to—oh, my God, the worst. It was like, thank God somebody finally said something.

Yikes. Happy subject. So...the next Transformers. Does Shia LaBeouf have creative input?
He has zero creative input.

Yeah, but he's like the man now—Mr. Indiana Jones—so he's totally gonna show up and be all, "I know what works!"
No, but I'm friends with Shia. I really love working with him.

So, where do you go with it? How do you up the stakes?
It's not about upping it. It's about still keeping the heart.

Any new characters coming in?
Oh, yeah…a lot of fun stuff. I keep telling the writers, remember the heart and the magic, remember the heart and the magic. It's not about being bigger.

Speaking of bigger, the DVD is doing great. Did you watch the American League Championship series? It's the smartest advertising for Transformers.
No, but we're number one. Go figure!

Source: E!

Pretty interesting, I'm glad to hear his approach to the sequel, it's always easy to just throw more money at the project to make it bigger, and probably the worst mistake a filmmaker can make.

[MitP]

Any new characters coming in?
Oh, yeah…a lot of fun stuff. I keep telling the writers, remember the heart and the magic, remember the heart and the magic. It's not about being bigger.

For some reason I'm a little uncomfortable when words like "heart" and "magic" are used in the movie business. Just check out Robert Altman's THE PLAYER to see what I mean.

Of course, Michael has defied expectations before.

[devonnewberry]

Yeah I just read that. That's way awesome. I love his determination behind things and I love how he completely takes advantage of being THE director. It's his way, no highway option.

[sora]

Thank you Nelson for an interesting post.

Remember the heart and the magic, remember the heart and the magic.

Very true. The most essential element for every story is the heart.

[MegaOctane]

As long as it is the heart and magic of the transformers, and not 2 hours of Sam and Mikaela's relationship..

[The Great]

that "he has zero input". Has a good chance of being blown out of proportion

[MegaOctane]

that "he has zero input". Has a good chance of being blown out of proportion

I also thought the same thing, until i read the part
"No, but I'm friends with Shia. I really love working with him."

[michaelbay]

What part of my interview do think was sarcastic? When the silly journalist asked me if Shia is creatively involved? He is an actor making creative choices on every single take - of course he's fucking involved - where to these magazines pick up these dim entertainment writer's????

The sad thing is she didn't even get that she asked such a dumb question - so I gave her a quick dead pan face reply- but underneath I was utterly perplexed how she actually got her job.

Michael

[nelson]

I just put this up because I too was amazed at the question... did he/she have a fucking clue as to what they were asking?

Sadly, the TMZ/paparazzi-style "journalism" has taken over.

[sora]

Sorry if i said the wrong thing. I unwisely saw only the positive side ("...a lot of fun stuff.") of the article.

[BrettLee]

What part of my interview do think was sarcastic? When the silly journalist asked me if Shia is creatively involved? He is an actor making creative choices on every single take - of course he's fucking involved - where to these magazines pick up these dim entertainment writer's????

The sad thing is she didn't even get that she asked such a dumb question - so I gave her a quick dead pan face reply- but underneath I was utterly perplexed how she actually got her job.

Michael

lol. awsome

[xXRavenXx]

I just put this up because I too was amazed at the question... did he/she have a fucking clue as to what they were asking?

Sadly, the TMZ/paparazzi-style "journalism" has taken over.

It's the equivilant of carpet bombing. Scattershot as many dimly lit reporters as you can and you will get a bunch of crap questions that might have a chance at catching a director off guard and piss them off. You might also get one or two decent questions.

This still doesn't compare to the level of stupidity of the interview that Michael did with that one fan girl from one of the TF sites. I kept thinking the whole time ,"Fucking A?! That man has some kind of patience!". Even then there was a part that people blew out of proportion claiming that Michael didn't care about what anyone had to say.

Gosh, doesn't that reporter know that directors really don't care what their leading actors think? After all they have zero to do with the success of the film [/sarcasm]

[devonnewberry]

lol. awsome

I was thinking the same thing haha

[The Great]

I just put this up because I too was amazed at the question... did he/she have a fucking clue as to what they were asking?

Sadly, the TMZ/paparazzi-style "journalism" has taken over.

It's not that dumb of a question considering Bay has a rep of being a "dictator" on the set. If she came in with the preconceived notion that he was a tyrant on the set then she may have thought he doesn't let any actors have any input.

Keep in mind I have no idea the context of the interview at all. If there was a video then it would be a lot easier to dissect. Since it's not you run into the infamous e-road bump of things in type being twisted due to the lack of context.

[MegaOctane]

Well, Michael's second reply that they were great friends, should also have something to say.
The fact of him being a bit "dictator", well, everybody has their own style of doing things. Watching Armageddon, The Rock, and Transformers, i would say, michaels style has worked just fine (for the viewers )

[The Great]

Well, Michael's second reply that they were great friends, should also have something to say.
The fact of him being a bit "dictator", well, everybody has their own style of doing things. Watching Armageddon, The Rock, and Transformers, i would say, michaels style has worked just fine (for the viewers )

Well i saw that part to but, you know the press. Somehow that following question and answer would cease to exist

[MegaOctane]

I totally agree "gunrock", the press is after all a part of the entire commercial business "thing", and what matters is how many papers they sell. It's the same everywhere, here in Norway or in the States..
God knows how many lifes they have destroyed. Look at the minister in Great Britain who committed suicide because of the press pushing things too far.

[KTMortimer7]

I just put this up because I too was amazed at the question... did he/she have a fucking clue as to what they were asking?

Sadly, the TMZ/paparazzi-style "journalism" has taken over.

That's one of the reasons I don't buy magazines, newspapers, etc. anymore. If I do, I just waste money because I just throw it away seconds later.

Not to mention one can just look on the internet site most times for free, just go "WTF?!" and write a "concerned" email to the editor.

As for the "heart and soul" bit, Michael, I agree with you! It's like a #1 rule with me to do work with my heart and soul in it. Though I still have the challenges of just wanting to be lazy... the sad part of just getting into college and out of high school. Adapting is a pain. Lol.

KT