The Energon Pub

[Blurrz]

Michael Bay's website has been updated, this time featuring an interview with the Wall Street Journal over topics involving Hasbro, Transformers, and the future of the 'trilogy'. Here's what went down...

This coming weekend could make Hollywood history for Michael Bay, the movie director behind the big-budget epics “Armageddon” and “Pearl Harbor.” His latest release, the $200 million action-adventure movie “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” is poised to possibly become the biggest opening in Hollywood history, with estimates that it could gross more than $200 million by Sunday’s end—rivaling the record-shattering totals for last summer’s “The Dark Knight.” But the 44-year-old director, who has a predilection for massive budgets and pyrotechnic explosions, has already set his sights on a radically new goal: making an art film.

The Wall Street Journal: This film features even more talking robots—based on the Hasbro toy line—than the first “Transformers.” Why add in more robots rather than humans?

Mr. Bay: That’s what fans wanted. The first film was really about us setting up the situation, and this movie is about us discovering what we could do better with that situation, how to make this most out of these special effects and these characters.

Did Hasbro force you to conform the aesthetics of the robots to match the style of its toy line? Did you have to make any compromises on characters for the sake of promoting Hasbro’s stable of pre-existing Transformers characters?

Not at all. I told [Hasbro] that I was going to do my own thing, and they really let me go off on the designs. They gave me carte blanche—it was pretty phenomenal. But I still listened to people who were in that world when they asked things like, ‘Can we make Optimus’s ears a little longer so he appears more in character?’ That’s easy to do. And a lot of the artists and people that we hired were fans of Transformers growing up, so having so many fans working on my crew really kept me on point. There are things that I invented—the creaky geriatric robot that is always grumpy, for example, or the little wheelie guy, he’s not in the Hasbro lore. But kids love that stuff—this little guy as a pet on a chain. They gravitate towards it.

Did you add testicles to the robots, too?

No, those are construction balls.

Uh-huh. So, now that you’ve finished the sequel of “Transformers,” are you ready to direct the third installment of the franchise?

I just want to take some time off. It’s been almost three years that I’ve devoted myself entirely to this world of robots. At some point, enough is enough—and I literally carried this movie on my back. I only finished it in the last week. It was a tough movie for me to finish—especially with the writers strike, the possible SAG strike. At one point, we were the only union movie in America shooting—Hollywood was so messed up from those two events.

So you don’t want to do another sequel?

I don’t know who [would] want to take on my shoes with this franchise. We might just take a year down.

What’s next for you, then?

I’ve been talking to some big actors right now about something that is totally different. A small dark comedy, a true story, with actors just acting, no effects. I’m done with effects movies for now. When you do a movie like “Transformers,” it can feel like you’re doing three movies at once—which is tiring.

It’s interesting that you want to focus on acting. Megan Fox, one of the leads in “Transformers” has criticized your films for being special-effects-driven and not offering so many acting opportunities. Do you agree?

Well, that’s Megan Fox for you. She says some very ridiculous things because she’s 23 years old and she still has a lot of growing to do. You roll your eyes when you see statements like that and think, “Okay Megan, you can do whatever you want. I got it.” But I 100% disagree with her. Nick Cage wasn’t a big actor when I cast him, nor was Ben Affleck before I put him in “Armageddon.” Shia LaBeouf wasn’t a big movie star before he did “Transformers”—and then he exploded. Not to mention Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, from “Bad Boys.” Nobody in the world knew about Megan Fox until I found her and put her in “Transformers.” I like to think that I’ve had some luck in building actors’ careers with my films.

With all the recent emphasis on 3D and technology in movies, do you think we’ll see some directors emerge out of the special effects houses?

Mr. Bay: People have come before from the special effects houses and have not done well. People can come from anywhere—but its really about telling stories. Either you’re born to do this or you’re not.

Speaking of effects, What about 3-D? Are you a fan? Will we watch the third “Transformers” movie in three dimensions?

I prefer the flat screen. I’m not jumping to do 3-D at all—it’s a pain in the neck to shoot it and I actually like the flat image. I’ve heard that some people can’t even see 3-D and, moreover, that a major side effect of watching it is feeling exhausted. Can you imagine how you’d feel watching one of my movies in 3-D?

You really shot all those scenes [in ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”] at the real pyramids?

One of the things that I pride myself on is that in situations where people say, “You can’t do that,” somehow I am always able to pull it off. I did it with “Pearl Harbor” and I did it with “Armageddon,” with the space shuttle, and luckily [Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities] Dr. Zahi Hawass, who runs the pyramids, was a fan of the first “Transformers”—so he let us film there, even though we’re the first film to do so in 30 years.

Those pyramids get pretty beat up in the film. Did they crumble during the filming?

The destruction is all effects. We were very, very careful. We didn’t break anything.

Source: WSJ

For the original link to the article, proceed here

Stay tuned to Seibertron.com for your latest RotF news and updates!

[T-Macksimus]

I had to kick myself for entertaining the thought that he could have been a little more...tactful in his answers. You don't set a world record for pyrotechnics by being a tactful person.

I think the change of pace will do him and the TF franchise some good. Allow him to approach the 3rd film with a fresh perspective. It would not surprise me to see TF3 toned down a bit from RotF and have a bit more depth to it.

[Kryptikore]

Wow that's one fat head of his!

[wingdarkness]

Mr. Bay: People have come before from the special effects houses and have not done well. People can come from anywhere—but its really about telling stories. Either you’re born to do this or you’re not.

LMMFAO...That is the feet and cornchips smell of an answer right there...

[Sabrblade]

Only one question that was barely related to the film's innuendo.

[RodimalToyota]

I'm glad he layed in to Megan Fox a bit, she seem's to have been given quite the "more then she's worth" attitude over her self. When she really is only good looking.

Hell I had heard a rumor that the wheelie line " you're hot but you ain't to smart" was added by Bay at the last minute. This interview seems to point that maybe he had been a little annoyed by her " not enough meets the eye" attitude.

Plus he is right, who the hell ever heard of Megan Fox before Transformers. Who will really give a **** about her after the Trilogy is over?

[Autobobby1]

Wow, what terrible questions. "Why add more robots rather than humans?" I dunno, maybe because it's a movie about robots?!

"Did Hasbro force you to conform the aesthetics of the robots to match the style of its toy line?" The robots look completely different than traditional TFs and it's been stated countless times that the toys are designed to look like the movie bots, not vice-versa.

"So you don’t want to do another sequel?" He just said he only wanted a break. Not to mention that he's getting a s&%@load of money from the films.

"Will we watch the third “Transformers” movie in three dimensions?" Only crappy movies (and Up) are in 3-D. And the fights in ROTF are already busy enough without the phony 3-D.

"Those pyramids get pretty beat up in the film. Did they crumble during the filming?" Right, because the Egyptian government would let their most important historical landmarks/tourist attractions be destroyed during the filming of a movie.

[Rodimus Prime]

OK, I agree with him when he talked about Megan Fox and Shia being nobodies before he cast them, though Shia had a Disney show, was in I Robot, and Holes and Disturbia. So he was kind of known. But the others??? Nic Cage already had an Oscar and a lot of movies under his belt by 96 when The Rock was made. Affleck had also been in movies, and had won an Oscar for Good Will Hunting. And Will and Martin? PLEASE! I like Will Smith, don't care about Martin Lawrence, but Will Smith was a big TV star as was Martin by the time the were in Bad Boys. Granted, that was a big step in their careers, but they're both very talented, they would have made it big in Hollywood without Bay.

I like Bay and love RotF. Until this, the aforementioned The Rock was my favorite action movie along with True Lies. But he needs to step down from that high horse on actors. CGI and flash and boom? Fine, he's the man. But finding great actors? Absolutely not. But I did like him setting Megan straight. She does run her mouth too much, and she admitted as much on Letterman Thursday night, where she came across as an intelligent person instead of a dumb bimbo.

[Grendel]

I like how apparantly Bay created jetfire and Heelie, and neither existed in TF lore before

[noctorro]

Lol, okay he doesn't have somebody censoring or filtering his answers to interviews.
That's kind of good. Well I agree, more bots less humans.
But I don't know about the rest of you but I think he could've toned down on the
sex jokes in the film. + I was a bit dissapointed that Devastator was easily
beaten. I mean c'mon, he's like 6 (or 7) transformers in one. He could've at least
killed one or two (no-name) autobots. + The robot gore was a bit "overkill",
sideways getting sliced in half, Blackout's face being ripped apart?
If that stuff is done to humans it would be even nastier then the Saw films.
+ Optimus doesn't hate Decepticons and wouldn't kill them in coold oil.

I do wish the autobots talked a little more to each other, there was a lot of
human talking going on. The twins Skids and Mudflap were awesome, when I saw
spoiler pictures I thought they were going to be real annoying characters. Worse
then G1 Wheelie. But they were cool and had a kind of realism of normal "civilian"
transformer feel to them.

The action's great, The special effects are great, I do hope another Director
gets the chance to do TF3 so that the live action transformers don't get finished
by Bay and then let go for another 10 years before remakes and stuff like that
happen.

Now I also know why the individual Constructicons don't combine, they weren't
Devastator at all. Still the legends version...

[First Gen]

In an interview done by LAUREN A. E. SCHUKER on TheWallStreetJournal.com, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Director Michael Bay talked about the making of Transformers ROTF, adjusting the robot to human ratio and how his movie makes actors Hollywood stars.

Here's an excerpt:

It’s interesting that you want to focus on acting. Megan Fox, one of the leads in “Transformers” has criticized your films for being special-effects-driven and not offering so many acting opportunities. Do you agree?

Well, that’s Megan Fox for you. She says some very ridiculous things because she’s 23 years old and she still has a lot of growing to do. You roll your eyes when you see statements like that and think, “Okay Megan, you can do whatever you want. I got it.” But I 100% disagree with her. Nick Cage wasn’t a big actor when I cast him, nor was Ben Affleck before I put him in “Armageddon.” Shia LaBeouf wasn’t a big movie star before he did “Transformers”—and then he exploded. Not to mention Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, from “Bad Boys.” Nobody in the world knew about Megan Fox until I found her and put her in “Transformers.” I like to think that I’ve had some luck in building actors’ careers with my films.

You can read the complete interview here.

[Phenotype]

This article was already posted.

[Galvatron628]

In an interview done by LAUREN A. E. SCHUKER on TheWallStreetJournal.com, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Director Michael Bay talked about the making of Transformers ROTF, adjusting the robot to human ratio and how his movie makes actors Hollywood stars.

Here's an excerpt:

It’s interesting that you want to focus on acting. Megan Fox, one of the leads in “Transformers” has criticized your films for being special-effects-driven and not offering so many acting opportunities. Do you agree?

Well, that’s Megan Fox for you. She says some very ridiculous things because she’s 23 years old and she still has a lot of growing to do. You roll your eyes when you see statements like that and think, “Okay Megan, you can do whatever you want. I got it.” But I 100% disagree with her. Nick Cage wasn’t a big actor when I cast him, nor was Ben Affleck before I put him in “Armageddon.” Shia LaBeouf wasn’t a big movie star before he did “Transformers”—and then he exploded. Not to mention Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, from “Bad Boys.” Nobody in the world knew about Megan Fox until I found her and put her in “Transformers.” I like to think that I’ve had some luck in building actors’ careers with my films.

You can read the complete interview here.

LOL Micheal Bay is so full of himself. Megan Fox's quote was dead on. Yeah Transformers made Shia a star, but as for the rest of his claims? Umm Mallrats made Ben Affleck a style, Nicolas Cage has been around forever, Will smith and Martin Lawrence both had their own FREAKIN TV SHOWS and were immensely popular before they were in a Micheal Bay Movie, not to mention Smith's Rap Career in the 80's!

Micheal Bay is the king of action no doubt, but he's horrible with Character Development. As cool as Transformers is, watch the rest of bay's movies, and you'll see how similar Transformers is to the rest of them!

[ashe5k]

Wonder if that means she'll be back for TF3?

[Rodimus Prime]

This article was already posted.

Sure was:

viewtopic.php?f=44&t=54926

[Fearing]

In an interview done by LAUREN A. E. SCHUKER on TheWallStreetJournal.com, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Director Michael Bay talked about the making of Transformers ROTF, adjusting the robot to human ratio and how his movie makes actors Hollywood stars.

Here's an excerpt:

It’s interesting that you want to focus on acting. Megan Fox, one of the leads in “Transformers” has criticized your films for being special-effects-driven and not offering so many acting opportunities. Do you agree?

Well, that’s Megan Fox for you. She says some very ridiculous things because she’s 23 years old and she still has a lot of growing to do. You roll your eyes when you see statements like that and think, “Okay Megan, you can do whatever you want. I got it.” But I 100% disagree with her. Nick Cage wasn’t a big actor when I cast him, nor was Ben Affleck before I put him in “Armageddon.” Shia LaBeouf wasn’t a big movie star before he did “Transformers”—and then he exploded. Not to mention Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, from “Bad Boys.” Nobody in the world knew about Megan Fox until I found her and put her in “Transformers.” I like to think that I’ve had some luck in building actors’ careers with my films.

You can read the complete interview here.

LOL Micheal Bay is so full of himself. Megan Fox's quote was dead on. Yeah Transformers made Shia a star, but as for the rest of his claims? Umm Mallrats made Ben Affleck a style, Nicolas Cage has been around forever, Will smith and Martin Lawrence both had their own FREAKIN TV SHOWS and were immensely popular before they were in a Micheal Bay Movie, not to mention Smith's Rap Career in the 80's!

Micheal Bay is the king of action no doubt, but he's horrible with Character Development. As cool as Transformers is, watch the rest of bay's movies, and you'll see how similar Transformers is to the rest of them!

Well to be fair before Con Air Nicholas Cage was about as well known as Shia was before Transformers. Mallrats hardly helped Afleck as it was and still is very much a cult classic and classic to followers of Kevin Smith(awesome movie though), but Good Will Hunting did a lot more for Afleck well before Armageddon. I'd agree with you completely on Will Smith and Martin Lawerence. Not sure what he's thinking there. Probably a bit full of himself, but to be fair to his comments, despite the lack of depth in his movies, they are generally quite big affairs that bring a lot of recognition to the stars involved, and since this was more about Meagan Fox, I'd say he's right on there and honestly she had plenty of screen time and things to do. A good actress could have easily made something interesting out of those scenes. If anything the lack of depth in his movies and stories could probably leave more room for good acting to stand out on it's own like a pearl in the mud... or something like that.

[Achiever]

Wow Nic Cage and Ben Affleck! They've gone on to star in some quality films.

[Appledsauce]

He's right at least a little bit. No one knew that Fox existed before the first TF movie. I saw her on an old episode of What I Like About You, once and on nothing else. Her acting was horrible in ROTF.

[Robinson]

Wow Nic Cage and Ben Affleck! They've gone on to star in some quality films.

They both have academy awards don't they.


I would say yeah, they've done some quality films.

[Rated X]

Megan Fox, time for a reality check:
Nobody goes to a Transformers movie to see acting !!! We go to big freakin' robots blast and smash each other...ya digg ??? Megan Foxx looks great in Daisy Dukes and thats how we like her. She could have played her part mute and I wouldnt even have noticed. Other then giving a few of the characters 2 legs instead of wheels, I wouldnt have changed a thing. ROTF was FREAKIN AWESOME !!!!

[Achiever]

Wow Nic Cage and Ben Affleck! They've gone on to star in some quality films.

They both have academy awards don't they.


I would say yeah, they've done some quality films.

You could say that. But they won the awards before staring in Michael Bay films.

So yeah, they're doing great.

[BadFlipKC]

Pot...meet Kettle.

[Robinson]

Wow Nic Cage and Ben Affleck! They've gone on to star in some quality films.

They both have academy awards don't they.


I would say yeah, they've done some quality films.

You could say that. But they won the awards before staring in Michael Bay films.

So yeah, they're doing great.

Before or after doesnt matter, they've done work to warrant the award, and I don' see either of them hurting for films roles since.

[First Gen]

This article was already posted.

Topics merged, thanks for the heads up.

[skywarp-2]

I don't know, I mean directors are not fans, and after what i just read..

I think Michael Bay is definitely a closet TF fan..

he's too smug to admit he's a geek inside.. i can clearly sense that.. and from the interviews and specials on the first movie disk, you can really see he is involved in this flick..this franchise..

so to me, I think that the fear and anxiety I had over the first film and subsequent films is pretty much over..

he did Optimus Nice..

he got Pter Cullen in there, and Hugo is a good Megatron..

there was Starscream banter, and more mythology and lore, and the action was superb..

the Autobot and Decepticon tattoos was a stroke of genius, and made you feel like the Transformers took on more depth by being a tribal type race.. more of a history behind the symbols.. and such..

the space ship on saturn's moon..

the protoforms..

energon being introduced..

and the Cube's powers along with the Matrix thing.. that was nice..

Overall, between Bay, his design team, and the writers.. I liked ROTF..

I didn't like 3 things about the movie..

that stupid Chinese battle.. No Sideways robot form.. and that giant construction robot was retarded looking.. Devastator was pretty much built for only wrecking the pyramid.. and had no personality of his own.. which with a few phrases and off hand remarks about the twins attacking him, would have made him seem more like a homage to the original..

as for Megan Fox.. seriously she's a complete Bee-Otch! She thinks of herself as more then she is truly worth, and she's high ass maintenance..I feel sorry for her Boyfriend Bryan Austin Green from 90210 fame..