Mar
24

Hugo Weaving/Megatron

Sector 7‘s (password: NBETWO) Counter Information Campaign is reporting that “Operation Hungry Dragon 2 continues. As of today agent H. Weaving has officially convinced S.S., M.B., R.D and A.K. to oversee the Megaman issue. The recording will commence immediately.”

Agent H. Weaving= Hugo Weaving.

S.S. = Steven Spielberg
M.B.= Michael Bay
R.O.= Roberto Orci
A.K.= Alex Kurtzman

Click here to view a larger version of the screen capture below:

s7_scap

Mar
23

102 DAYS left…SHIT!!!

Almost a 100 days left.

I guess I should start posting every week?

I’ve been working my ass off - the cut is really coming along -the shots —awesome. Some of the most difficult renders in ILM history. Sometimes up to 38 hours per frame. The Show West thing was fun to see the scenes play in a 1000 person house. But they just saw 25 minutes so it is hard to feel engaged because they are not seeing the full run of a movie. Harry called me to tell me how he loved it. I see all the dickwad talk back people who claim they have read a finished script. Impossible - I kept the only draft for the last two months before shooting. That’s where did major retooling to the script - yes the scene beats are similar but a very different script.

We are still writing the robot voices. They talk about just 20 minutes of action at the end - yeah right. This is by far the most action I have ever put into a movie - I have 12 huge set pieces. Boy I get tired of these lame cry babies on the net.

-Michael Bay

Mar
19

2012

Trio sees ’2012′ future

Bay, Orci, Kurtzman adapt book

By Borys Kit
March 19, 2007

Director Michael Bay and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman — the creative team behind the summer’s “Transformers” — are reuniting to bring sci-fi author’s Whitley Strieber forthcoming novel “2012: The War for Souls” to the big screen for Warner Bros. Pictures.

Talks are in the preliminary stages, but it is known that Bay intends to direct, while Orci and Kurtzman will produce via their company Kurtzman/Orci.

Strieber’s story centers on an academic researcher who discovers that multiple versions of Earth co-exist in different dimensions, but all are threatened by an apocalypse to occur in 2012 prophesied by the ancient Mayans. By opening a portal into a parallel universe, he makes contact with his double to stop the prophecy from being fulfilled. The book is due in the fall by St. Martin imprint Tor.

A search for a writer to adapt is under way.

“We’ve been looking for a way to have the kinds of thrillers that we are interested in that still take into account the latest theories and discoveries in Egyptology and in quantum mechanics and all those things that Mr. Strieber is so knowledge about,” Orci said.

“The idea of a man teaming up with himself to solve a cosmic mystery was way too good for us to pass up,” Kurtzman said.

Kurtzman/Orci execs Steven Puri and Mandy Safavi brought the book into the company at the same time as Bay’s producing partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller got it via their exec Matt Smith. When Bay heard that the scribes had it, he called them up and suggested a team-up.

“2012″ will be the third teaming for the trio, who first got together when the writers came on board to rewrite Bay’s “The Island.”

“It’s been a great partnership,” Kurtzman said. “I think we trust each other for what we all bring to the table. No one is better visually than Michael; the way he blocks out action is like no other director out there, and I think he trusts our story sense.”

Greg Silverman oversees the project for the studio.

Strieber is known for such novels as “The Wolfen” and “Communion.” His most recent novel, “The Grays,” is being adapted by Ken Nolan for Sony, while “The Hunger” is in development at Warners. He is repped by Innovative Artists, Paul Canterna and attorney Lawrence Rose.

Bay is repped by WMA.

Kurtzman and Orci are repped by CAA.

Article via THR.

Feb
16

MTV interviews Michael Bay

A lot of cool Transformers stuff plus a little something on Bad Boys 3.

View clip.

Read it here.

Feb
14

Bay pic sneak: Nothing to toy with

****Beware: SPOILERS AHEAD****

From Variety:

Bay pic sneak: Nothing to toy with

Toy Fair screens 25 minutes of ‘Transformers’

By DADE HAYES

The invitation at first sounded too wacky to be believed. At Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater, hallowed province of Fassbinder and Truffaut, footage from Paramount and DreamWorks’ Michael Bay pic "Transformers" would be shown to a crowd of toy enthusiasts.

But so it went Tuesday night for an audience stocked with consumer-product execs, toy collectors and general robot evangelists in Gotham for the American Intl. Toy Fair. The footage totaled 25 minutes from the film based on Hasbro’s revived 1980s toy line — "not necessarily the best scenes, but some of the scenes that were finished," cautioned Bay.

Ecstatic applause greeted each of the four long sequences.

The last time Bay took a high-octane passion project into a high-end setting, he presided over a similar screening for "The Island" at the Academy theater in Beverly Hills. That spring 2005 event began an anxious couple of months leading to one of the most troubled releases of recent summers.

This time, Bay seemed gratified to be playing to an inherently more sympathetic crowd. "You guys aren’t really the target audience," he joked.

The footage contained plenty of what producer Jerry Bruckheimer has termed "Bay-os" — automatic weapon fire, rumbling car engines, sweaty military dialogue ("Bogey in the weeds and he’s not squawking!"). But the scenes were spiked with wit and exuberant popcorn energy. In one scene, John Turturro, appearing as a mysterious, "Men in Black"-esque agent, savors the line "Bingo! Take him and bake him!"

A brief panel session preceded the footage. Bay was joined by DreamWorks production chief Adam Goodman and Brian Goldner, chief operating officer of Hasbro and an exec producer on the pic. "It reminds me of ‘Back to the Future’ or ‘Close Encounters’ — real Amblin film from back in the day," Goodman said.

Beyond the trio onstage Tuesday, the film is exec produced by Steven Spielberg and produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Don Murphy. None of the latter three was in Gotham for Tuesday’s event.

But another producer who did attend, Tom DeSanto, compared the experience to the way "X-Men," which he exec produced, first snuck up on audiences in 2000. "People were really going to give that one the smell test," he said. "And it was a real surprise."

Feb
14

Michael Bay's Transformers Sneak Peak


****Beware: SPOILERS AHEAD****

From MTV.com:

This is my superhero movie," Michael Bay says to MTV News moments after screening 25 minutes of nearly complete footage from his summer blockbuster "Transformers."

Bay, the director of bombastic popcorn cinema like "Armageddon" and "Bad Boys," sat down with MTV News to discuss the footage that every fanboy or fangirl would die to see. "I’ve done action my whole life. I don’t get excited about action, but I’m excited about this," Bay says. And judging from the scenes he screened, this isn’t hyperbole.

Four scenes are shown in all, and each ups the ante immediately on what audience members can expect from their summer entertainment from now on. Sporting a temp score and incomplete effects, one could forgive the film for seeming halfway there, but the DreamWorks exec — who warns that there are still 140 days until release to finalize it all — needn’t worry. The scenes impress.

As the lights dim, the setting is Qatar. Some soldiers are lamenting what they’re missing back home. Josh Duhamel is talking to his sweetheart back home via video phone — yes, the woman says their kid has his laugh. What do you want? It’s Michael Bay — when all hell breaks loose. And for a change, this cliché is apt. An unidentified helicopter has landed, and the soldiers have their guns drawn. The stakes change completely when the helicopter reveals its true form. Or should we say his true form, because this is Blackout. The Decepticon is about to lay waste to everything in his path.

After Blackout’s seamless transformation, the soldiers are suddenly overmatched. Tanks are hurled like washrags as this relentless killing machine makes like Godzilla, terrorizing soldiers and civilians alike. Perhaps you’ve spent many a day dreaming of what a Transformer would look like in our world. Perhaps not. Nothing can prepare you for what this is. Imagine Godzilla crossed with a Velociraptor, mechanize the beast and maybe, just maybe you have an idea of the world of Michael Bay’s "Transformers."

It’s clear from seeing the next scene — of a teenage underdog, Sam (Shia LaBeouf), pining for the hot girl in a park — that Bay loves his Americana. Say what you will about the director (style over substance, too many cuts, etc.), but he knows how to paint a picture. You could say Bay paints Norman Rockwell paintings — except that his art has Aerosmith ballads and giant robots fighting each other in the foreground.

But back to that scene in the park. Sam picks up his would-be paramour in a beat-up, yellow camaro. You don’t have to be a fanboy to know from the first instant that this is Bumblebee — and if you’re slow on the uptake, there’s the air freshener hanging in front that says "Bee-otch" — and that a transformation is close at hand.

This summer, no film has as much baggage as "Transformers." Based on the beloved toys and cartoon that originated 23 years ago, it’s a film that has been speculated and argued about for years. Once Bay — a director with nearly as many critics as fans — signed on, the message boards lit up. Bay says he’s been listening all along. "They all think I wasn’t listening, but I was. I didn’t want to make the boxy characters. I was listening to the fans. I know they hated the Optimus paint job with the stripes," he says, referring to the slightly altered look of his hero Autobot. "That caused a lot of grief," he laughs. He seems to still be steeling himself for more criticism.

The screen fades to black and we are in another scene. Now we are in Suburbia, USA, on a street that seems to have been borrowed from a Spielberg film of old (is this the same block that a T-Rex traversed in "The Lost World"?). In fact, "Transformers" is produced by Spielberg. Its advertising campaign, Bay explains, will follow the classic Spielberg law of never showing too much. That means no full views of the characters, no transformations, just glimpses. You’ll have to buy your ticket for the full show.

Meanwhile in Suburbia, we’re in the home of Sam’s parents as our hero tries to sneak back to retrieve something seemingly very important to the Transformers. Oh, and he’s brought along three Autobots who are less than inconspicuous. If your geek goosebumps don’t activate the moment you see Optimus Prime driving down the street commanding, in full robot mode, "Autobots fall back," you need to check yourself. The voice is familiar for a reason — it belongs to the longtime voice of Optimus, Peter Cullen. Bay says the other voices are all temporary and casting is still in progress.

One more scene (a Decepticon attack in the desert, courtesy of Scorponok), and it’s over. It’s a mind-blowing experience, as Bay promised, to see childhood fantasies brought to life, and he says it’s just the tip of the iceberg. He tells MTV News that there are no less than 14 set pieces in the film. There is a twinkle in his eye as he flashes a grin. "You can do a lot with 30- and 40-foot robots."

Jan
14

Transformers Writers Interview

You can read an interview conducted by Toyfare Magazine in which Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci explain the process of writing the story and characters.

Page 1 / Page 2 / Page 3 / Page 4

Jan
9

Japanese Transformers Trailer

The link below shows us a slightly different cut of the Transformers teaser trailer with an intro by Bay and Spielberg.

Click to watch.

Dec
21

Transformers Teaser now available.

You can view the TF teaser in HD at Yahoo Movies.

Also check out Sector 7. Password can be found in the teaser trailer.

Dec
19

Transformers Teaser on Yahoo.com on 12/20

Be sure to watch the new Transformers teaser on Yahoo.com starting December 20th.

The teaser will be attached to Ben Stiller’s new movie “Night at the Museum” which hits theaters December 22nd.

Dec
14

New Teaser/Note from Michael

It has been awhile since I’ve posted.

Finished shooting end of Sept., on budget, just came under $300,000. I beat Pearl by a $100,000. I had a great time making this movie, the cast and crew were amazing.

Today I just finished the new teaser for Christmas and I think it’s AWESOME! The trailer mixing Guru who does all the big summer movies turned to me and said with a little more ump - it was "fucking awesome."

I think some of my films have had good teasers but this one is just makes a statement. It’s hard edged to show we are not a silly "toy" movie. We show just hints of robots - and almost none of our epic shots are in this teaser, but the movie just looks big. I had a room full of 20 Tranformers adult geeks, and they all applauded at the end.

It comes out the 22nd - see it in the theater!

Let me know what you think.

Michael Bay

Nov
17

2007 Transformers Sneak Peek

Watch a sneak peek of the 20007 Transformers movie from the Transformers 25th Anniversary Special Edition DVD. Click in the image below.

Nov
1

Enter to win a TF 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD

Nelson here.

A couple of Transformers 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVDs will be given to some lucky TF fans.*

For your chance to win, submit your name, and a small one-paragraph essay on why you’re looking forward to seeing the 2007 live-action Transformers movie to nelson@michaelbay.com.

Contest ends November 6, 2006.

*Contest only open to U.S. residents only.

Oct
30

Transformers 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD

Nelson here…I will be giving away a few Transformers 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVDs to some lucky TF fans. Stay tuned for more info.

For now, you can visit the official site or preorder it at amazon.com. Or check out some movie clips here, here, and here.

Oct
7

Michael Bay at the TCM: TB Premiere

Watch Michael being interview by Melodie courtesy of IESB.net.

View Quicktime (28.3MB).

“Giant Fucking Robots are Coming” shirts will be available soon.

Oct
5

Detroit Article & Photos

Depot in disguise

Amy Lee / The Detroit News / Photos by Brandy Baker

DETROIT — The hulking mass of the abandoned Michigan Central Station in southwest Detroit will splash across the big screen — again — when robots come to life next summer in the big-budget film “Transformers: The Movie.”

Director Michael Bay and the crew working on the $100 million-plus production of “Transformers” shot scenes with actor Shia LaBeouf inside the decaying station Tuesday. The crew also shot a car chase scene late Tuesday afternoon on Fort Street, and curious Detroiters lined the streets to watch the action. Shooting continues today on Fort Street, but filming in Detroit should wrap up by early evening, said Gabriela Gutentag, publicist for Bay Films.

Brandy Baker / The Detroit News

About 100 Michigan residents, about half from Metro Detroit, will serve as extras on the film, which is slated to open in theaters on July 4, 2007. One of those extras, Todd Walsh, 32, of East Lansing, hung around the corner of Fort and Shelby streets Tuesday afternoon waiting to film his scene.

Walsh was dressed as a road construction worker and wore his own dirty jeans with a wardrobe-issued orange and yellow reflective jacket, brown boots and white hard hat. He is one of eight extras who will scurry when a massive evil Transformer makes its way down a street in the movie.

Extras are paid about $50 a day and get free food for the shoot.

Tuesday’s shooting marks the second time Bay has filmed at the Michigan Central Station, also known as Michigan Central Depot. He also used it briefly in his 2005 film, “The Island.”

“The train depot looks remarkably similar to when we were last here, which is good for us because it’s one of the main reasons we came back,” said producer Ian Bryce, who also has produced “Spider-Man” and “Almost Famous.” Steven Spielberg is the executive producer on “Transformers.”

“(The depot) is a sort of beat up but beautiful structure and such a reminder of bygone days.”

Detroit is reveling in the exposure created when famous directors like Bay choose to shoot in the city, said Al Fields, who works in the mayor’s office and is the spokesman for the Detroit Film Office.

“We’re trying to become a Midwest destination for films,” Fields said. “We try to be as easy to work with as possible for things like closing down streets so we become known as being a great place for films to be made.”

“Transformers: The Movie” is based on the successful comic book, cartoon and Hasbro action figures that were hugely popular in the 1980s. Transformers are robots from the planet Cybertron that can disguise themselves by turning into cars, trucks, planes, construction equipment and even dinosaurs.

Brandy Baker / The Detroit News

The “good” Transformers, the Autobots, will again face the “bad” Transformers, the Decepticons, in the second big-screen movie to grow from the franchise. “Transformers: The Movie” is expected to garner a PG-13 rating.

Tuesday’s shots at the train station featured LaBeouf running into the depot, through its crumbling lobby and up some stairs. That shot, which ends the movie, was captured around 4:15 p.m. at the depot.

“Shia is trying to get to a rooftop that we shot in Los Angeles that had a style of architecture that was beat up, so we needed to establish Shia into a similar type of environment,” Bryce said. In other words, the actor will run into one of Detroit’s landmarks and emerge on a rooftop in Los Angeles when the movie is pieced together.

LaBeouf, clad in a ripped brown sweatshirt with a dirty and blood-spattered neck, immediately posed for photos with brothers Jack and Max Sydorchuk, ages 7 and 11, respectively, after the shoot. Their father, Jeff, snapped a few cell phone photos, and Max said he couldn’t wait to show the picture to his friends at Divine Child Elementary School in Dearborn today.

“That was the coolest thing in the world,” Max said.

Unlike the animated “Transformers” movie that came out in 1987, the new Transformers movie will feature live actors, including LaBeouf, Jon Voight and Bernie Mac, as well as computer-generated robots.

“It’s very family-oriented, with a lot of heart and a lot of humanity and a good deal of action,” Bryce said.

Oct
2

More D.C. Set Photos

Michael Bay

http://michaelbayofficial.online/images/tf/web/IMG_4464.jpg

http://michaelbayofficial.online/images/tf/web/IMG_4473.jpg

http://michaelbayofficial.online/images/tf/web/IMG_4181.jpg

Director of Photography Mitch Admundsen

http://michaelbayofficial.online/images/tf/web/IMG_4475.jpg

Production Sound Mixer Peter Devlin

http://michaelbayofficial.online/images/tf/web/IMG_4415.jpg

DP Mitch Admundsen and gaffer Andy Ryan

http://michaelbayofficial.online/images/tf/web/IMG_4134.jpg

Oct
1

Washington D.C. Set Photos

Enjoy. Do not use without permission.

Michael Bay

http://michaelbayofficial.online/images/tf/web/IMG_4335.jpg

Rachael Taylor

http://michaelbayofficial.online/images/tf/web/IMG_4371_color.jpg

Ian Bryce, Michael Bay, & Lorenzo DiBoneventura

http://michaelbayofficial.online/images/tf/web/IMG_4175.jpg

http://michaelbayofficial.online/images/tf/web/IMG_4408.jpg

Michael Bay

http://michaelbayofficial.online/images/tf/web/IMG_4445.jpg

Sep
28

Detroit Casting Information

http://www.clickondetroit.com/seenon4/9929357/detail.html

Paid extras needed for major motion picture "Transformers".

The movie is directed by Michael Bay with Steven Spielberg acting as executive producer.

Extras 16 years of age & older are needed to work outside for the 2-day scene currently scheduled for the first week of Oct. 2006. If you are interested in possibly working as a paid extra in the film, please send information immediately.

Mail To: Wendy Washbrook/Extra Casting
"Transformers"
5600 Campus Center Drive
Bungalow 1
Playa Vista, CA 90094

Or Email Photo and Info To: Wendy Washbrook/Extra Casting: wwashbrook@verizon.net

No phone calls. Photos will not be returned.

Aug
18

Transformer tidbits from Michael Bay

Nelson here…

I just barely caught Michael in between takes. Among the things he mentioned:

1- They will be releasing more teaser posters in the coming months.

2- Paramount made studies and concluded that the TF “ANNOUNCEMENT” was the 2nd highest rated “teaser” this summer.

3.- They just finished shooting a lot of Pentagon interiors on a soundstage in scenes that involved many Chiefs of staff in their huge war room.

4.- Shia just was recently suspended over the edge of a 20 story building in a very dynamic and intense scene.

5.- The average transformation time from normal mode to alt mode and vice versa is about 3 to 4 seconds.

6.- The leaked pictures are legit (although a somewhat early rendering).

7.- Filming of massive chase scenes will begin in the following weeks.

8.- The CGI transformations by ILM are looking wicked and nastier every single day.

9.- Part 1 will be about why the transformers came to earth.

10.- This movie will be a new start for the live action franchise that will not be based on any particular TF TV series and/or comic book.

And last but certainly not least, the Autobots are:

Optimus Prime: idealistic view of humanity.
Bumblebee: underdog, spy, most “connected” to humans
Jazz: style, loyal, eager, contemporary
Ratchet: new form, medical officer, science officer. Emergency vehicle.
Ironhide: tough, tough stare, first in battle, classic cowboy, gritty. Optimus’ oldest friend.

Decepticons are:

Megatron: survival of the fittest, social darwinism, less idealistic view of humanity. Sees himself as advanced, sees humans as lower.
Starscream: seems faithful but plotting, “we will see a lot of that dynamic,” explains why he does not push it, waits for his opportunity.
Brawl: eager for battle, jumps in. From non-G1 character, experimental, but will be in sequels. First disguised non-flyer.
Bonecrusher: closest to constructicon but not giving away mode. Hates other cons except Megatron. Doesn’t want friends.
Barricade: scout, hunter, lures into trap.
Scorponok: closest to Beast Wars, fitted to environment.
Frenzy: “had some evolution for us,” started off as Soundwave but had contradictions and changed to stay truer to G1. Smaller, able to infiltrate. Stealth spy, can hide anywhere.
Blackout: comes in, takes out fighting ability, sends EMP, first-tier attack, transporter, biggest vehicle.

Discuss here.