Studio Cut

By: John Millar

Question: How does it feel to be filming in such amazing locations?

Michael Bay: Next week we will be in Petra, Jordan and it is pretty amazing to shoot right here. [At the Pyramids]

Question: It must be so exciting to bring the futuristic world of Transformers into the Ancient World?

Michael Bay: It is. Everyone always wondered how the Pyramids got built; well we explain it to you in Transformers.

Question: Has this been a demanding shoot?

Michael Bay: Yeah you always try to challenge yourself. I think this movie has a lot more fun and more passion than the first one. It is just much more of an adventure. So it feels different. We have shot some great stuff; it is definitely a way better looking movie.

Question: You are shooting some of this movie in IMAX?

Michael Bay: The IMAX thing is pretty cool. We are shooting scenes in IMAX with these gigantic cameras. It takes a little bit longer, but I think the look will be great. Seeing The Dark Knight in IMAX really impressed me. But unlike that movie we are doing the effects in IMAX quality. That is 10 times more the resolution!

Question: You are shooting very quickly. Did you storyboard the whole movie?

Michael Bay: I storyboarded the effects but I don’t storyboard [the film]. I have been doing it long enough that it is in my head. I put the movie in my head and when I come on the set I look at the light, I see where my angles are; I have always pre-scouted where I am shooting. So that is how I do it.

Question: There is kind of a trend for sequels to be darker than the original movie. Is that the case here?

Michael Bay: This one is R-rated! (JOKES)

Question: Not many people died in the first film. Is there more collateral damage in this one?

Michael Bay: Yeah there is a little bit more. It is more of a worldwide kind of thing. The last one was a little threat to a little, nondescript city. This one impacts the world. It touches certain continents…Europe, America and North Africa. It is a little more apocalyptic.

Question: The magic of the first film was that it was enjoyed by a really wide audience.

Michael Bay: And I had no idea that it would do that! Whenever you are doing a movie, you don’t really know if it is going to work or not. When I was doing the first movie, everyone said it sounded like Your browser may not support display of this image.a lame idea. I did the Scorponox scene in the desert and I showed it to some of my friends who had said that they did not get this movie; but as soon as they saw reality interspersed with our robots they went…oh, I get it now! Then I think we were just at the tip of the iceberg of what we could do with our robots and characters. But now we have funnier characters and there is a wide variety of robots…from stupid ones, to old ones, to little teeny ones.

Question: Do you work out the action with a stunt co-ordinator?

Michael Bay: No I just sit there by myself, listen to music and think about what I would like to do. That is how I do it. What music? All sorts. Sometimes I use Transformers music, sometimes Gladiator, or Batman, the first of the new franchise…Hans Zimmer stuff. Hans is actually going to do a few more themes on this one. I always do it that way; I sit in a room and think.

Question: Is there special action in his movie?

Michael Bay: The action is a little different. There is one little car chase. It is different from the stuff I have done before. It involves some military. It is a UK/American kind of thing – a special group that is stationed down at Diego Garcia.

Question: What makes Shia and Megan so special?

Michael Bay: I literally found Megan from nothing. The studios were saying that she hadn’t done anything. But I kept bringing her back and auditioning with her and showing tapes that she could do it. She has really improved on this movie. She has done some great performances on this movie. And Shia is a gem! He is a pain in the ass 22 year-old but he is a gem. (LAUGHS) I have got to be like the big, older brother to him. He is a really talented actor and he has really come a long way. He is a leader on this movie and he has more charisma.

Question: Is it because of your wicked sense of humour that you have John Turturro running about in this heat dressed in a leather jacket with a fur collar?

Michael Bay: Yeah! (JOKES) John is truly funny. He just makes me laugh. I am glad he is back. This time he has been kicked out of Sector Seven and works at his mom’s deli in New York. So he has a chip on his shoulder…big time! Ramon Rodriguez – our new guy in the group – is also really funny. He is Shia’s room mate in college. He is like the audience going along with it. He did not have an alien in his garage, so everything is a surprise to him.

Question: What has been the toughest sequence to shoot?

Michael Bay: We built this gigantic Egyptian town in New Mexico. It was very complicated. We were bouncing back and forth what was going on and I was the only one who had the answers.

Question: What about the two little cars that are the new Transformers in his movie?

Michael Bay: They are really funny and great little heroes that’ll be great for kids. It was my idea to have these two kind of dumb Transformers. Their names keep changing. They are like two little brothers who bitch at each other all the time. But they do something really heroic in the movie and Bumblebee keeps scolding them the whole time. They fight over the wrong things. Bumblebee is not the comic relief any more. He becomes a little bit more serious this time. We were thinking that Bumblebee might actually be the most famous car in the world.

Question: What about the campaign of misinformation that you have had to put people off finding out the plot of this movie?

Michael Bay: We gave out wrong call shoots so that it would seem that certain things were in the script. We left them at certain locations – people picked them up and they got on the Internet – and they were wrong. We wrote down wrong characters and funny stuff. The crew does not even know what this is about because there are so few scripts out there.

Question: In your career is this movie the most fun you have had?

Michael Bay: This one is fun. It still has its ups and downs of being hard. It is challenging because I shoot these movies really fast. A lot of the directors who do these big movies have a second unit that is on the go the entire time. I don’t have a second unit, so we are doing it all ourselves. I want to maintain my vision and I also pride myself on bringing these movies on budget. We are shooting this for 30 million or 40 million dollars cheaper than what the second movie would normally cost.

Question: But the action is still incredible?

Michael Bay: The Destructicon is in a really fun scene that comes towards the end. It is gigantic.

Question: When he climbed the Pyramid how far up did John Turturro go?

Michael Bay: He went up quite high.

Question: Aren’t you worried that he might slip and get hurt?

Michael Bay: We have had a poked eye, a broken finger and we have worked around it all. I think he is careful enough. The one I worry about is Shia because he is always very adventurous. He is a kid and does stuff and I tell him not to because he will hurt himself. Kids feel they are invincible.

Question: Ramon says the first thing you asked was if he was an athlete?

Michael Bay: We do a lot of athletic stuff. You want them to be limber because it is physical.

Question: Will the scene on the Pyramid be in IMAX?

Michael Bay: Yeah. We shot a section. We were supposed to do some IMAX shots from a helicopter but we will see if they will let us.

Question: You appear to be very relaxed?

Michael Bay: The movie is basically done. These are the things that will help us make it real.

Question: Do you keep a notepad by your bed in case ideas come to you at night?

Michael Bay: Sometimes. Lately I have had directing dreams. That is the worst. You are half awake/ half asleep and you dream about shots.

Question: Is there pressure with this sequel?

Michael Bay: There is always pressure. You always put it on yourself to make it better.

Question: It has been said that this is more of a war movie?

Michael Bay: It is not a war movie. There are more robots on both sides. I felt the end of the last one was a little weak. This one has got much more passion and heart to it. It has got more emotion and the stakes are bigger.

Question: Is that typical of you as an artist that you are never satisfied?

Michael Bay: Yeah of course. With the last one I was just hoping that the movie would work.

Question So what did you do when the figures started coming through and you knew it was a smash hit?

Michael Bay: I knew there was something special when we tested it. It tested like 95 – really high. I was sitting in the test thinking..This is a stupid kids’ movie. Ok, kids will like it but this movies sucks! This is dumb. The kids like the jokes, whatever, this is a dumb movie…Then it came back with 95. Ok it’s a kids’ movie. Then we did the adults screening, 30 minutes later. I sat next to some adult and I asked him if he liked the movie and he said…Nah. Then the adults started laughing at the jokes. Then we had a focus group and it scored a 95. The focus groups were asked why they like the movie and this woman in her forties raised her hand and said…We have seen the capes and the suits and so on, but this is new. I thought that was a good answer. Then [when the numbers came in] on the first and second day I thought it was just the fans, then the third day I thought well ok it is holding. But Jerry Bruckheimer told me that you don’t get arrogant till the second week-end. That is what separates the men from the boys. So it was the second week-end when we knew that we had a really good hold. There was the word of mouth and the audience was surprisingly older than I ever expected.

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ is released and distributed by
United International Pictures thru Solar Entertainment Corp.
In theatres 24 June 2009 (Wednesday)