Is Michael Bay more than meets the eye? As a director, we may not like some (or any) of his movies, but as a personality he seems to be something else. For example, he blew us away with his hilarious commercial for Verizon. He battled Internet trolls and squashed gossip with his online blog. Now, he has given his longest interview yet to Collider.com, who pulled him aside at the Friday the 13th premiere (a film he is producing). For a brief five minutes, with a few jokes and friendly smiles, Bay gave the world with a stimulating yet arguably light update specifically about the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Apparently, there's a scene in the sequel that takes place at the Egyptian pyramids. How did the Bayster earn the right to shoot at such a revered historical landmark? He talked to Dr. Zahi Hawass, a famous Egyptian archaeologist. "[He] was a big fan of Transformers. They had not allowed anyone to shoot on the pyramids in I think thirty years. For some reason he says 'as long as you don't hurt my pyramids, you can shoot on em.'"
Next came a question about the Transformers sequel being on IMAX. To which he replied, "We've done three scenes in IMAX. They look pretty awesome ... and it's different when you see Optimus Prime fighting in IMAX. Very different."
When asked about what he likes about this new movie, Bay said, "Granted, it's bigger. But it's not trying to be bigger just to be bigger - it's a great adventure - but the thing that I like about it is that the robots have much more personality. 'Cause the first one ... we didn't know the technology of what we could do. Now you can really get those robots to emote. It's fun. [And] it's darker - this movie's darker. I know the fans wanted it darker - we made it darker."
Bay discussed the difference between the first and upcoming sequel. "[With] the first one - we were just trying to crack it. No one had any faith in the movie. I think that was the thing. When you're shooting, you're thinking 'I'm shooting a dumb f**king robot movie.' But it's not. The first one, you have to establish everything. [The robots] come to Earth, you've got that great mysticism and magical elements of [the robots] coming and [humans] discovering them. And this one, you really get taken on the ride - the characters go on the ride with these robots."
Collider asked Bay about what the director was thinking for running time, and he had this to say: "Right now, I'm about 2:20. But I'm still thirteen weeks in my cut. As you go, you keep cutting it - time comes out."
The final question involved whether Bay would move on to another franchise or make another Transformers. To which he replied calmly, "I could see myself doing a third. I just want to take a year off from doing the third. We'll see how the second does."
The video can be viewed here: Collider.com