Talk:Michael Bay

I added the "image requested" template, because it occured to me that in spite of having seen four films by Michael Bay, I have no idea what he looks like. Not that I'm a huge fan, don't get me wrong. <pov>If budgets were equal, Ed Wood would have made better movies.</pov> I'd just like to be able to put a face with the name. — FREAK OF NUR_xTURE (TALK) 11:28, July 18, 2005 (UTC)

Your Wish is my command

"Transformers 2 and HD-DVD/Blu-ray"

Michael Bay said on his personal blog/website that he refuses to make the previously announced Transformers sequels. This is due to the fact that Paramount made an unexpected decision to support HD-DVD and drop their support of Blu-ray discs, despite the better sales figures. He feels that his films should be released on the Blu-ray format. I have not added this myself because I wanted someone else to approve this information first. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 206.136.32.214 (talk) 14:39, August 21, 2007 (UTC)

On the Lot appearance

Michael Bay came on as a guest judge on the Fox show On the Lot, episode 5. In his interview at thelot.com, he said his experience being a judge was fun. He also said that he was told never to read the critics' reviews: he "doesn't make movies for the critics; he makes them for the people." His favorite short was Shalini Kantayya's "Laughing out Loud: A Comic Journey".[1] User: Brigid 16:38, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

Ultra-Kinetic Cinematography

Is that even a real term? Sounds like a buzzword to explain his "Style".

Too positive

Praising Armageddon is a bit much...

It is not without merit. It's got some very nice humanist shots and a very nice score at the launch sequence. Just because the film is generally dumb doesn't negate it of its better parts.

Relationships with Jaime Bergman and Lisa Dergan

An earlier edit that had me noting relationships with Jaime Bergman and Lisa Dergan was removed, with a request to cite sources. This is easily verifiable if one had simply googled "Michael Bay" and "Lisa Dergan" or "Michael Bay" and "Jaime Bergman." However, I have now cited sources in the External Links section of this article. I hope this will suffice.

Additional Critisism

Any additional critisism for Mr. Bay would be perfect.

It is my understanding (I don't have a source handy) that Bay is reviled for wasteful spending of film budgets. For example, in Transformers he has used a Porsche Cayenne SUV as a camera dolly for no apparent reason other than "because he could." Photo KyuzoGator 02:29, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Porsches are used because they are high performance vehicles that can go fast and respond quickly. The Red Queen (talk) 16:29, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

So? 80.0.76.95 (talk) 21:13, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

So? So....Michael Bay sucks, and his movies are a pile of shit. --1sneakers6 (talk) 05:21, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

ITT, jealous people are jealous and bitter people are bitter. He makes a product that is exactly what he intends it to be and lots of people vote that they like it by paying money to see it. So...no he doesn't suck and no his movies aren't piles of shit and he (And his grateful studios) have the money to prove it.131.247.83.135 (talk) 14:58, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

IMHO, we should remove the second sentence about his being "of Jewish decent". If the purpose of the article is to help understand his work, his style, his effects on the culture, or to prepare for a meeting or business relationship with the man, then will this fact really help? The article doesn't mention much more pertinent social facts, such as his marital status or political party registration. My positive reason for wanting to remove the sentence is that it's main emotional salience is to promote a sense of resentment; not against him in particular, but against a particular "decent". Instead, would it violate the Wikipedia code to analyze his work as production, per se? Or would that be "original research"? I'd imagine a reader in the 22nd century might want to understand the films in the context of fin de siècle American action and horror genre. Disclaimer: I've only seen about five minutes of "Transformers", and none of his other work. I liked "Transformers" better than "Batman", but his was, unfortunately, one more movie about people getting beaten up than I could stand. --Davidrei (talk) 22:49, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

Hey, you're welcome to reword it. I just figured people deserved to know he was jewish (since he seemed to reference Israel being "destroyed" in TransformersII :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.107.182.37 (talk) 22:57, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

Lego Knight?

That doesn't quite sound like an actual movie, and there is no page at the link, and no information providing proof that Michael Bay is making the movie, so I don't know if that should be there or not...

"Trademarks"

Besides the poor formatting, a lot of this stuff in this section seems like original research. I'm also curious about why so much emphasis is made on how often they're imitated - especially since I've seen some of those "trademarks" in films made years before Bay started directing films (particularly in the works of Tony Scott). What does everyone else feel about this? - DoubleCross 06:48, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

michael bay is not dead...

TheBigPoppaJW 10:15, 7 February 2007 (UTC)bigpoppajw

Fair use rationale for Image:Bad Boys.jpg

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Film: The Prince of Persia Sands of Time

As far as I know, to this date he has not yet been confirmed as the Director for this film (IMDB seems to agree), so requesting a confirmation through supporting data. To aid in the data hunt: The last thing currently known on the subject was that Disney wanted to secure him as director, but again, nothing was confirmed. Please edit the page to reflect this.

Conflicting brithdates

There are two conflicting birthdates in this article. —Fleminra 19:58, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Dragon Ball?

1. Dragon Ball Z (2008; in pre-production)
2. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2009; in pre-production)

references? is this just vandalism?

John Carpenter

What's the connection here? — The Storm Surfer 02:48, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

they both make horrible movies.

I have removed it. --Auger Martel 04:55, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

Both put their names below their movie titles'. I guess that might not relate them.--Andersmusician VOTE 02:41, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Tv Commercials

Bay recently featured as himself in an add for the commonwealth bank in australia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.165.107.1 (talk) 10:16, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

I added it in with a reference and the commercial itself.. someone didnt like it and reverted my edit... i would like to know why but cant really be bothered now... --Vylen (talk) 11:26, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

I reverted your edit because the two links you inserted did not work, they had malformed URLs. faithless (^speak) 21:57, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

He is in a new commercial for Verizone, I don't have a link right now but I saw it at AICN.com, it was funny because he makes fun (IMHO) of the only thing he knows how to do well (IMHO again): Blow up Stuff. Vicco Lizcano (talk) 17:48, 21 February 2008 (UTC) ^{(Hey! Listen!)}

Where's the section about his anger problem?

There was originally a section on Bay's page referring to his habit of yelling at his actors whenever things don't go his way on the sets- one person cited an instance on the set of Pearl Harbor when he told everybody to shut up, and apparently Jerry Bruckheimer "stood there showing discomfort". Why was this section deleted? People should know about his bad habits as a director; it's only fair. -Icebox482000

Critical reception section/Michael Bay is terrible at what he does

Full disclosure: I am of the opinion that Michael Bay's movies are the worst things to be inflicted upon American cinema in recent memory. However, I've noticed that I'm far from alone in this opinion. So I agree with some of the people on this page that a criticism section is reasonable, mentioning the polarizing effect he has on people. At least a "Popular Culture" section could mention the trend of his depictions usually being a dense, heavy-handed director (as in the "Pearl Harbor sucked" song in Team America and this parody script mocking his typical movies). --Qwerty0 (talk • contribs) 19:33, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

he was also mocked in the south park imaginationland trilogy and on a recent episode of robot chicken. both times for substituting explosions for.... well... film making really. imho it's definitely worth mention. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.153.29.112 (talk) 08:45, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

There was a criticism section for a very long time (it included both of the above-mentioned critiques). If you go back about 500 edits on the History page, you can see it. I believe it was removed entirely due to lack of citations. If I had the time to learn how to properly cite things on wikipedia, I would fix it right now so it could be included. It really should be on here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.237.130.223 (talk) 21:52, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

Criticisms by Mark Kermode Something should be added about what the famouse British film critic says about Michael bay. ie. couldnt direct traffic, should be directing porn etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.144.182.209 (talk) 08:56, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

Truth hurts. You guys have references for the interviews, why not use em? He really does suck. (JoeLoeb (talk) 14:29, 1 July 2009 (UTC))

Article is biased, should have a Critcism section

Really, it only portrays one point of view and says nothing negative about the man. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.190.34.219 (talk) 18:58, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

I agree...seriously, what's up with it? Fruckert (talk) 23:20, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

I don't agree, at all. Criticism sections are not mandatory and frankly the crap on this page is rank transparent jealousy. He does not make a product you like personally, so what. (For what its worth, neither do I. I haven't seen any movie of his since Mystery Men)

He is ridiculously successful and has the money to prove it, get over it.131.247.83.135 (talk) 15:16, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

Unfortunately. (JoeLoeb (talk) 14:36, 1 July 2009 (UTC))

The page on Roland Emmerich, who directed over-the-sensation and excitement films, have a criticism section and I don't see why there shouldn't be a criticism section for Michael Bay. (Drgyen)) 18:49, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Jealousy or not, Bay's work is widely criticized. A criticism section would be appropriate.

I am drafting a reorganization and will place quoted and referenced criticism for each film from reviews, but I don't recommend a separate criticism section. This director faces more mean-spirited abuse than any I can think of.The Red Queen (talk) 08:03, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

I disagree. As Bay's work is generally criticised on the same grounds, time and again, it would be more reasonable to have a criticism section rather than repeat similar criticisms for each film. A criticism section could also more easily include any reasonable rebuttals to the criticisms, which are also likely to occur similarly and repeatedly for the various film projects.

'mean-spirited abuse' is a non-sequitur in this discussion - there's no reason why any such abuse should be included in a criticism section. Centrepull (talk) 01:19, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

additional thoughts

I removed "he is of Jewish descent" from the second sentence of this article. His descent should not be a defining characteristic and does not need to be placed where it was. Any legitimate biography of Michael Bay would not consider his religion the defining characteristic of his career as a director. As another author noted in detail, religious/ethnicity of the subject in this particular situation does not merit being the second sentence. By all means it is a valid piece of information, however it should be placed in his personal history section. Defining a character based on his religion, especially someone as controversial as Michael Bay, in such a blatantly blaring location as the second sentence of this article, when not warranted, only serves someone with an alternative motive. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Daco30338 (talk • contribs) 23:30, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

Religion/ethnicity is a defining character in a "legitimate" biography. List of Jewish film directors. Wikifan12345 (talk) 07:34, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Agreed that religion is a important part of a biography, but his religion/ethnicity should place in the "early life section," a typical location for such information not in the second sentence of this article in the introduction. Its placement there is simply not warranted. If nothing is mentioned in Steven Spielberg's introduction on his religion then certainly this sets a precedent for Michael Bay's entry in Wikipedia. The placement of the information is all I am interested in changing--Daco30338 (talk) 14:58, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

If being Jewish played an important part in one's life or defined their bio then the religion can be placed per order of importance - see Nahum Goldmann and Theodor_Herzl. Anyways, the intro mentions he gave his Bar Mitzvah money to an animal shelter so if that isn't a dead giveaway I don't know what is. : ) Understand that your original rationale for excluding ethnicity (Jewish), a quality that is not dependent on religion (Judaism), was extremely flawed. Wikifan12345 (talk) 18:24, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Well he's not of jewish descent at all, he was just raised jewish by his adoptive parents. Hence the edit. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.234.132.64 (talk) 05:46, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

Well, one or both of his biological parents could have been Jewish as well. But I agree that that particular part is best left out since we don't know. All Hallow's (talk) 19:18, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Although one can easily extrapolate that Bay was at least raised in the faith, but he does not advertise the fact to the press, it is not an aspect of his work and it's just as possible that he no longer practices or even holds the faith. There's certainly no evidence of it. It's not a matter of ethnic descent as he was adopted and his biological parents may not be part of the faith at all.The Red Queen (talk) 05:58, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

Eh?

Why is washed out and color reversed? --68.9.226.101 (talk) 03:12, 31 July 2009 (UTC) / (FI)

The real question should be, who the hell would want Michael Bay's autograph? Wikifan12345 (talk) 04:45, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Music Videos

I'm mildly surprised that I was the only person who noticed some... er, *unusual* details in the music videos section (added in this edit). Much as I'd like to believe that Lionel Richie recorded the theme to Guns & Boobs II: M. Da Fox, I'd have to see a reference first. :) Ubcule (talk) 13:10, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

Photography Appreciation

I think Michael Bay's work is very interesting and unusual (it's very distinctive and almost everybody seems to be able to recognize it).

Here is someone appreciating the photography in the Transformers movies: http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/5828/photographytransformers.png

I considered quoting Basigner's comments about his photography work at school in the Early Life sectionRedqueenar (talk) 21:26, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Reorganization 2010

SUCCESS! Finished moving things around. Hopefully, this will make more sense and be easier to add to. He's has a pretty short career to be dividing it by decade. The AWARDS section is the only thing that really needs to be overhauled as severa are missing including music video and commerical awards. Also, debating putting more info on Digital Domain. It has its own page, after all... The Red Queen (talk) 06:31, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

I went through the whole entry adding details, correcting grammar, updating with new information, adding historical information and reorganizing the sections in the past few days. I will make updates in the future as well.

To me, breaking out the information into decades (1990s, 2000s) is a bit awkward, since it's a new decade. Does anyone have thoughts on how we might organize the information in a different manner? I separated his company ownerships from his directing/producing work... Thanks Redqueenar (talk) 21:25, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

    Seeing as it's just turned 2010, what about putting new stuff under a present or future heading or something similar? Edw400 (talk) 11:47, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

I'm working on doing it movie by movie. I looked at a bunch of other directors and that seems pretty common to do it that way. Plus people want criticism (though I will watch that like a hawk for abuse, which is rampant) and it's easier to do film by film.The Red Queen (talk) 04:06, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

THE TABLE HAS DEFEATED ME! I spent about an hour trying to put Fiasco Heights under 2011, which is correct and it just will not work. If someone could fix that, it'd be awesome. Redqueenar (talk) 22:08, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

The Got Milk? ads are missing. He won a Clio for those and they are on record at the Smithsonian. Need to get references before I post. The Red Queen (talk) 23:21, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Currently working on the following outline for this page's 2010 redesign. Comments welcome.

Michael Bay

1. Personal Life ref needed - frat assoc, Art Center College Sister Lisa Single, Lives in Miami and Los Angeles with his bullmastiffs Gracie and Bonecrusher (dog cameos), formerly Mason (d. 4/07)

2. Early Career (Nearly burned down his house @ age 9) - have refs but may not include b/c it's apocryphal Interned for Lucas @ 15. Filed s-boards for Raiders, thought it "sucked." First directing job - Coca Cola ad Start in MVs and commercials Got Milk? Campaign. Awarded Clio, on file at the Smithsonion Music Videos - TABLE - Align right, if possible

3. Filmography (every film subsection will contain budget, box office and critical review data wherever possible)

Bad Boys - transition into features, relationship with Bruckheimer & Simpson,

The Rock - passing of Simpson. Relationship with Connery, Harris

Armageddon - Willis, Affleck, Tyler, Buscemi, Critism of film, first production

Pear Harbor- record budget, studio drama, Bay's first profit-share, trivia and criticism (fight with Ebert)

Bad Boys II - reteam, third one possible

The Island - first departure from Bruck, reteam with Buscemi, crticism, Clonus Wars lawsuit

Transformers

relationship w/Spielberg

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Transformers 3 begins production in May '10

Filmography - TABLE

4. Production & FX Companies Platinum Dunes - co-owners, summary, box office, future projects Digital Domain - website, future projects, near missed IPO, Florida Expansion The Institute - recent ads including VS "One Gift" campaign.

5. Awards - TABLE Clio MTV Oscars

6. References

7. External LinksThe Red Queen (talk) 19:30, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Semi-Protection

Just applied for it. Hope we get it. Tired of all this abuse and swearing. He's a human being, for God's sake. The Red Queen (talk) 20:14, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Charity

In a week or two I will be creating a new section regarding Bay's involvement in charity work including the events he's hosted at his home, his contribution to Haiti relief and his ongoing work with The Make A Wish Foundation. The Red Queen (talk) 16:19, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

Article really needs improvement

This article could be a lot better. For one thing, it's rather too promotional and approving in tone. I'd like to see a bit more NPOV, and more mention of the constant, consistent criticisms Bay's films have received from critics to balance the promotional tone.

I've removed the sentence about Transformers:_Revenge_of_the_Fallen receiving good reviews in the UK and other markets. The reference is actually only to the UK reviews, and in the UK, it's not a justified statement. The MTV article linked is sheer puffery, and although it does link to three relatively positive reviews, they are not 'raves', as described by MTV, and none of them (Mirror, Total Film, News of the World), is by a recognised critic, or even in a publication recognised for carrying serious reviews. By contrast, the movie was panned by the UK broadsheet newspaper movie critics, that is, by critics of equivalent standing to the US reviewers mentioned in the same paragraph: Telegraph: [2] Independent: [3] Guardian: [4]

Other edits:
Removed this speculative and pointless statement re future gross figures:

a number that will continue to grow as a third film is expected in 2011

Removed

He is distantly related to Leonard Nimoy, through his cousin, Susan Bay, who is married to the Star Trek actor.

Really, the statement 'distantly related to', is generally used to indicate a blood relationship, however attenuated. Cousin by marriage? Not so much.

Interesting note: Michael Bay's particular style appears to be very distinctive. Google gives 90,000 hits for the term 'Bayhem' a phrase used to describe Bay's frenetic, explosion and special-effects heavy directorial style. I did check, and found very few of the hits not directly concerned with Michael Bay and his work. Centrepull (talk) 02:08, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

Your points are very well taken and I appreciate your assistance. I've been contributing for a couple of months and I'm still not very good at it. I am in the process of finding new links that are better. The Red Queen (talk) 04:55, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

Also, I'm going to take your comments as permission to really change the article. Apart from moving thing around, I didn't want to offend anyone with sweeping changes because I'm still pretty new. The Red Queen (talk) 17:17, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

One Way Out

This forthcoming project is mentioned once in the correct 'forthcoming' section. Not sure why it is also mentioned in the 'filmography' section. For one thing it doesn't seem to be a film, and also it doesn't seem to have reached the stage of development where it could be reasonably listed even if it were a film. Finally, the paragraph is overly unencyclopedic and promotional in tone:

Bay promises in a quote from his web page, a game with no rules, that remains true to the filmmakers signature style...

Are we really to believe that there will actually be 'no rules', and that Bay will be blowing contestants up? I'll delete or slap a puffery tag on it. Centrepull (talk) 16:54, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

I finally learned how to code embedded links properly. I will fix everything on this page in the coming week. The Red Queen (talk) 21:09, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

It wasn't working so I didn't save any edits. :( The Red Queen (talk) 20:48, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from 204.235.227.144, 11 May 2010

Michael has also mentioned that He loves an unknown actor Javier Job Frutos from Houston Texas who Michael saw in a show He said " this boy/funny man has a future in this business he is a Master in the Acting realm, Gods gift to humanity".

204.235.227.144 (talk) 20:56, 11 May 2010 (UTC)