Michael Bay

Birthday: 17 February 1965, Los Angeles, California, USA

Birth Name: Michael Benjamin Bay

Height: 185 cm

A graduate of Wesleyan University, Michael Bay spent his 20s working on advertisements and music videos. His first projects after film school were in the music video business. He created music videos for Tina Turner, Meat Loaf, Lionel Richie, Wilson Phillips, Donny Osmond and The Divinyls. His work won him recognition and a number of MTV award nominations. He also filmed advertisements for Nike, Reebok, Coca-Cola, Budweiser and Miller Lite. He won the Grand Prix Clio for Commercial of the Year for his "Got Milk/Aaron Burr" commercial. At Cannes, he has won the Gold Lion for The Best Beer campaign for Miller Lite, as well as the Silver for "Got Milk". In 1995, Bay was honored by the Directors Guild of America as Commercial Director of the Year. That same year, he also directed his first feature film, Bad Boys (1995), starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, which grossed more than $160 million, worldwide. His follow-up film, The Rock (1996), starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage, was also hugely successful, making Bay the director du jour. Show less «

I write my own action. There's a scene in The Island (2005) - a highway chase where a pile of train ...Show more »

I write my own action. There's a scene in The Island (2005) - a highway chase where a pile of train wheels fall off a truck and smashes into the oncoming cars. That thought came to me as I was driving next to a truck carrying rail wheels. My mind is very fertile, so I'm like, 'That's very dangerous!' I sent someone out to do research and found out those train wheels weigh a TON each . . . Show less «

I make movies for teenage boys. Oh, dear, what a crime.

Directing is not a job. It's more like a career. Which is great!

I know [critics] have [been tough on my movies]. And that's why I've taken Jerry Bruckheimer's advic...Show more »

I know [critics] have [been tough on my movies]. And that's why I've taken Jerry Bruckheimer's advice: I don't read them, I really don't. Show less «

There are tons of people who hate me. They hate my movies and whatnot. But you know, hey, my films h...Show more »

There are tons of people who hate me. They hate my movies and whatnot. But you know, hey, my films have made a lot of money around the world. 2-something billion dollars, that's a lot of tickets. They said that I wrecked cinema. They said that my, uh...cutting style. They say I cut too fast. And yet now you see it in movies everywhere. Do I take pride in people knowing my style? I think it's nice people know a director has a style. And you can reinvent yourself too. Show less «

A lot of directors don't want the pressure of a movie the size of 'Pearl Harbor (2001)'. But I love ...Show more »

A lot of directors don't want the pressure of a movie the size of 'Pearl Harbor (2001)'. But I love it. I thrive on it. Show less «

I'm one of the few directors - it seems like a dying art - that actually shoot a lot in the camera.

His most offensive criticism: Roger Ebert on Pearl Harbor (2001). He commented on TV that bombs don'...Show more »

His most offensive criticism: Roger Ebert on Pearl Harbor (2001). He commented on TV that bombs don't fall like that. Does he actually think we didn't research every nook and cranny of how armor-piercing bombs fell? He's watched too many movies. He thinks they all fall flat - armor-piercing bombs fall straight down, that's the way it was designed! But HE's on the air pontificating and giving the wrong information. That's insulting! Show less «

[about the kissing scene in The Island (2005)] I should re-shoot that scene right now. Two character...Show more »

[about the kissing scene in The Island (2005)] I should re-shoot that scene right now. Two characters who have never even heard of sex are now trying it for the first time - you could have actually made it really funny and touching. I kept saying to [Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor], 'I want you to feel like you're kissing for the first time'. I don't know if you heard it, but when they're bouncing lips, they go 'Wow!' Show less «

[on Transformers (2007)] Well, it's just, you know, listen, it's like...I didn't want to make the bo...Show more »

[on Transformers (2007)] Well, it's just, you know, listen, it's like...I didn't want to make the boxy characters, you know? Think about it, 30 feet in the air in the real world, just boxes, you know and it'd just look more fake, you know? And by adding more doo-dads, you know, stuff on the...stuff. Stuff on the robots, more car parts, and...you know you can just make it look more real. Show less «

To tell the truth, shooting action bores me now. But the audience has grown to like what I do and ex...Show more »

To tell the truth, shooting action bores me now. But the audience has grown to like what I do and expect visually stimulating excitement. Staying in that genre is me being safe. Show less «

[on shooting in 3-D]: Digital, no matter what people tell you, it's bullshit. They say, "Oh, it look...Show more »

[on shooting in 3-D]: Digital, no matter what people tell you, it's bullshit. They say, "Oh, it looks just like film." It doesn't look like film and never will. And it's like those people that are telling you are technicians. But I will be able to tweak film better than you tweak a digital image, because it just can't hold really bright skies to this black thing. You have to favor one thing. If I favored her, that would go much wider.Whereas film, you would be able to get more blue out of it or whatever. And you can't really do that with digital. So they're lying to you when they say it looks just like film. It doesn't. And when you shoot 3D, technically you give up some color, you give up some sharpness, you give up brightness. But you get the added benefit of seeing 3D. And what the audiences really are pissed about is dim 3D. So I did this special thing for the theater owner, I said, "You better turn your bulbs up." Show less «

Lots of sci-fi movies are much ado about nothing. What I liked about [The Island (2005)] is that it'...Show more »

Lots of sci-fi movies are much ado about nothing. What I liked about [The Island (2005)] is that it's a universal thing: we all want to live longer. But how selfish would you be to achieve that? You could get a liver, a heart, kidneys, essential things. But I wanted to show people going for things that were just so crass, like fresh skin for a face-lift. For some woman who doesn't want to go through the pain of childbirth and have stretch marks, why not have your clone birth for you? How disgusting is that? Show less «

I love it when people get really mean and call you a 'hack'. It's like, don't they see how well thes...Show more »

I love it when people get really mean and call you a 'hack'. It's like, don't they see how well these movies are doing? They make an impression around the world. I met this guy in Bali who lives in a hut with a TV, and he loved The Rock (1996). That means something, doesn't it? Show less «

Quentin Tarantino called me once. Someone had written 'Is Michael Bay the Devil?' Quentin said, 'Don...Show more »

Quentin Tarantino called me once. Someone had written 'Is Michael Bay the Devil?' Quentin said, 'Don't worry, last year they called me the Antichrist.' Show less «

Michael Bay

Michael Bay's FILMOGRAPHY

Michael Bay'S roles

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