Michael Bay

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Michael Bay
Image:Michaelbay.jpg Bay filming Armageddon
Birth name	Michael Benjamin Bay
Born	February 17 1965 (1965-02-17) (age 44) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	film director and producer
Awards Other Awards Saturn Award for Best Direction 1998 Armageddon

Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. Bay has achieved financial success with such movies as Transformers, Armageddon, The Rock, Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys, and Bad Boys II. Bay is also one of the members of the LA music video production company Propaganda Films.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Director 1.3 Awards 1.4 Inspirations 2 Filmography 2.1 Director 2.1.1 Feature films 2.1.2 Music videos 2.2 Producer 3 Visual trademarks 3.1 A modern director for a modern audience 4 Criticism 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Bay was born in Los Angeles and raised there by his adoptive parents, a bookstore owner/child psychiatrist mother and a district attorney father.^[1] After being rejected by USC and other notable film schools, he opted for the world-renowned Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and graduated from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where he was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity.

[edit] Director

After graduating from school, Bay broke in to the music video industry and worked on videos for artists such as Meat Loaf, Richard Marx, Donny Osmond, Lionel Richie, and Tina Turner, among many others. He also began directing television commercials for many large companies, including Nike, Reebok, Budweiser, and Coca-Cola. His most successful advertising campaign creation was the series of "Got Milk?" commercials, which won him the Grand Prix Clio for Commercial of the Year and the Cannes Silver Lion.

Michael Bay made his first feature film Bad Boys in 1995, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The movie became a success with a total of almost $141 million in ticket sales worldwide and generated a huge profit for producers Jerry Bruckheimer, Don Simpson and Columbia Pictures.

His follow-up film, The Rock (1996), is an action movie that primarily takes place on Alcatraz Island, and the San Francisco Bay area. It stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris. Again it was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, who died five months before the release. The movie won a number of minor awards, including 'Best On-Screen Duo' for Connery and Cage at the MTV Movie Awards as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound.

In 1998, he collaborated again with Jerry Bruckheimer to direct Armageddon. The film, released at a time when disaster films were seeing a comeback, was about a group of tough oil driggers who are sent by the NASA to deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. It was starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Ben Affleck. Despite the poor reviews and criticism, Armageddon was nominated for four Academy Awards (Best Sound, Best Special Effects, Best Effects Editing, and Best Original Song).

In 2001, Michael Bay decided to make a more dramatic picture, re-imagining the attack of Pearl Harbor. It starred Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale and Cuba Gooding Jr. Pearl Harbor was released on Memorial Day weekend in 2001. Bay also produced the film along with Jerry Bruckheimer. Critical response was largely negative and many critics dismissed the film as visually polished but historically insensitive, also citing such literary flaws such as the banal dialogue, underdeveloped love triangle plot, & the shallow nature of the lead characters. At the 2002 Academy Awards, Pearl Harbor was nominated for four awards, winning one for Sound Effects Editing. Its other nominations were for Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, and Best Song.

Bay reteamed with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for Bad Boys 2, and this also marked Bay's fifth collaboration with Jerry Bruckheimer. The film-though the subject of some vicious criticism for its length, brutality, bloated plot, misogynistic depiction of women and violent sense of humor (some have said it is the ultimate example of Bay's aesthetic)-was a success at the US box office. It made $138 million gross, enough to cover the production budget, and $273 million worldwide, which was more than the original movie.

In 2005, Bay directed The Island, a science-fiction film described as a pastiche of "escape-from-dystopia", starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. This is the first film of Michael Bay without Jerry Bruckheimer featuring as the producer and also his first to be a disappointment in the US domestic box office earning only $36 million; it was more successful overseas, where it netted a respectable $163 million worldwide. Bay himself stated that he was not comfortable with the marketing of the movie in the US ^[2] Although not particularly well-received, some critics did note a gentler, more humanistic side to the film, and praised the special effects, stunts, Mauro Fiore's cinematography, and Bay's handling of the movie's intense, multiple chase scenes.

In 2007, he teamed up with Steven Spielberg, as the executive producer, to direct Transformers, a live action film based on the Transformers franchise. The film was released in the U.S. and Canada on July 3, 2007, with 8 p.m. preview screenings on July 2. The previews earned $8.8 million,[92] and in its first day of general release it grossed $27.8 million, a record for Tuesday box office attendance. It broke Spider-Man 2's record for the biggest July 4th gross, making $29 million.[93] On its opening weekend, Transformers grossed $70.5 million, amounting to a $155.4 million opening week, giving it the record for the biggest opening week for a non-sequel. As of November 2007, the film has made over $319 million domestically and over $383 million worldwide. It is has been said to be his best film to date. Bay and Steven Spielberg will return as director and executive producer for Transformers 2, while Paramount has announced a June 26, 2009 release date.

All these movies combined grossed in more than $1.9 billion dollars worldwide.

Bay and Wydncrest Holdings recently bought the special effects company Digital Domain from James Cameron and Stan Winston.^[3] He also runs his producing company, Platinum Dunes, that produces horror genre films (mostly commercially successful remakes of 1970s films).

[edit] Awards

In 1995, Bay was honored by the Directors Guild of America as Commercial Director of the Year.^{[citation needed]}

Bay has won many MTV Video Music Awards.^{[citation needed]}

Bay has also been nominated several times, but has never "won" a Razzie Award.

[edit] Inspirations

Bay had a variety of factors that sparked and fueled his interest in show business. He draws inspiration from the talents of different directors such as Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, and the Coen Brothers. In his youth, Bay worked for Lucasfilm where his interest began after filing storyboards for Raiders of the Lost Ark.^[4]

[edit] Filmography

As of 2007 Bay has directed seven feature films and is scheduled to direct five more.

[edit] Director

[edit] Feature films

• Bad Boys (1995)
• The Rock (1996)
• Armageddon (1998)
• Pearl Harbor (2001)
• Bad Boys II (2003)
• The Island (2005)
• Transformers (2007)
• Transformers 2 (2009)^[5]
• 2012:The War For Souls (TBA)

[edit] Music videos

• "There You'll Be", Faith Hill (2001)
• "Falling in Love (Is Hard on the Knees)", Aerosmith (1997)
• "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are", Meat Loaf (1994)
• "Rock 'n' Roll Dreams Come True", Meat Loaf (1994)
• "I'd Do Anything for Love (but I Won't Do That)", Meat Loaf (1993)
• "You Won't See Me Cry", Wilson Phillips (1992)
• "Do It to Me", Lionel Richie (1992)
• "Love Thing", Tina Turner (1992)
• "I Touch Myself", Divinyls (1991)

[edit] Producer

• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
• The Amityville Horror (2005)
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
• The Hitcher (2007)
• The Birds (2009)
• Friday The 13th (2009)

[edit] Visual trademarks

Bay's films contain several common directorial and cinematographic trademarks. His films are known for both their fast paced action sequences and ultra-kinetic cinematography reminiscent of director Tony Scott. At key moments in any of his films, a 360-degree pan moves around the central character[s] to convey drama, emotion, shock, or even just for "coolness" (a "trailer shot" in his own words). Actors faces are often framed in emphatic close ups just below the brow and above the chin. The camera is almost constant motion, often using an agitated shakiness to emphasize the chaos onscreen. All of his movies feature a shot of aircraft silhouetted in slow motion against a vivid sunset. Cinematographically, his films have a strong industrial feel to them, and Bay uses lots of greys and blues to emphasize this. To date, there has been a high-octane chase in every movie, as well as multiple explosions destruction of cities, landmark buildings and vehicles (especially cars). He often cannibalizes his own films, so visual motifs are relayed from one movie to the other; Grace Stamper (Liv Tyler)'s appearance in the latter half of Armageddon is almost identical to Kate Beckinsale's character in the latter half of Pearl Harbor; Transformers featured a scene depicting a building with Megatron dragging Optimus Prime through one side and out the other- this is very similar to the scene in Bad Boys II where a slow motion bullet breaks through glass bottles; the freeway chase in Bad Boys 2 has some very similar-if not identical-shots and stunts to the astonishing freeway chase in The Island. The effect where Bay uses CGI to allow his camera's point-of-view to perform physically impossible maneuvers through tiny spaces during actions scenes is first done in Bad Boys 2 and then again in Transformers. All of his movies feature an idealized, chiseled, brunette women, such as Tea Leoni in Bad Boys, Steve Buscemi's wife in The Island and Megan Fox in Transformers. His films also tend to feature very modern, high-end vehicles, such as the Solstice Prototype and the Hummer in The Rock and the Fifth-generation Chevrolet Camaro in Transformers. He occasionally makes cameo appearances in his films: in Bad Boys II he plays a guy driving a small beat-up old car which Martin Lawrence attempts to borrow, a NASA scientist in Armageddon, and in Transformers he is the "disgusting" human that gets flicked away by Megatron.

[edit] A modern director for a modern audience

Whilst often coming into the sightlines of negative criticism [2] he also has his fans in the critical community. His brash, high-gloss, quick-cutting visual shorthand, whereby a rough, chaotic idea of what is going on is created, rather than explicitly laying out the emotional or physical geography of a scene has been marked out as transcending traditional film language [3] Often his appeal seems to lie in that his visual style can connect with a new generation of film-goers weaned on the visual language of music videos rather than "A-B-C" storytelling.

[edit] Criticism

While for the most part he has enjoyed impressive financial dividends for his motion pictures, Michael Bay has not fared well with film critics. Critics have attacked Bay for a brash, shaky quick-cut editorial and directing style that simultaneously emphasize chaos, superficial dramatization and pointless action whilst diluting frequently bloated plotlines.^[6] Bay is often criticized for directing films that lack character development and progression, thus making his films more of an eye candy appeal.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park spoofed the work of Bay. Bay is the focus of the song "The End of an Act" from the Team America: World Police soundtrack, which criticizes the film Pearl Harbor as one of the worst films ever produced. The song opens with "I miss you more than Michael Bay missed the mark when he made Pearl Harbor" and contains the line "Why does Michael Bay get to keep on making movies?" In the fifth season South Park episode "Cartmanland", Kyle says, "Job has all his children killed, and Michael Bay gets to keep making movies. There isn't a God." In Season 11, Episode 10 "Imaginationland", Michael Bay is brought in by a group of G-Men to come up with an idea to stop terrorists, however he fails to comprehend the difference between original ideas and special effects.

In Ultimate Spider-Man Number 15, "Confrontations", the character J. Jonah Jameson refers to an unbelievable news story as having "more holes in it than a Michael Bay movie."

In the third season of Entourage, Vincent Chase gets upset when he hears that Michael Bay instead of James Cameron is directing Aquaman 2.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website and Blog
• Michael Bay at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael Bay at All Movie Guide
• Michael Bay Videography, Michael Bay's music video filmography at The Music Video Database.
• Transformers Movie - Interview With Michael Bay
• Michael Bay is a huge Transformer fan
• Fast Cars, Hot Blondes, Big Budgets, Bigger Explosions, a June 2001 Rolling Stone article
• Appreciation of Bay's over-the-top "The Island"
• Article confirming relationship between Michael Bay and Jaime Bergman
• Wydncrest Holdings
• Criterion Collection essay on Michael Bay and "Armageddon"

v • d • e Films directed by Michael Bay
Bad Boys • The Rock • Armageddon • Pearl Harbor • Bad Boys II • The Island • Transformers • Transformers 2

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