Overview (3)

Mini Bio (1)

Trade Mark (24)

Intense slow motion shots of characters



Films often feature a US President giving a major speech before a major action is to be committed.



Has the camera moving during most scenes Very rarely uses static shots



(2001) His last 3 films all share: a) two male leads at odds with another; b) a cataclysmic event as the narrative's fulcrumic point; c) the film's lead female character has i) been a long-haired brunette, and ii) watched the film's climax from a control room



Actors/characters in his films are almost uniformly shot in tight, emphatic close ups, framed under the hairline and above the chin.



Often uses lightflashes (i.e. lightbulbs and cameraflashes) to enhance scenes.



Often has over-the-top visuals (i.e. key events taking place at sunset or dramatic events taking place behind actors doing routine activities).





Uses shots of aircraft against a setting sun, especially helicopters ( Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), Transformers (2007)).

Often features a slow-motion shot of an object crashing into, or tumbling towards the camera.



Use of shots where the camera spins in slow-motion in a circle around the characters. (Bad Boys, The Rock, Bad Boys II, Transformers)



Frequently incorporates scenes that involve characters running or moving towards the camera (almost always shot in slow-motion)



Big explosions, often in slow-motion, with people running away in the foreground.





He occasionally makes cameo appearances in his films: in Bad Boys II (2003) he plays a guy driving a small beat-up old car which Martin Lawrence attempts to borrow, a NASA scientist in Armageddon (1998), and in Transformers (2007) he is the "disgusting" human that gets flicked away by Megatron.



Has worked with producer Jerry Bruckheimer on all of his films, until The Island (2005).



Is known for his high grossing action-packed movies. All of his movies have grossed more than $100 million, except Bad Boys (1995) and The Island (2005).

Frenetic editing of action sequences



Most of his films have a shot of pilots running toward their aircraft for takeoff.



All his films have at least one shot of a man screaming in slow motion. Usually as a battle cry.



Destruction of famous locations/landmarks; e.g. Alcatraz (The Rock), New York and Paris (Armageddon), Pearl Harbor (Pearl Harbor), The Pyramids (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen); Chicago (Transformers: Dark of the Moon).



His films often feature two male leads who have arguments, trivial discussions or are constantly trying to one-up each other (Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon, Bad Boys II, Pain and Gain)



Frequently cast actors who have appeared in Coen Brothers films



His films are often critical of government agencies



Dramatic moments often take place as the sun is setting in the background



Trivia (44)

Received a post-graduate degree in Film at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design in California.





"Movieline" revealed in 2001 that Bay's father is John Frankenheimer . Frankenheimer, who always denied paternity, took a DNA test in the 1980s which was negative.



Shot over 1 million feet of film for Pearl Harbor (2001). Used only about 20,000 feet for the final, 9-reel cut.



In Bad Boys (1995), Bay paid $25,000 (one quarter of his fee) for the climax explosion scene. The initial shot was made impossible by a rainstorm, and the production company refused to pay for another try.



Joined Propaganda Films two weeks out of graduate school. He befriended actor Djimon Hounsou , who was working across the street at a modeling agency. Djimon Hounsou later appeared in The Island (2005).



All his films up to and including Armageddon (1998) made him the youngest director to reach the billion dollar mark world wide.

Since the age of 26, Bay has won every major commercial directing award, including the Gold and Silver Lions at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. He also won the Grand Prix Clio for Commercial of the Year for his "Got Milk/Aaron Burr" commercial, which also won him the Museum of Modern Art Award for Best Campaign of the Year.





Filmed the movie Armageddon (1998) with an eye towards Middle America. Has a love for Americana.



He is a very close friend of writer/director George Lucas from whom he often seeks advice. As a teenager, he worked at ILM in the storyboard department for films like Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

Ranked #47 on Premiere's 2005 Power 50 List. Previously ranked #54 in 2004.





He filmed the dynamic shots of the thrown dice in the gambling scenes for Adrian Lyne 's Indecent Proposal (1993). He later "repossessed" the shots for a montage in Armageddon (1998).



President of The Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness, also known as The Institute, a commercial and music video production company he founded with Scott Gardenhour



The Rock (1996) is his favorite of the films he has directed and Sean Connery is his favorite actor that he's ever worked with.



Two of his films, Armageddon (1998) and The Rock (1996), are in the Criterion Collection.

Uses a Mark V director's viewfinder while shooting a film. The viewfinder is often prominently featured in photographs of him, hung around his neck. It is engraved with his name and the names of every film he has directed.





Was offered the chance to direct Red Dragon (2002) but turned it down. Job went to Brett Ratner

Michael was adopted when he was two weeks old, by Harriet (Markowitz) and Sheldon James "Jim" Bay, who raised him. He has a sister, Lisa Bay.





Turned down the offer to direct Van Helsing (2004), opting to do The Island (2005) instead.



Was offered the chance to direct Man on Fire (2004).



Was offer the opportunity to direct Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) but pulled out of the project due to scheduling conflicts.



Good friends with Ben Affleck



Was considered to direct Superman Returns (2006).



Was challenged by German filmmaker Uwe Boll to a charity boxing match in 2008.

He considers himself an old school director, preferring analog over digital, both in shooting on film stock and keeping CGI shots to a minimum, staging practical action and stunts whenever possible.



One of 20 prominent filmmakers to sign a letter in protest of Premium Video on Demand, which allows films to be streamed by home viewers at a cost of $30 only 60 days after the film's release in theaters.





Was reported to be fine and uninjured after fending off two men who attacked him demanding money--and carrying an "air conditioner" as a weapon--on the set of the latest Transformers (2007) sequel shooting in Hong Kong in October, 2013.



Filming Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) in the United States, Russia and possibly Africa. [July 2010]



Was originally set to direct King Arthur (2004) but dropped out.

Co-Founded Propoganda Films in the early 1990s.





Was considered to direct Watchmen (2009).

He was raised Jewish and had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony.



One of the few directors to have won multiple Razzie Awards for Worst Director. He has won two. Both of his awards were for directing "Transformers" sequels.



Such is the intensely busy and chaotic nature of his film sets, the cast and crew generally refer to it as "Bayhem".



Has directed seven films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing.





Was classmates with Joss Whedon in Wesleyan University. For graduate work, Bay attended the Art Center College of Design where he was classmates with Zack Snyder and Tarsem Singh

Directed the 1996 action film "The Rock" and many years later in 2013 directed Dwayne Johnson in "Pain & Gain". Johnson goes by the nickname "The Rock".





Is good friends with filmmakers J.C. Chandor and J.J. Abrams as they help one another on their films.



Has a great respect for and is good friends with filmmaker Zack Snyder as they went to the same school and worked at Propaganda Films.

Personal Quotes (16)

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.





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?

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



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





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.



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.'



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?



[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!'



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 . . .



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!

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.





[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.

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



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.



[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."



[on what made him choose Kate Beckinsale for Pearl Harbour] I didn't want someone who was too beautiful. Women feel disturbed when they see someone's too pretty. I'm not saying Kate's not pretty. . . [she] is very funny, could hang with the guys. She's not so neurotic about everything, like some actresses. When you look at Titanic, Kate Winslet is pretty, but not overwhelmingly beautiful. That makes it work better for women.



Salary (2)