Jalopnik: michael bay

Bay: "Transformers 3 Coming July 1st, 2011"

Ray Wert — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EDT

Director Michael Bay, the master of robogasmic disaster, announced yesterday Transformers 3 just started pre-production and this next installment in his three-part GM commercial is coming July 1st, 2011. To commemorate, here's what a Model T Autobot would look like.

Also, yes, it'll more than likely star Megan Fox and some emasculated young boy. Feel free to peruse the gallery below in case you've forgotten who she is.

Michael Bay Is A Perv, Makes Megan Fox Wash Ferrari

Wes Siler — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:00:00 EDT

44-year old Transformers 2 director Michael Bay made 23-year old Megan Fox wash his Ferrari as part of her audition for the film. The best part? He filmed it.

Fox revealed the news to The Observer's film columnist Jason Solomon at the schlock-fest's premier in London. He promptly asked Bay what happened to the footage. Bay responded, "Er, I don't know where it is either."

Michael Bay, we salute you. Now show us the video. [via The Observer]

(Hat tip to Joe!)

Decepticon Baddie Revealed By Sam Witwicky

Wes Siler — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:00:00 EDT

"The initial spark of his look [was] the actual Decepticon logo. He's the ancestor, the first version of this exoskeleton," said Shia LaBeouf, revealing this first shot of "The Fallen," the villain from Transformers 2.

[MTV via Gizmodo]

Transformers 2 Trailer Goes Live Ahead Of Super Bowl

Wes Siler — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 14:05:00 EST

Michael Bay's explosiongasmic Transformers 2 trailer has dropped before tonight's Super Bowl. Watch in horror as a giant one-wheeled Devastator destroys Vegas and in amazement as a Decepticon transforms into an Audi R8.

Look out for the Audi R8 amid the explosions, sinking aircraft carriers and Megan Fox's purty face. Check out our Super Bowl Ad Watch tag for all the rest of tonight's big car commercials. UPDATE: Screen shots from the HD version of the trailer below!

Transformers 2: Megatron Really a Tank?

Mark Arnold — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:20:00 EDT

Adding a smidgen of confirmation to rumors that Megatron will be a tank in next summer's Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen is this image of a villainous bot with tank treads. While it may just be a concept for a possible design, it definitely looks capable of some serious robo-butt-kicking. The Corvette Centennial had better watch its back. [via seibertron]

Report: Devastator, Seven Constructicons To Appear In Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:00:00 EDT

In case red n' blue semis and military six-by-sixes didn't offer big enough robo-thrills in the last installment of Transformers, we've now read a report Devastator, a robot formed by "seven Constructicons" (different pieces of construction equipment), will be one of the Decepticons in next summer's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Given Michael Bay's desire to keep giant transforming robots as realistic as possible, that many vehicles could yield a positively monstrous robot. A rendering of what "Long Haul," one of the seven, might look like, is further fanning the flames in the 'former forums already overrun with rampant flame-wars over the veracity of the claim. Of course, in the giant robot arms race, if one side has giant merging robot capabilities, you have to assume the other will step up to the plate in kind. Can somebody say "Aerialbots?" Hit the jump for the full rendering of what "Long Haul" could look

[TFW2005, iesb] Image credit: IESB, keyframe1

Could This Be Arcee From Transformers 2?

Wes Siler — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:20:00 EDT

Chances are, Arcee will resemble this bike in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
[via Hell For Leather]

Ratchet, Ironhide Spotted; Transformers 2 Filming In Arizona?

Travis Hudson — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:30:00 EDT

Today's daily Transformers 2 update comes with more spotted Autobots and rumors of a filming location. Photographed in the Culver City, Calif. is this truck loaded up with Ironhide and Ratchet. This is the third Transformer spotting we've seen over the past week. Last Friday we saw twin Barricades, yesterday we caught glimpse of Optimus Prime and now we have Ratchet and Ironhide. My keen eye also noticed that all of the spotted Transformers are being hauled around from seemingly the same truck and trailer. That's one hell of a lucky truck driver.

The second tidbit of news comes by way of the Sedona, Ariz. film commission that is reporting multiple production inquiries for Transformers 2. Given the geographic nature of Arizona, it's not that shocking to hear Michael Bay and company looking to the Sedona to film the sequel. At least there is plenty of room for overly epic and amazing Transformers fight scenes. [Superhero Hype; Sedona Film Commission via TFW2005]

Optimus Prime Spotting Reaffirms Transformers 2 Filming

Travis Hudson — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:15:00 EDT

Who's that familiar truck spotted on a Los Angeles freeway? Oh! It must be Optimus Prime! This Optimus Prime spotting comes less than a week after we saw twin Barricades in Culver City, Calif., and it just continues to affirm that the sequel to the robogasm Transformers is, indeed, in the early filming stages.

I would assume that the Transformer beauties are being relocated to the film set from their respected storage areas. We'll just have to wait and see for ourselves as more pictures begin to pop up. [Superhero Hype via TFW2005]

Two Barricade Saleen Mustangs Spotted, Transformers 2 Already Filming?

Travis Hudson — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 07:00:00 EDT

These shots, snapped in a drive-by of a trailer in the movie-making capital of Culver City, Calif. are two Saleen Mustangs outfitted with that familiar paint scheme that marks a very special 'stang. This can only mean filming of Michael Bay's next masterpiece is underway or getting pretty damn close. We can already hear Wert's robogasms from here.

The latest word is the script is still in development with filming to start in June, and really, why worry about something as silly as a script when there's giant freakin' robots to blow stuff up. But as we saw earlier this month, Bay is pretty excited about the sequel, so we wouldn't be surprised if things were already starting to get underway.

Now the questions start to fly: why would there be two Barricades? One would think that multiples would be needed for the filming process, but the little kid in us believes Barricade multiplies and fights as twins, or, you know, Ford's bringing out their new Barricade special edition Saleen 'stang. Nah. [FilmSchoolRejects]

"Transformers 2" Countdown Clock Live On Michael Bay Site, He Probably Thinks It's "Awesome"

Ray Wert — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 09:40:00 EDT

Whoever knew Michael Bay had the guts to make fun of himself as much as he has in this new Verizon FiOS commercial? Especially given he's the director that brought us the robogasmic explosion of fury that was Transformers. Well, we must admit it's rather funny. But a love-fest starring everyone's favorite Chevy-lover ain't the only reason to mention the man behind the robots' disguises today. We've also just noticed Bay's got himself a countdown clock running on his personal website to the supposed June 26, 2009 release date for "Transformers 2." Our guess is he thinks the new movie'll be pretty "Awesome" too. Remember when Bay used to just direct Chevy commercials? No, real Chevy commercials. [Michael Bay]

Haha, Film School Rejects called the Transformers...

Ray Wert — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:20:00 EDT

Haha, Film School Rejects called the Transformers HD-DVD a Michael Bay-gasm. Haha-ha...ha...{sob}...why didn't we copyright blank-gasm when it was just our thing? [FSJ]

Transformers Takes In $152.5 Million As Giant Freaking Robots Become Giant Freaking Piles Of Cash

Ray Wert — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 10:00:00 EDT

Looks like even the directon of Michael Bay couldn't dent the huge opening week take of Transformers. The movie all about cars that turn into robots swallowed up $67.6 million in ticket sales over the weekend and $152.5 million since the movie opened a week ago from the 22 million-plus people experiencing a robogasm in the theater. That huge haul gives the Bay-directed film the title of "biggest first week revenues ever for a non-sequel." Does Bay get like a trophy or a plaque for that or something? While we try and figure out if we can rig something up for him out of the wreckage of old Decepticons we blew up with fireworks as a child, feel free to take a run through our entire Transformers tag page or the gallery below. Also, ignore that sound you hear right now, it's just Rick Wagoner screaming in joy over the rare bit of good news GM's gotten this month.

'Transformers' Morphs Into a Blockbuster [AP via The Huffington Post]

The Jalopnik Transformers Movie Quasi-Review: An Ameribot Revolution!

Ray Wert — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:01:00 EDT

Last night Ben Wojdyla and I made our way over to Birmingham to take in a sneak preview showing of the new Transformers movie. This review is split into two parts — one that's safe and spoiler-free (starting here above the fold) and then the nitty-gritty of the film (at the bottom of the area in italics below the fold). Peruse the part below the fold at your own risk and may the maker have mercy on your non-robotic soul. Oh and the pictures, there's some LA preview pics in there and some pics the General gave us of some of the designers — oh, that first one's Brian Smith, he put the stripes on Bumblebee, and yes, that's the light-up Autobot t-shirt. — Ed.

For the next few weeks General Motors is the luckiest and most important automaker on Earth. Seriously. I'm not kidding. Forget the June sales numbers next week, forget the job losses, forget the gas-guzzling SUV's and trucks from the past ten years and a recent history of shoddily-built vehicles. None of that's important — at least for the next few weeks. That's because the General has an opportunity to be the most important automaker on earth — well, at least they will be to a very important demographic for GM — 18-35-year-old males.

And really, that's because watching this movie's like watching a 144-minute commercial for the General. But, if I were really watching a 144-minute commercial for GM, you'd find me face down on the floor of the theater after the lights came back because I'd have performed some form of ritualistic suicide after minute number eleven. But the reason I'm still alive and able to talk about my experience, and do it in such an exuberant way is because despite feeling sometimes like I'd spent hours watching that Michael Bay Super Bowl ad over and over again, I didn't. That was because deep down I understood that the driving scenes which seemed to come ad nauseam — interspersed with intensely visually stunning transformations and bot-battling of course — were nothing more than the realization of just about every scene of the Generation One Transformers. The only difference was in the cartoon, they weren't real cars. In the live-action movie however, they were — and necessitated a real automaker to play a role. In this case that automaker's General Motors.

It makes sense that Michael Bay would choose GM for this movie — he's worked with them in the past on almost every one of his movies and even on the previously mentioned commercial ( Hey, we're assuming the dude needed some cash, ok?). But what makes this arrangement so amazing is that GM didn't pay Paramount a single dime to get it done. That's right — not a single penny changed hands between the big n' beefy automaker and the big n' beefy studio. Sure, GM provided some in-kind contributions of concept vehicles and the like, and of course they've got their own marketing budget running their own marketing campaign — but unlike other automakers, they didn't drop a single pence into Paramount's pocket for the privilege of having themselves featured in a movie about good-guy cars that change into robots.

So all I'm saying is — this fell into GM's hands. So give the General a break when you see the shots of their vehicles every other second. Suspend disbelief for a moment and let yourself get transported back to when you were a kid and Optimus Prime was your latchkey surrogate father, and just let the memories flow. It may be what GM's hoping will happen to you — and the reason why I've said they're the most important automaker in the world over the next few weeks to men of my age and demographic — but, just because it's what GM wants doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing. As two of us can attest — suspending disbelief for a few hours can allow you to have one amazingly fun ride.

And now — here's the plot spoilers and little stuff to watch out for that I wrote down while watching the movie:

-Automobile magazine gets a shout-out in the movie — in the form of Sam Witwicky carrying a copy of it in the car on the way to pick up his first car.

-The Decepticon tank's called "Devastator."

-Check out the Bee-Otch rearview mirror ornament in the old-school Camaro.

-One of the most funny car lines of the movie is when Sam calls Bumblebee "Satan's Camaro."

-I knew this was fiction at the point I saw a Saturn, Hummer, Cadillac and a Pontiac all in the same dealership.

-Best lines were a tie between "What's up bitches?" (Jazz) and "You want to lay the fate of the world on the kid's Camaro?" (Agent Simmons)

-Best car porn of the movie: Every dessert shot of the Autobots rolling out. Seriously, I got the chills every single time.

-Bumblebee loses his legs and has Megan Fox drive him around.

-Best scene of the movie: Mustang v. Camaro — seriously had a cargasm, then a robogasm, then a cargasm...epic.

-Megan Fox is hot.

-Jazz gets ripped in half by Megatron on top of a building and dies.

-Optimus has a power-sword, and he wields it like a mad sweet gladiator.

-"One shall stand, one shall fall..."

-Most important thing I have to say about this movie: I owe Michael Bay an apology — Bay delivers with a robotic tour de force unlike anything I've ever experienced. It was the best robogasm of my life and I'm going to see it again and again."

And that's all I've got to say about that. – Ray Wert

Classic Ad Watch: Remember When Michael Bay Just Directed Car Commercials?

Ray Wert — Thu, 10 May 2007 18:09:19 EDT

I'm sitting here in Burbank, CA today — and I need to throw something out there. I razz on Mikey Bay. Well, I razz on Mikey Bay a lot! But it's with good reason — the man's taking some serious liberties with my childhood and I'm not going to just sit there and take it. But, we've got to remember the man can do some seriously awesome work with cars — and not just destroying them. Sometimes he's even able to take them on a Magic Carpet Ride. Anyone remember when he used to just do that? Yeah, those were the days... – Ray Wert

Chevy: Car Carrier [michaelbay.com]

Related:
All our Transformers coverage [internal]

Transformers Movie Update: Fifty Hot Screen Shots Of Movie Action!

Ray Wert — Mon, 07 May 2007 14:32:00 EDT

Despite the whole "Optimus Prime with lips" thing, we've got to say we're still pretty excited about the upcoming live-action movie. Of course, maybe that's only because we were able to snag these fifty some-odd PR shots from Paramount Pictures. Enjoy the ensuing robogasm. [Please note, we cannot be in any way held liable for those of you having a robogasm and any other -gasm simultaneously due to the hot robot action spliced in with the hot Megan Fox action. Just sayin'...] – Ray Wert

[via /Film]

Transformers Movie Update: Optimus Prime Will NOT Have Lips — So Sayeth Michael Bay!

Ray Wert — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 02:01:00 EDT

The Bay speaks, and here's what he has to say about our little video we obtained of Autobot king trucker Optimus Prime speaking with the lips:

"The unreleased ad (Prime speaks) that was posted on youtube was a test that European were making with the ads. The clip where OP was "speaking," lets just say that it wasn't OP or Cullen speaking. It was something the European studios added on their own. In fact, it was a test shot."

Glad he finally cleared that up. Oh yeah, we've also got some new screen shots from the movie to show you — enjoy. We know we will, because tonight will be the first night in a long while we can finally sleep soundly knowing Bay hasn't fubar-ed at least this one tiny part of our most cherished memories of childhood. – Ray Wert

Spoke to Michael [MichaelBay.com via freezedriedmovies]

Exclusive Transformers Update! Michael Bay Is Leaking Robot CGI All Over The Interwebs

Ray Wert — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 10:43:14 EST

We received a couple more pics this AM from one of our own embedded "Deep Throat" tipsters in the land of Michael Bay. And this here tipster got us some gems — how about that Bumblebee blaster above, eh? We've got four of the larger-than-life CGI and prettily-painted pics of the Camaro-y Bumblebee, the diesel-y Optimus Prime and of course, the — err — metallic crap-y Megatron in the gallery below. [Hat tip to faithful reader and Studebaker owner Mike!] – Ray Wert

Transfomers In Detroit: Michael Bay Will Lay Waste To Your City

Ray Wert — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 10:50:26 EDT

As a word of warning, if Michael Bay says "I want to film my movie in your city" — say no. Just because it's a movie like Transformers — and he's like some big muckety-muck director, it doesn't matter. The guy's a "shoot for the edit" kind of director. That means he'll do as much damage as possible shooting one of his big-budget flicks — ten times the damage to your town, city or favorite asteroid as is necessary — just to make sure he's got the right shot when he gets back to the edit room where he'll splice together the best of the carnage. Best bet's just to not let him get anywhere near you, your loved ones, your belongings or the city you call home. Lucky for Detroit, we're used to fires, explosions and the sounds of random gunfire. It's part of the reason we're the most masculine city on earth. If you don't believe it — check out the huge gallery of explosive shots one of our readers took of General Bay storming downtown Detroit. Or as we here in the Motor City like to call it — Wednesday. – Ray Wert

[Transformers In Detroit - Gallery #2]

Transformers Movie Update! All Detroit's Streets Are Belong To Michael Bay

Ray Wert — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 11:26:13 EDT

The Freep's reporting this morning that Michael Bay's got some of downtown Detroit's streets closed for filming today of the Transformers live-action film. You know what that means — one of us will be getting his fan-boy shwerve on today. Oh yeah, baby — let's see us some hot Chevy Camaro action. Filming's supposed to be taking place downtown on Fort Street between Washington and Griswold, and Shelby between Congress and Lafayette...and of course at the old Michigan Train Depot — which is where our boy Bay filmed his movie "The Island." – Ray Wert

'Transformers' filming closes downtown streets [Freep]