Media, Stop Trying to Make Michael Bay Apologize for ‘Transformers’

Seriously, this man is not contrite about his movies

Getty Images
Getty Images

Scratch that apology, because Michael Bay insists he never said he had regrets about the “Transformers” series.

“No I did not ‘apologize’ for any Transformers movies,” Bay wrote on his blog this week. “I did not say I shot the last three movies ‘less cool’ than the new fourth installment. I was talking specifically about camera style and tone, of the first movie compared to how I shot the new installment with a very big scale, cinematic style.”

Also read: Michael Bay Disarms Air Conditioner Attacker on ‘Transformers 4’ Set (Updated)

The director, who has a penchant for sun dappled, adrenalized action films that frequently feature the walking p.r. disaster known as Shia LaBeouf, insists that he was misquoted in a Yahoo interview, in which he said, “We went a bit too goofy [on the last one].” That in turn got picked up around the internet and rejiggered in sensational ways, he implied.

Bay wrote that when he said that the first film in the franchise was “less cool” he was referring to his desire to make the story universal, so it felt like it “…could happen in any backyard in the United States.”

When will reporters learn? Because this isn’t the first time that Bay has seemingly apologized for one of his action blockbusters only to insist later that his statements were misconstrued.

Also read: Michael Bay to Produce Neal Bascomb’s ‘Sabotage’ for Paramount (Exclusive)

In an interview last spring with the Miami Herald, Bay responded to questions about his amped up editing style by saying, “”I will apologize for ‘Armageddon,’ because we had to do the whole movie in 16 weeks. It was a massive undertaking. That was not fair to the movie. I would redo the entire third act if I could. But the studio literally took the movie away from us. It was terrible.”

But can that contrition, because the director wrote later on his blog that he was immensely proud of the film and his comments had been mangled.

“One press writer has gone too far in reporting false information,” Bay wrote. “He has printed the bare minimum of my statement which in effect have twisted my words and meaning.”

Also read: ‘Transformers 4’: First Look at Mark Wahlberg in Costume (Photo)

There was also a pseudo-apology Bay made to Collider two years ago about script issues that weakened “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”

“On the second movie we got burned,” Bay said. “We had a writers strike, we had to agree on a story in three weeks, and then we knew they were going on strike. It was a fucked scenario all the way around, it wasn’t fair to the writer, it wasn’t fair to me, it wasn’t fair to anybody. It was still an entertaining movie, but I think we failed on certain aspects.”

That admission did not appear to have resulted in a retraction, but Bay made it clear in his latest blog entry that he is not a fan of dealing with the fourth estate.

Also read: Sophia Myles to Join Mark Wahlberg in Michael Bay’s ‘Transformers 4’ (Exclusive)

“It is a drag talking to reporters on sets,” Bay wrote. “Why? Because often times they take your words and skew things to their liking. Then the crazy, lazy game of reporting on what other writers story’s reported me saying and suddenly it becomes skewed Internet truth.”

Bay’s latest film — for which he will totally not apologize for in any way a few years from now — is “Transformers: Age of Extinction.” The film stars Mark Wahlberg and hits theaters on June 27, 2014.

Bay told fans that it recently completed its five and a half month shoot and will likely have a teaser released during the Super Bowl.

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