moviemaniac2u: December 2013

Filmmaker Michael Bay is one of the most divisive people working in Hollywood – and as such, he gets interviewed a lot. One of the dangers of being interviewed frequently (or interviewed at all, really) is that you can get misquoted – or while you’re busy pontificating on things, you can say something awkwardly that gets taken out of context. This seems to happen to Bay pretty regularly – including last week, when Bay made comments that Transformers: Age of Extinction would be “less goofy” and “much more cinematic” than the previous films.

The Armageddon filmmaker has since taken to his website to clarify those sentiments while taking a few swipes at the film blogosphere in the process.

Bay opens up by saying how it’s a drag to do on-set interviews (okay – maybe don’t do them, then?) and how everything basically turns into the telephone game, wherein one site picks up a quote, skews it, then another site does the same, and eventually you wind up with a quote that has nothing to do with what was actually said. I agree with Bay here – this happens all the time. Unfortunately, that’s just how the Internet seems to work.

With that out of the way, the director goes on to clarify his meaning about the "goofy" stuff:

"No I did not ‘apologize’ for any Transformers movies. I did not say I shot the last three movies 'less cool' then 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. I was very specific in saying the first Transformers was shot in a ‘generic suburbia’ area, not trying to be cool with any cinematic flashes. I wanted it to feel like this could happen in any backyard in the United States.”

With that out of the way, Bay goes on to let everyone know he’s finished shooting the latest – and that it’s not goofy.

Personally, this whole thing strikes me as weird. There’s nothing wrong with Bay saying his new film is somehow “better” than the previous ones, or even “less goofy.” That was one of the quotes many outlets used – Bay saying they went a little too goofy on the previous film. As /Film points out, it’s okay to say that – in fact, it’s the sign of a mature artist that he can look back on his previous works and see the flaws and try to learn and grow from them.

We’ll have to see if Bay hits the “less goofy” mark for sure when Transformers: Age of Extinction stomps its way to the top of the box office heap next summer.