DREDGING THE BAY

"I love doing big movies. It's awesome! You have all these toys. The thing I like about this movie is, like they always say, directors have the biggest train sets! Don't tell anyone, but I'd do this for free. "

Michael Bay is one of the more successful directors in Hollywood today. He's made hundreds of millions of dollars on his movies and has directed some of the biggest and best known films of our times. His first professional directing effort, according to IMDB was a playmate video, and he did several music videos including the Bat Out of Hell II movie for Meatloaf. Then he did the movie Bad Boys, which was very enjoyable and made a mint ($200,000,000 - seven times what it cost to make). And a career built around epic themes, visuals, and explosives was born.

Following up this impressive start with The Rock and Armageddon, Michael Bay established himself as a master in the art of the blockbuster, directing such hits as The Island and Transformers. Some people hate Michael Bay, making fun of his style and the need to have explosions in his movies. Some people who grew up playing with Transformer toys hated his movie, preferring what they remembered from their youth (although if they watched the old shows I doubt they match up to fond memories). However to put things in perspective, none of the movies Michael Bay has filmed are in the top 100 box office hits, adjusted for inflation.

Yet it cannot be denied that the man knows how to make an entertaining movie, how to make a lot of money and how to craft a film. Like him or hate him, he's made an absurd amount of money and personally put his own cash on the line several times to get the job done. He loaned aerial footage he shot for The Rock to another director to use (for free), and he spent half his paycheck on Bad Boys for reshooting the climactic airplane hanger explosion.

Michael Bay doesn't make deep meaningful movies fraught with psychological import and political statements (although some of the things in the Transformers suggest he might not be as left-leaning as many compatriots in the business). What he does is make popcorn fare: fun, exciting, entertaining movie to watch and enjoy. The kind of thing much of Hollywood seems to have forgotten how to make. The kind of thing two crazy upstarts in the 70s were making when most everyone else was bogged down in making a statement: George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.

Here's a graphic detailing the money ups and downs for Michael Bay:


He didn't do so well on Bad Boys II, Pearl Harbor, or The Island, but the rest have been very impressive winners. Transformers 2 has made $387,346,000 worldwide, so far, after less than a week on screens.

Upcoming projects for Bay include a third Transformers movie, a remake of The Birds (probably producer on that, he's done a lot of horror film producing through his company Platinum Dunes), and a yet-untitled collaboration with Jerry Bruckheimer.