Dale Beran sits down with Michael Bay to talk about the genesis of the Transformers Franchise and what’s new in Transformers: Age of Extinction

Dale Beran: So what’s new in Transformers: Age of Extinction?

Michael Bay: Well, in the last movies I wanted to show robots, like, changing into other stuff, or like, I guess, no um ok… so they’re cars at first right?

DB: Right.

MB: Then people think, “Wow, these are some cool cars!” and people are all jealous when they see the cars. And we asked, like, the [U.S.] Army and the [General] Motors company, “What are your coolest cars?” And they just gave us them! Like the coolest ones to use!

DB: Ok…

MB: So yeah, so people see the cars and they’re like, “Wow, cool cars! So awesome!”

DB: Right…

MB: But it turns out… that’s not all! The cars, they turn into robots!

DB: Right, yeah…

MB: Yeah! I know! So like I got these guys. Some of the guys work with computers and stuff and they made the cars change into robots. They said, “Ok, we will make it look like it’s just cool cars at first and then just wham!” (claps loudly) “Out of nowhere they’re switching into big robots.” And I said, “That’s what I want to happen!” And we were like wow this is a huge rush. We were at sushi and we ordered a ton more sushi.

DB: But this was for the original Transformers?

MB: Right, yeah so I paid these guys to make the cars transform into robots and I thought what else should happen to the cars?

DB: Ok…

MB: And I was like maybe the robots should be from outer space… like they are aliens!

DB: Ok…

MB: And Steven [Spielberg] said, “Great that’s what happens in the cartoon.” And I said what cartoon? And Steven showed me this cartoon where robots turn into… I mean cars turn into robots and it was really similar to my ideas. And I thought, “Great I will make it like this cartoon”. And Steven said that’s what was already happening, like they had already licensed [it] and everything and it was already going to be called Transformers and I was like, “Wow! So awesome! Like that’s so lucky, like, that things were the same and they turned out the same. You know what I mean?

DB: A coincidence?

MB: Um, like they turned out the same. Then we went swimming in Steven’s pool. He has a nice pool, like it was at his house. And I was really excited thinking about it and thought, “Ok Michael, what will happen next to the robots?” And I thought, “Ok! Some of the robots will be evil robots and they will fight the good robots!” Doesn’t that sound awesome?!

DB: Yeah, it sounds pretty cool.

MB: So yeah, we were eating pizza.

DB: When you came up with the idea?

MB: Yeah, Steven ordered pizza for us. And I told Steven my idea and he said that it sounded awesome and gave me a high five and sometimes he tricks me and moves his hand away at the last minute and says “too slow!” but this time he didn’t.

DB: That’s how you knew he liked the idea?

MB: Yeah he liked it. (Looks away distracted)

DB: So then what happened?

MB: Um, I forget…

DB: Did you start filming?

MB: Yeah, we started… well no! Ok the next thing that happened is that I was like at Tapas with [producers] Don [Murphey] and Tom [DeSanto] even though I told them I hate Tapas and wanted to go to Nobu and I asked for 1 billion dollars. And they said okay.

DB: To a billion dollars??

MB: Well, no they said that was too much… to um, make the movie. They gave me 150 [million dollars]. But they said,” Michael you have to have humans in the movie.” And I said, “No I hate humans, humans are stupid. Their faces are creepy.”

DB: And what did they say?

MB: They were angry.

DB: But you worked it out?

MB: They… well– yeah. It was– I yelled at them for a long time. They said, “Michael calm down we’re in a restaurant.” And the waiter came over and he looked at me with his creepy face and I said I wished everyone would just disappear.

DB: But eventually they convinced you?

MB: Yeah, well they said I would not get the 150 [million dollars] if I did not put actors and actresses in the movie. I was angry but I said yes. They said I could pick out what actors and actresses. And the next day they picked me up in their corvette and we went really, really, really fast.

DB: To get actors and actresses?

MB: Yeah.

DB: Where did you get them?

MB: We went to this neat place owned by Disney. It’s sorta like a land but not Disneyland and they control everything there like how it looks and the temperature and what people do and say and how they look. And they keep all their actors and actresses there. And I went there and picked out [Shia LaBeouf] cause he seemed the least like a human to me and the most like a robot or a car. And there were a lot of robots there too but Don and Tom said I could only pick the humans. And then on the ride home I was pretty happy cause I thought I would have to have a bunch of gross people in my movie instead of robots, but it turns out I could just have this guy that was pretty close to a robot and we got fish tacos. And we fed Shia a fish taco and it was pretty funny and cute cause he didn’t know what one was cause he had never been out of the Disney place before. And it was up on this high ridge where you could see the mountains and he started to cry looking at those mountains all covered in the yellow and orange sunbeams and everything else was kind of dark already and purple except those glowing mountains. And we told him it was okay and we told him about the movie we were making about the robots that… I mean the cars that turn into robots and how neat it was going to be. And we could tell he couldn’t understand, like what we were saying, but he liked us talking to him, and we got him another taco and he ate it up real fast then we got him a milkshake and he liked that, too.

DB: But you eventually put other actors in the movies?

MB: Oh yeah, well [producers Don Murphy and Tom Desanto] said I also had to have a pretty girl in the movie and I said okay fine cause even though sometimes I think pretty girls are gross sometimes they are pretty and I like when they kiss me. And I said ok, what is the prettiest girl? I will put her in the movie and they said it is Megan Fox and I said ok and we put her in the movie. But it was hard.

DB: Putting her in the movie?

MB: Yeah, I was like. What do I do with her? She is not as cool as the robots so I always put her standing next to the robots. And Don and Tom said no she can do that, but she also has to love the Shia character and we have to see her sexy parts like her butt and her boobs and her legs and stuff and to make them more sexy I sprayed them with water so she was always moist and then I did close ups of those parts sometimes. And I think I put her on a motorcycle I think to make her less boring cause I thought she was boring just alone as like a girl– who would be interested in just that?– but I forget it was a long time ago.

DB: But you didn’t use her for the other movies?

MB: Um, I didn’t? I don’t– Oh, I guess not. Yeah, I always just used the sexiest girl but those change really fast cause girls get different and old and stuff, so I always said when I made a new Transformers, “get me the sexiest girl” to put her in it and I guess for whatever reason it was a different girl and I tried to shoot her always next to a car or a motorcycle or a robot so it wouldn’t be too boring for like the people watching the movie to see the girl even though she was the sexiest.

DB: So then you started shooting the movie?

MB: Yeah, so then I started… well, I went back to the guys who I hired to make the robots. And I got really, really angry at them!

DB: Why?

MB: Well, they told me they would make the robots… I mean the cars turn into robots. But they were lying!

DB: How were they lying?

MB: Well the cars didn’t turn into robots at all! I mean I thought they would take the cars the car companies and the Army gave them and make them turn into robots! But they didn’t. They just made it so it seemed that way when you made the movie.

DB: I don’t understand.

MB: Like, to the people watching the movie–

DB: The audience–

MB: Yeah, to the audience it seemed like the cars they turned into robots. But not to me cause it wasn’t real!

DB: You’re saying the cars didn’t actually turn into robots in real life? It just seemed that way on the screen?

MB: Yes! They were liars! I got really, really mad!

DB: What did you do?

MB: Well, I got really mad! And screamed at them and told them they were all fired. And I showed them Shia and said how I went through all this effort to go get him from the Disney place and now I would have to return him. And Shia, I don’t think he understood what I was saying, but he could just sense that I was upset and other people were upset and he got upset and started to wail. It was crazy!

DB: So what happened?

MB: Well, the place where they faked making the robots it was across from a Starbucks and a Cold Stone Creamery and me and Shia went to Starbucks first but nothing looked good there so then we went to Cold Stone Creamery and got ice cream. Have you been there?

DB: No, actually.

MB: Well, they make your ice cream on a cold stone, that’s why it’s called that. And they will put anything you want on top of it! Like any candy! But I don’t like that you have to talk to the people to get your ice cream. I wish they had automatic ordering like Chipotle. So I let Shia order and it was cute cause he didn’t know how or even what was happening. And the people were like, “Do you want Reese’s Pieces on that?” and he was trembling like crazy.

DB: But did you resolve the issue with the CGI people?

MB: The what?

DB: The people making the robots.

MB: Well, I called Don and Tom on my phone and said everybody tricked me cause they had and that I didn’t want to make the movie if the robots wouldn’t be real robots. It seemed too unfair, you know, that like the robots would seem real to everybody except me who was trying to make them real? I mean isn’t that like sad or poetic or something? It felt like the saddest thing in the world to me.

DB: Ironic, I guess?

MB: Um, maybe. But Don said it was impossible to make the robots real in real life, like if that was true, then the Army would have made them already and would have just given us them instead of the trucks. I don’t believe them entirely and I think maybe like some secret billionaire has a robot– I mean a car that turns into a robot. Like he made it for real and maybe he accidentally sold it at a billionaire auction. And then I would accidentally buy it at one of the normal millionaire auctions I go to. And then I would be like, “Oh I just got a normal car and it is kind of run down but pretty cool!” And then I would realize it wasn’t a car at all, well, it is a car but like it is also a Transformer! It transforms into a robot! That is my secret fantasy, like what I hope is going to happen to me someday!

DB: Like in the movies?

MB: What?

DB: Like what happens in all the movies. That’s how all the Transformers movie start, right?

MB: Really?

DB: Yes, I think so.

MB: Wow, I never thought of that but I guess that is kind of true. You should be one of those people that decides what movies are about.

DB: A filmmaker?

MB: No.

DB: A screenwriter?

MB: No, like that guy that decides what they are about.

DB: A critic?

MB: Yeah.

DB: So what makes Transformers: Age of Extinction different from the rest of the films?

MB: Um, there isn’t much of a difference they are, like, kind of the same.

DB: What about the new villain, Galvatron? Who is he?

MB: He is like an evil robot who is attacking the good robots, like I think we killed the last evil robot too many times so we couldn’t bring back the last evil robot again it wouldn’t make sense so we made a new one that was like the old one.

DB: But you have a new actor for this film?

MB: Yeah, we have the monkey guy.

DB: Mark Wahlburg who starred in Planet of the Apes?

MB: Um, I guess. He looks kind of like a monkey to me.

DB: But this film takes place in some new locations right?

MB: Yeah, so it takes place in America. Like, Monkey Mark is like an American dude and he has a family and he lives in America and I told the set people, “Make it look like he lives in America!” and they did a good job. There is a flag and a nice house and he has a garage and a sweatshirt and pretty wife and daughter and stuff and it looks just like America; he is an American dude.

DB: Ok, and what happens to him?

MB: Well, he finds a Transformer and like since the Transformers are good they are friends with the good guys– the American Army. And so they team up against the bad guys which is like another country, like one of those countries where America enjoys its wars against bad guys and the evil Transformers.

DB: Then what happens?

MB: Then, that is basically it. You know they fight and stuff to make the cool parts that everyone goes to see the movie for then that’s the end of the movie and we make another that is like that one.

DB: Well, thanks for talking with me!

MB: Oh yeah, sure.

 

This interview occurred in the imagination of Dale Beran.

 

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