Bay often traces his interest in action films back to an incident during his childhood. As a boy, he attached some firecrackers to a toy train and filmed the ensuing fiery disaster with his mother's8 millimeter camera. The fire department was called and he was grounded.[15]
Bay got his start in the film industry interning withGeorge Lucas when he was 15, filing thestoryboards forRaiders of the Lost Ark, which Bay believed was going to be terrible. His opinion changed after seeing it in the theater and he was so impressed by the experience that he decided to become a film director.[16] He graduated fromWesleyan University in 1986, majoring in both English and film.[17][18] He was a member of thePsi Upsilon fraternity and a favorite student of film historianJeanine Basinger.[19] For his graduate work, he attendedArt Center College of Design inPasadena, where he also studied film.[20] His classmates included future Hollywood film directorsTarsem Singh andZack Snyder. Singh also appeared in one of Bay's student films as a camel salesman.[21]
Career
1992–2005: Breakthrough and stardom
Bay began working atPropaganda Films, directing commercials and music videos, two weeks after finishing his postgraduate degree.[20] His 90-secondWorld War II–inspiredCoca-Cola advertisement was picked up byCapitol Records. His first national commercial was for theRed Cross, which won aClio Award in 1992.[22][23] He directedGoodby, Silverstein & Partners' "Aaron Burr" commercial as part of the "Got Milk?" ad campaign for the California Milk Processors Board in 1993, which also won a Grand Prix Clio Award for Commercial of the Year.[24][25]
Bay's success in music videos gained the attention of producersJerry Bruckheimer andDon Simpson, who selected him to direct his first feature-length film,Bad Boys. It was shot inMiami in 1994 and starredWill Smith andMartin Lawrence. The action film was a breakout role for Smith, who was making a transition from television at the time. Shooting in Miami was a good experience for Bay, who would later own a home in the city and spend a great deal of time there.[26] The film was completed for $19 million and grossed a remarkable $141 million in the summer of 1995.[27] Bay's success led to a strong partnership and friendship withJerry Bruckheimer.[28]
His follow-up film,The Rock (1996), an action movie set onAlcatraz Island and in theSan Francisco Bay area, starredSean Connery,Nicolas Cage andEd Harris. It was produced byJerry Bruckheimer and the lateDon Simpson, who died five months before its release. The film is dedicated to him.[29] Connery and Cage won "Best On-Screen Duo" at theMTV Movie Awards in 1997, and the film was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Achievement in Sound category for the work of Greg P. Russell,Kevin O'Connell and Keith A. Wester.[30][31] After the success ofThe Rock, Bay established his production company Bay Films, with a two-picture deal with Disney.
In 2001, Bay directedPearl Harbor, starringBen Affleck,Josh Hartnett,Kate Beckinsale andCuba Gooding, Jr. It was released onMemorial Day weekend in 2001, again produced by Bay with Jerry Bruckheimer. It received four Academy Award nominations, including Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing and Best Song. Kevin O'Connell received another nomination for Best Sound, but did not win.Pearl Harbor won in the category for Sound Editing, making it Bay's first (and, to date, only) film to win an Oscar.[37] Bay also directed the music video for the nominated track "There You'll Be" by vocal artistFaith Hill.[20]
Bay reteamed with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence forBad Boys II, a sequel that was Bay's fifth collaboration withJerry Bruckheimer. It grossed $138 million domestically, enough to cover the production budget, and $273 million worldwide, almost twice as much as the first movie. In 2005, Bay directedThe Island, a science fiction film starringEwan McGregor andScarlett Johansson. It was the first film Bay made without Jerry Bruckheimer as a producer. It cost $126 million to produce and earned $36 million domestically and $127 million overseas, for a total of $163 million. Bay said that he was not comfortable with the domestic marketing campaign, as it confused the audience about the film's true subject.[38]
2007–2016
Bay on the set ofTransformers, New Mexico, May 2006
In 2007, he teamed up with executive producerSteven Spielberg to directTransformers, a live action film based on theTransformers franchise. Released in July 2007, by November of that year it had made over $709 million worldwide.[39]
Bay returned as director and executive producer forTransformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which was released on June 24, 2009 and grossed over $832 million worldwide. Although it received mostly negative reviews by critics,[40] including aggressively critical reviews by American film critics such asRoger Ebert,[41]Michael Phillips[42] andDavid Denby (who referred to Bay as "stunningly, almost viciously, untalented"),[43] the film was well received by its intended audience and one of the highest-grossing of 2009.[44][45] In 2010, it earned sevenGolden Raspberry Award nominations, and won three:Worst Picture,Worst Director andWorst Screenplay.[46] It was also one of the best-selling DVD and Blu-ray Discs of 2009, second only toTwilight in DVD format, and the #1 of all time inBlu-ray format until it was surpassed by Blu-ray sales ofJames Cameron'sAvatar in April 2010.[47][48][49]
A fourth Bay-directed Transformers movie,Transformers: Age of Extinction, was released in June 2014.[57] StarringMark Wahlberg, it earned $1.1 billion at the global box office.[58] On January 12, 2016,Paramount Pictures released13 Hours, which Bay produced and directed, based on the2012 Benghazi attack. While the lowest-grossing film of Bay's career at the box office, it went on to massive DVD sales on its digital release in May 2016, earning over $40 million in home video revenue.[59]
2017–present
On May 23, 2017, Bay was honored with his own hand-and-footprint ceremony at TheTCL Chinese Theatre. His English mastiff, Rebel, put her paw in the cement with him.[60]
Bay's fifthTransformers film as director,Transformers: The Last Knight, was released on June 21, 2017.[61] It grossed $68.5 million in its five-day North American opening weekend, the franchise's lowest opening, and $605 million worldwide.[62][63] In a 2016Rolling Stone interview, Bay said it would be his finalTransformers film as director.[64]
In 2021, it was reported that Bay requested financial compensation from film studioParamount Pictures for indirectly limiting his income as a result of Paramount cutting the theatrical-only run ofA Quiet Place Part II from 90 to 45 days due to the effects of theCOVID-19 pandemic. Bay, and other producers as well as actors for the film, as is typically the case, receive payment in part based on box-office performance, and a reduction in the theatrical run's exclusivity affected the pay they received.[69]
Bay's next film was 2022'sAmbulance, starringJake Gyllenhaal,Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, andEiza González. It follows two bank robbers who hijack an ambulance and take two hostages. Shot during the COVID-19 pandemic in Los Angeles,[70] it was released in the US on April 8, 2022, by Universal Pictures.[71]
On September 2, 2024, Bay's firstdocumentary series,Born Evil: The Serial Killer and the Savior, premiered onInvestigation Discovery. Bay directed and executive produced the five-episode series about serial killerHadden Clark.[72]
On July 24, 2024, it was reported that Bay was developing a franchise based on Alexey Gerasimov'sSkibidi Toilet web series.[73]
After leavingPropaganda Films, Bay and producer Scott Gardenhour, also formerly at Propaganda, formed the Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness (now known as the Institute), to produce commercials and other projects. Through the Institute, Bay has directed and produced spots forVictoria's Secret,Lexus,Budweiser,Reebok,Mercedes-Benz, andNike. One of his Victoria's Secret ads was for the 2009 "A Thousand Fantasies" holiday campaign.[76]
451 Media Group
Bay co-founded 451 Media Group with Doug Nunes (who is CEO), and with John and Anthony Gentile, who previously marketed brands such asMicronauts,Visionaries,Sky Dancers and thePower Glove. In 2015, the company announced an interactive publishing division to offer "augmented reality" content from printed graphic novels with digital video. The graphic novels employ Touchcode technology from T+ink (previously used in the Power Glove), in which ink used in the printing process unlocks access to exclusive content that is housed on theMachinima Network, which is transferred to users' touch-screen-enabled mobile devices when the printed books are touched to those devices. The company's premiere slate of graphic novels was unveiled at the October 2015New York Comic Con. The creators involved includedScott Rosenberg,Skip Woods,George Pelecanos, Mark Mallouk, Clay McLeod Chapman and Peter and Paul Williams.[77][78][79][80]
Rogue Initiative
In June 2016, Bay joined the Rogue Initiative,[81] a production studio and technology company, as a strategic advisor and stakeholder. The studio merges Hollywood production with interactive talent to generate story-driven content for games, mobile, virtual reality, mixed reality, television and feature film. As part of the partnership, Bay will develop and direct a multiplatform action-adventure game and cinematic VR experiences, based on an original IP conceived by him.
His movies look like a more compacted, cartoonish messy version of films by British commercial directors likeAdrian Lyne andRidley andTony Scott. He packs each frame with baroque detail and floods the screen with light and smog; he prefers extreme wide angles or punishingly tight telephoto close-ups, which make each shot dense enough to burst.
Bay's work is divisive and has often been poorly received by film critics, and his name has been usedpejoratively inart-house circles.[89] Bay has responded to his critics, saying: "I make movies for teenage boys. Oh, dear, what a crime."[90] Besides accusing him of making films that pander to a young demographic, critics and audiences have been critical of elements of Bay's filmmaking style such as the overuse ofDutch angles, extreme patriotism, overly broad andsophomoric humor, excessive product placement,[91] oversaturated orange and tealcolor grading,[92] reusing footage from his previous films,[93] and his preference of action and spectacle over story and characters,[94][95][96] with his films' excessive use ofexplosions often being mentioned or parodied.[97][98] Another point of contention with Bay's films is his portrayal and use of offensive racial stereotypes as comedic relief; one alleged example being the characters Skids and Mudflap inTransformers: Revenge of the Fallen.[99]
Bay has also been accused of heavilyobjectifying women in his films, with critics describing Bay's manner of filming actresses as "lascivious" and "pornographic". He has faced criticism for routinely making sexist remarks and showing female characters in a stereotypical light.[100] He came under scrutiny for firingMegan Fox inretaliation[101] after she made comments about him mistreating her on the set of theTransformers films and compared him toAdolf Hitler andNapoleon.[95][102][103] Bay published an open letter written by three anonymous members of the crew ofTransformers: Revenge of the Fallen that referred to Fox as, among other things, "Ms. Sourpants", "porn star", "unfriendly bitch", and "dumb-as-a-rock".[104]
In 2009, it was reported that Fox, at the age of 15, was made to wash Bay's car while auditioning forTransformers.[105][106] In 2020, Fox revisited the incident and denied that she was underaged (forTransformers) or "made to 'wash' or work on someone's cars in a way that was extraneous from the materials in the actual script."[107] Fox was 15 when she first appeared as a bikini-clad extra in the Bay filmBad Boys II.[104]
ActressKate Beckinsale also spoke out publicly by reporting that she was body-shamed and regularly criticized for her appearance by Bay during the making ofPearl Harbor.[102][103]
Six of Bay's films have been nominated for theGolden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture andGolden Raspberry Award for Worst Director (Armageddon,Pearl Harbor,Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,Transformers: Dark of the Moon,Transformers: Age of Extinction andTransformers: The Last Knight), withRevenge of the Fallen andAge of Extinction winning the award for "Worst Director".Revenge of the Fallen also became the first film by Bay and also the highest-grossing film to be awarded "Worst Picture".
Conversely, some critics and actors have praised Bay's films and style. Film historianJeanine Basinger has described him as "the most cinematic and fluid and unafraid director", while Scott Foundas ofVariety has lauded his "grand, epic vision" and positively compared him toWilliam Wyler. ActressScarlett Johansson wrote that Bay is "a truly ambitious storyteller who celebrates characters, actors, and leading men and women alike."[108]
^Wilson, Stephanie (September 5, 2008)."Behind the Camera".Haute Living. Seth Semilof. Archived fromthe original on October 5, 2011. RetrievedJuly 5, 2010.
^Simon, Alex (February 28, 2008) [June 2001 (reprinted; originally published byVenice Magazine)]."Jerry Bruckheimer: The Hollywood Interview".The Hollywood Interview.com. Nancy Martinez. RetrievedJuly 5, 2010.
^Cheshire, Godfrey; Zoller Seitz, Matt; White, Armond (2020).The Press Gang: Writings on Cinema from New York Press, 1991-2011. Seven Stories Press.
^Selcke, Dan (July 7, 2014)."Here's a learned analysis of why Michael Bay movies are bad, but pretty".The A.V. Club. RetrievedJanuary 16, 2016. "No matter how many buildings, spacecrafts, [sic] and sentient robots Michael Bay explodes, the director can't seem to get any respect. His movies are panned by critics, and his bombastic filmmaking style is routinely mocked by respectable, erudite writers on the Internet."
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