ROTTEN TOMATOES: Michael Bay Contemplates a Transforming Career Move

Michael Bay Contemplates a Transforming Career Move

by Scott Weinberg | April 07, 2005

Ever since Steven Spielberg climbed aboard as executive producer on the Paramount / DreamWorks project "The Transformers," fans have been wondering who the director will be. Buzz earlier this week stated that it was going to be a toss-up between Michael Bay ("Armageddon" Wink

and Roland Emmerich ("The Day After Tomorrow" Wink

, but Variety reports that the gig may be Bay's ... if he wants it. Based on the extremely popular cartoon and toy characters of the 1980's, this big-screen "Transformers" adaptation is presently scheduled to begin shooting in the fall, and the studios have pegged November '06 for its release.The project's first draft was turned in by John Rogers ("Catwoman" Wink

, but Bay became involved after a second draft was put together by his "Island" cohorts Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci.

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(1-20 of 29 posts) | Reply

The Senhman writes:
on Apr 07 2005 01:44 PM

[b]Holy moly![/b]
Either would be great. No one does mayhem better than Roland Emmerich, but Michael Bay's better at explosions. Hehe. I'll give a slight edge to Michael Bay. Either one would be perfect for a movie like The Transformers.

(Reply to this)

metroidcrazy92 writes:
on Apr 07 2005 02:49 PM

[b]PG13 RATING ONLY[/b]
yeh it'll be good just rate it PG13 and please whosever directing this if your reading this right now make it violent enough for a PG13 but if this movie is PG but its good i'll still give it a 10

(Reply to this)

renodc writes:
on Apr 07 2005 09:46 PM

Well if Roland Emmerich directs this you can guarantee the dialogue will be Grade A cheese.
I guess if I had to choose I would go with Bay.

(Reply to this)

ESotSM writes:
on Apr 07 2005 10:20 PM

[b]WTF, mate?[/b]
Geez, choosing between these two is like choosing between two things that are going to kill you as slowly and painfully as possible! My god, quite a duo we have to choose from here.

It's like picking teams for Elementary School kickball and these two are the doofuses who are always last to be chosen!

(Reply to this)

Aoiboy writes:
on Apr 07 2005 11:56 PM

LOL @ the last comment...
Anyway, I agree. They're not my dreamdirectors for this project, although I would go for Bay, and for at least a PG13 level. Nobody wants this movie to turn out like the "Thunderbirds" adaptation or whatever other TV show remade as a goofy movie for children. There's some serious sci-fi behind "Transformers", so respect the source material !!

(Reply to this)

nogard64 writes:
on Apr 08 2005 12:56 AM

[b]no comparison[/b]
Bay is just all out guns blazing and big explosions, but Emmerich has an eye for the Sci-fi genera, hes a lil more epic and more grand in his style, to be honest I've liked all of his movie, universal soldier, Stargate, Day after tommorow and even Godzilla. I'm not looking forward to Bay directing.

(Reply to this)

The Senhman writes:
on Apr 08 2005 08:09 AM

In reply to this comment (#821194)
Hehe...yeah. If Roland Emmerich gets the job, he doesn't touch the screenplay, like he did for The Day After Tomorrow (I still liked the movie despite that).

(Reply to this)

The Senhman writes:
on Apr 08 2005 08:12 AM

In reply to this comment (#821197)
Come to think of it, same here - I liked all those films you mentioned.

(Reply to this)

Conehead2187 writes:
on Apr 08 2005 10:32 AM

Oh dear lord. We are now absolutely certain that this will be a movie of apocalyptic awfulness since the top two choices to direct are Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich. I think Ed Wood could have done a better job than either of these two.

(Reply to this)

robshaolin writes:
on Apr 08 2005 06:58 PM

In reply to this comment (#821192)
You have to be kidding, anyone that knows good movie making---Bay sucks. All his movies have the same directing styles and skill, HIs movies sucks--emmerick is not to better but he can pull it off because i think he knows what needs to be done to please the transformer fans.

(Reply to this)

wazzat writes:
on Apr 09 2005 02:42 AM

[b]Oh great...[/b]
One of the worst directors EVER ruining my childhood. Should be painful.

I would have picked Ang Lee.

(Reply to this)

Sadistik writes:
on Apr 09 2005 01:03 PM

I'd like to see someone like Robert Zemeckis do it, to see if he can recapture that spirit he put into stuff like Back to the Future....

(Reply to this)

metroidcrazy92 writes:
on Apr 09 2005 03:28 PM

why don't they just not make a transformers movie its gonna suck unless.......... sam rami the director of spider man directs

(Reply to this)

ogenbite writes:
on Apr 09 2005 03:38 PM

[b]Once again, Hollywood is killing all the potential[/b]
Wow, that's tough decision; like choosing if I should be eaten alive by a lion or a bear, each of which have no talent. I can already predict the basic plot of this movie: giant CG-robots come to Earth, a few humans (who will no doubt consist of a couple scientists who make initial contact, a military general who wants to blast them out of the sky, and one of the scientist's girlfiends, and the other's father/mother/grandparent/sister/etc., and maybe a wise-cracking reporter) befriend the Autobots and help them fight the Decepticons, all while some romantic love story runs as a sub-plot (because the people who want to see giant robots desperately want to see a love story), and one of the humans sacrifices himself to ultimately save the day.

And that's when I cry over the pillaging of my childhood memories.

Here's a message to any potential director's of this film: Give us a bunch of skyscraper-tall robots battling it out for two solid hours and very little else. If you have to add a story, throw in something about them fighting over the Energon, but that's it. Also, put in little or no story involving any humans. The film is called "Transformers," not "Humans who Help Out the Transformers."

(Reply to this)

AnTy writes:
on Apr 09 2005 11:31 PM

In reply to this comment (#821205)
[b]I agree with that.[/b]
I agree with that point about it not being a movie about humans that help the Transformers. That would be the easy route to go. It would take a lot more creativity to come up with a script that goes the complete opposite route and doesn't have any of the cliche bullsh!t that could potentially be slopped into this if they just try to make a blockbuster flick.

Let's hope they try to make something unique.

(Reply to this)

Reel 2/Dialogue 2 writes:
on Apr 10 2005 12:45 AM

In reply to this comment (#821195)
[b]Does this thing NEED to be live-action???[/b]
A clearer example of this is choosing between a turd sandwich and a giant douche.

Well, at least it ain't Albert Pyun..... ?

(Reply to this)

Sadistik writes:
on Apr 10 2005 12:06 PM

I hereby nominate Uwe Boll...

(Reply to this)

mrdanny writes:
on Apr 11 2005 07:21 AM

It wont be to cheesy with Spielberg babysitting as a producer, but then again...... Heres the plot: Megatron gets stranded in an airport and cant speak any english.

(Reply to this)

drxym writes:
on Apr 11 2005 07:33 AM

[b]Good god[/b]
Is this a match made in hell? A director who inexplicably continues to direct despite a string of rotten movies to his name and a twenty year old toy tie-in.

(Reply to this)

jeanfc writes:
on Apr 11 2005 10:31 AM

Hey, if they are thinking of a sequel for Garfield, a Transformer movie is only to be expected. Although I don't know to many people younger than 20 who even know what those are...

It would be much much much cooler if they did a movie based on Battletech universe or something.

(Reply to this)

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