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Michael Bay
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Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. Bay is best known for making large-budget action films, such as Transformers, Armageddon, The Rock, Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys, Bad Boys II and the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
was born in Los Angeles and raised there by his adoptive parents, a bookstore owner/child psychiatrist mother and a CPA father.
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Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. Bay is best known for making large-budget action films, such as Transformers, Armageddon, The Rock, Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys, Bad Boys II and the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Biography
Early life
Bay was born in Los Angeles and raised there by his adoptive parents, a bookstore owner/child psychiatrist mother and a CPA father. He attended the exclusive Crossroads School, in Santa Monica, California, where the "Hollywood Elite," including film stars, send their children. Later, he graduated from Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1986, where he was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity. After being rejected by USC and other notable film schools, he opted to study film at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
Early projects
After graduating from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, Bay met an old friend from high school named Kirk Skinner who helped him break into the music video industry and worked on videos for artists such as Meat Loaf, Richard Marx, Donny Osmond, Lionel Richie, and Tina Turner, among others. He also began directing television commercials for many large companies, including Nike, Reebok, Budweiser, and Coca-Cola. His most successful advertising campaign creation was the series of "Got Milk?" commercials, which won him the Grand Prix Clio for Commercial of the Year and the Cannes Silver Lion.
1990s
Michael Bay made his first feature film, Bad Boys, in 1995, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The movie became a success with a total of almost $141 million in ticket sales worldwide and generated a huge profit for producers Jerry Bruckheimer, Don Simpson and Columbia Pictures.
His follow-up film, The Rock (1996), is an action movie that primarily takes place on Alcatraz Island, and the San Francisco Bay area. It stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris. Again it was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, who died five months before the release. The movie won a number of minor awards, including 'Best On-Screen Duo' for Connery and Cage at the MTV Movie Awards as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Sound.
In 1998, he collaborated again with Jerry Bruckheimer to direct Armageddon. The film, released at a time when disaster films were seeing a comeback, was about a group of tough oil drillers who are sent by NASA to deflect an asteroid away from a collision course with Earth. It starred Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Ben Affleck. Despite the poor reviews and criticism, Armageddon was nominated for four Academy Awards in the technical categories of Best Sound, Best Special Effects, Best Effects Editing, and Best Original Song, and went on to gross over US$550 million worldwide.
2000s
In 2001, Michael Bay decided to make a more dramatic picture, re-imagining the attack on Pearl Harbor. It starred Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale and Cuba Gooding Jr. Pearl Harbor was released on Memorial Day weekend in 2001. Bay also produced the film along with Jerry Bruckheimer. Critical response was largely negative and many critics dismissed the film as visually polished but historically insensitive, also citing such literary flaws such as the banal dialogue, underdeveloped love triangle plot, and the shallow nature of the lead characters. At the 2002 Academy Awards, Pearl Harbor was nominated for four awards, winning one for Sound Effects Editing. Its other nominations were for Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, and Best Song.
Bay reteamed with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for Bad Boys II, and this also marked Bay's fifth collaboration with Jerry Bruckheimer. The film, though the subject of some vicious criticism for its length, brutality, bloated plot, misogynistic depiction of women and violent sense of humor—some have said it is the ultimate example of Bay's aesthetic—was a success at the US box office. It made $138 million domestic gross, enough to cover the production budget, and $273 million worldwide, almost twice as much as the original movie.
In 2005, Bay directed The Island, a science-fiction film described as a pastiche of "escape-from-dystopia", starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. This is the first film of Michael Bay without Jerry Bruckheimer featuring as the producer and also his first to be a disappointment in the US domestic box office earning only $36 million; it was more successful overseas, where it netted a respectable $163 million worldwide. Bay himself stated that he was not comfortable with the marketing of the movie in the US. Although not particularly well-received, some critics did note a gentler, more humanistic side to the film, and praised the special effects, stunts, Mauro Fiore's cinematography, and Bay's handling of the movie's intense, multiple chase scenes.
In 2007, he teamed up with Steven Spielberg, as the executive producer, to direct Transformers, a live action film based on the Transformers franchise. The film was released in the U.S. and Canada on July 3, 2007, with 8 p.m. preview screenings on July 2. The previews earned $8.8 million, and in its first day of general release it grossed $27.8 million, a record for Tuesday box office attendance. It broke Spider-Man 2's record for the biggest July 4th gross, making $29 million. On its opening weekend, Transformers grossed $70.5 million, amounting to a $155.4 million opening week, giving it the record for the biggest opening week for a non-sequel. As of November 2007, the film has made over $319 million domestically and over $708 million worldwide, it was well received by audiences, and received average to positive reviews from critics. Bay and Steven Spielberg will return as director and executive producer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, while Paramount has announced a June 24, 2009 release date.
All these movies combined grossed in more than $1.9 billion dollars worldwide. Transformers 2 is currently in post production.
Bay and Wydncrest Holdings acquired the special effects company Digital Domain in 2006 from James Cameron and Stan Winston. He also runs his producing company, Platinum Dunes, that produces horror genre films (mostly commercially successful remakes of 1970s films), and directs commercials through The Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness.
Awards
In 1994, Bay was honored by the Directors Guild of America as Commercial Director of the Year.
Inspirations
Bay had a variety of factors that sparked and fueled his interest in show business. He draws inspiration from the talents of different directors such as Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Stanley Kubrick, George Lucas, and the Coen Brothers. In his youth, Bay worked for Lucasfilm where his interest began after filing storyboards for Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Product placement
Bay is also known for his use of product placement in his films, with The Island alone containing 38 instances of advertising for various brand names such as Microsoft, Calvin Klein, and Audi. He has been criticized for this film specifically, as many of the ads shown are in the compound where the clones are kept.
Filmography
As of 2008 Bay has directed seven feature films and has one in production.
TV commercials
Bay was also one of the directors of the LA music video production company Propaganda Films. After Propaganda, he and producer Scott Gardenhour, also formerly at Propaganda, started The Institute for the Development of Enhanced Perceptual Awareness to produce commercials and other projects.
Through The Institute, Bay directed a TV commercial in the prominent Chevrolet An American Revolution campaign created by the firm of Campbell-Ewald that debuted on New Year's eve 2003 and featured the song Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf. The advertisement, featuring many of Bay's cinemagraphic trademarks and titled "An American Revolution, Car Carrier," features six not yet introduced new cars and trucks boarding a car carrier traversing the United States. Ironically, a 103hp Chevrolet Aveo descends the Twin Peaks of San Francisco and makes an airborne leap highly reminiscent of Steve McQueen's Ford Mustang in the movie Bullitt -- before boarding the car carrier. The ad features non-stop motion, and resolves its ending with a Chevelle SS from the 1960s passing the now full car carrier -- with passengers sporting sixties hair styles and fashions -- which are both then passed by a red biplane.
Bay also has directed spots for Victoria's Secret and Lexus, produced with Gardenhour and The Institute.
Most recently Bay spoofed himself in an advertisement for the Commonwealth Bank in Australia, as well as a Verizon Fios commercial, where he detonates various items within his home that he deemed "awesome" with special effects explosives.
Music videos
External links
- and
- Michael Bay's commercial production company, *, Michael Bay's music video filmography at The Music Video Database.
- , a June 2001 Rolling Stone article
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