Michael Bay Quotations

Everybody knows about Pearl Harbor. The thing that really fascinated me is that through this tragedy there was this amazing American heroism.

A lot of directors don't want the pressure of a movie the size of Pearl Harbor. But I love it. I thrive on it.

I allow a lot of room for improvisation and funny stuff. I always feel planned.

We don't make movies for critics. I've done four movies; there's millions upon millions upon millions of people who've paid to see them. Somebody likes them. My greatest joy is to sit anonymously in a dark theater and watch it with an audience, a paying audience.

I'm one of the few directors that actually shoots a lot in camera.

There are many movies that have done it very badly. The studios have gone for quick profits and audiences are feeling angry. People aren't taking the time and spending the money to do it right. I am.

It is really cool to have created a movie that has turned out to become the biggest movie of the year.

It's... a hard thing for a director, to think you came up with a shot, something from your mind, and someone died while doing it. It's the worst thing you'll ever have to live with. It was very hard for me to get back on the horse again.

I make movies for teenage boys. Oh, dear, what a crime.

I go out there to win. People don't care if you die in this business. The only way I get back is with success.

I make movies that audiences like, that I'd want to see. That's all.

It's great that I get accused of not being politically correct. People need to take themselves less seriously. This world is so screwed up as it is, we've all got to relax a bit more.

I'm at that point in my life where I definitely want to get married soon. I've got my dogs as surrogates, but I'm ready for kids.

What I look for in a script is something that challenges me, something that breaks new ground, something that allows me to flex my director muscle. You have got to think fast in this business, youve got to keep reinventing yourself to stay on top.

Directing is not a job. It's more like a career. Which is great!

I look at directing as a sporting event. It's a race, a marathon. It's great when it clicks, which is why I push my crews so hard so we can excel.

For me, the great joy is to watch an audience watching what I've made. To hear not a peep from the audience at the right moment, and then to hear the laughs and the cheers.

There are things that I invented - the creaky geriatric robot that is always grumpy, for example, or the little wheelie guy, he's not in the Hasbro lore. But kids love that stuff - this little guy as a pet on a chain. They gravitate towards it.

I'm done with effects movies for now. When you do a movie like 'Transformers,' it can feel like you're doing three movies at once - which is tiring.

The press don't like to say nice things because nice is boring. It's much better to label me the devil. What we do is not brain surgery. We are entertainers, plain and simple, and we're responsible to bring that money back, to make a profit.

Maybe I have just a younger voice than many other directors.

Do you know what directors go through? It's just hell. Like, why do I work so hard - to think I'm only going to see this movie five times and then never see it again 'cause I'm so sick of it? What is it worth, honestly?

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.

Nobody in the world knew about Megan Fox until I found her and put her in 'Transformers.' I like to think that I've had some luck in building actors' careers with my films.

I can be very reserved about things. My business side isn't shy. I can be like a general. But I've got a shy side. I'm also a lot deeper than people think, and a lot more sensitive. But I don't let people in too much.'

When you're walking on the set, sometimes you are alone in the main cell block, and you're seeing Al Capone lived here, ... It's just bizarre.

The psychological root behind this competitive streak is that I was an athlete when I was young and took sports really seriously. I look at directing as a sporting event. It's a race, a marathon. It's great when it clicks - which is why I push my crews so hard so we can excel.

I was hooked by the love story in Pearl Harbor. Believe it or not, I have a really soft heart and I can be sappy.

Sometimes, we just laugh about it knowing that this is a scene they will talk about in 'Premiere' magazine because of its flaws in continuity. I think you have to make movies for the general public and not the details. When you get hung up on continuity, you can't keep the pace and price down. Most people simply consume a movie and they are not even aware of these errors.

People have a hard time believing I'd ever want to do a small movie, but I would love to do something funny and quirky.

It's such a massive story to tell, it would have taken nine hours,

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.

In the Pearl harbor crisis, there was a wholly American, selfless response, down to how the nurses dealt with the attack, using their stockings to dress wounds, their lipstick to mark who would live or die. Imagine that. That is what hooked me.

I don't see anything wrong with spending a lot of money to make big action movies to entertain people. Yet somehow, I come under special scrutiny. I mean, why don't people get upset if Dow spends $300 million to invent some new chemical? Audiences like popcorn movies. What's wrong with that?

I am very good at handling a huge movie, with a million things going on. I'm very decisive, clear in what I want. I'm very cost-conscious, in terms of how to get the big bang on the screen. I'm very good at making things happen very fast.

I filmed my first little Super 8 movie by stealing my mum's Super 8 camera where I set some fires to some of the models, which actually caught the drapes of my bedroom on fire! The fire department came. I was grounded for three weeks and it was my very first movie.

I don't ever want to do a movie where you shoot it on a motion capture stage. I just don't like taking the reality out of it. I like being on the set in real environments. I don't like shooting on green screen. I think it gives the actors so much more to play with when there's real stuff happening on the set.

You get the most 3D effect when it starts about three to four seconds, that's when it starts feeling 3D. And then what you do, quick shots are always flat.

A car is a big thing for anyone going into adulthood, it's a big seminal moment.

Its... a hard thing for a director, to think you came up with a shot, something from your mind, and someone died while doing it. Its the worst thing youll ever have to live with. It was very hard for me to get back on the horse again.

I was talking to one of the writers about our target audience, and he was insulted that I used that term. But if you're given $60 million to make a film, you'd better know who your target audience is. That's who's going to pay back the bills you run up.

You'll hear people say now, 'Oh, I don't want to see something in 3-D. That's wrong, because what they've seen is 3-D done poorly.

Im at that point in my life where I definitely want to get married soon. Ive got my dogs as surrogates, but Im ready for kids.

I don't change my style for anybody. Pussies do that.

Hollywood has to start finding more original stuff They've got to start by not depending on, 'What can we churn back out? How can we regurgitate this?' That's why I want to redo the feel of Transformers. That's why I wanted to start with a new cast. You want it to feel fresh, and you want to make it feel different than the other three.

Why isn't everything exploding?!

Fast cars are my only vice.

Some nights I sleep like a baby. Other nights it's, Oh God, I just came up with a bomb shot.

And a lot of the artists and people that we hired were fans of Transformers growing up, so having so many fans working on my crew really kept me on point.