Age of Extinction Bay Replying to Weaving's Comments

Did Michael Bay really just ask what happened to people who had integrity? Really?!

 

Wow...I can't believe i'm going to say this but I totally agree with Bay.

 

Yeah, I'm surprisingly Team Bay on this one. I just wish he had responded like this after that little **** Shia started spewing his BS. Weaving wasn't being that harsh.

 

So, Megatron won't be back it seems.

 

Weaving didn'treally say anything other than "hey at less thna 2 hours work I don't really feel like I was a part of this project" and yet Bay has to start running his mouth. He's such a ****ing diva.

 

I kind of see Weaving as the straw that broke the camel's back. After dealing with Megan Fox and that punk Shia who probably both deserved this lecture, I'd be a little pissy about yet another actor complaining about his Transformer work. Bay is actually a very charitable man, his persona as a hawkish *****ebag really isn't entirely fair.

 

People are allowed to pursue projects that interest them. Weaving was just being honest. He didn't sound like he was complaining, really, just being matter-of-fact. What was he supposed to say, "hey Transformers is the highest art and I loved every minute of the job?" Eh. I thought Bay's response was a bit disproportionate and too much.

 

IDK. This is the second instance in a week that its been reported that Weaving claimed one of his projects wasn't "his thing". The other was Captain America and he outright said he doesn't wan to do another one for that.

He hasn't outright said he doesn't like TF or CA, but you can read between the lines.

 

please bring back megan

 

This franchise is a joke (the films, that is). It's never been anything more than a series popcorn flicks with crude (sometimes borderline racist) humor.

Megatron's characterization was just lame. You get a talent like Weaving, and you have Megatron be a boring, singleminded villain?

Waste of talent.

 

The films are no more a joke than the rest of the franchise.

 

I don't know, I rather enjoyed Beast Wars, and thought it actually had some depth to it. Sort of have mixed feelings on Beast Machines.

And the new show (Prime) is certainly entertaining.

 

And how has this come to light all of a sudden, was Hugo being interviewed for a magazine, TV special?

 

So? He's right that Megatron and Red Skull aren't particularly challenging roles. He probably did them only for the money. He's saying as much, with honesty, and saying he'd like to move on to different things that interest him. Everyone does this with jobs. I guess people could think he's being snooty or pretentious or ungrateful for his opportunities, but I dunno that it seems that way to me at this point...

 

Both those characters are extremely shallow and bland.

 

I heard James Earl Jones say much the same thing in regarding to voicing Darth Vader at an appearance he did some years ago. Actors take jobs for the paycheck from time to time.

 

The fact is he shouldn't have said anything. Regardless of whether or not you believe Hugo was right in his opinion or not - he, for whatever reason, threw not just Bay but everyone working on the film under the bus. If this was any other profession people would be asking 'well, why did we need to know that?' Exactly. Why?

Anyone in the film industry to come out like this just shows little to no tact. And as someone 'in' the industry, I just find this kind of thing disrespectful on a whole number of levels to everyone involved in the process. This kind of thing is better left behind closed doors. It is not the public's place to know or even hear of certain things like this - just like with any other profession which sadly I'm unsure how many people can see due to us living in a celebrity 'obsessed' culture.

If you call anything out - at least do it in a tactful way, not in a specific way of 'these people' and 'this crew.'

It's kind of comical that it goes back to an age old teaching from childhood - if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all and especially don't have it published! Not saying never have an opinion nor openly share it, just do it in the tactful way behind closed doors. This and Cap? There is nothing tactical about it.

This isn't a matter of the film/s themselves, which I'm unsure how many can separate that notion, it's a matter of principle and being professional. Just see it as any other ordinary company - would you run to the 'Times' or handle things behind closed doors on a professional level? Exactly. Why shouldn't those in the public eye do the same?

 

Maybe not all of the quote was placed in the OP, but it seems to me he only commented on the role as quick voiceover work and not on the quality of the film itself. (But really, would it be throwing the entire franchise under the bus to admit it isn't exactly high art?)

This is a comment on our celebrity-hungry culture, not on Weaving's statement. The fact is, there is an audience for stuff like this - an audience that does want to know that. You can critique that subculture but it exists nonetheless.

What was he supposed to say? What did he say that showed disrespect? He said it was a quick role that he didn't understand, and that he didn't ever meet the director. That was it. Was he supposed to disingenuously gush about it?

Again, what was disrespectful or untactful? Bay's comment was far more insulting, characterizing Weaving as a "whiner," "grumbler," and as lacking integrity.

 

Bay should get Frank Welker of G1 to record all the Megatron lines and then replace them in all 3 films. Woohoo!

 

"I didn’t care about it, I didn’t think about it. They wanted me to do it. In one way, I regret that bit. I don’t regret doing it, but I very rarely do something if it’s meaningless. It was meaningless to me, honestly. I don’t mean that in any nasty way. I did it."

That - right there - is the key. He may have not intentioned it to sound that way, but it does come off that way.

No one is saying 'high art,' I'd expect the same level of professional curtesy on a Uwe Bowell film as much as the next Christopher Nolan film. One company is a lot more prestigious than the next. But why should the principal of the matter change?

There is open ended and then there is tact. Look at Christian Bale - he mentioned doing a film, a rather bad film, early in his career because he just needed the paycheck. He never mentioned it by name. But, anyone looking back can probably surmise yet not know for certain that it's 'Reign of Fire' that he was talking about. No one was singled out, he didn't point a finger, he just talked about his career - THAT is tact.

What he could have just said: "I've done a couple of jobs in my past that I've regretted doing because they didn't mean that much to me." End of. The rest is just lacking integrity. And as said, just look at how Bale handled it compared to this. Hell even just saying, "it was a quick role that I came in to do the voice for then left, I never even really got to meet the director." End of. You don't need to know much more than that.

Bay's comment wasn't disrespectful. Hell, he didn't even only target Weaving - rather he targeted the group of people of who single things out in the public's eye. Notice how he said actors and not just Weaving. And I'm willing to bet many in the industry share those same views Bay just made public. Leave things behind closed doors, don't go running to the media any chance you get - we (those in the industry) shouldn't be that different from anyone else. And yeah it is a blessing to be working and getting paid that kind of money when there are so many other problems that need to be addressed.

ADDING: Yet another common teaching that I thought everyone learned - 'it's not about what was said, it was about how you said it.'

 

! Bay should've got Frank in the first place. It aint like the fans didn't tell him

 

He said it was meaningless to him. He regrets doing it for that reason. He didn't understand the dialogue or the part - it was meaningless to him. Alec Guinness made similar comments about Star Wars. It is just his perspective on the hour or two of work he did, not a complaint or an insult to people who like the films. I think Bay read way too much into it and so have many others.

I'm not particularly a big fan of Weaving's work or of the two franchises in view here, so its not particularly here or there to me, I'm just saying it doesn't come across as offensive at all to me, really.

 

I don't see what's so terrible about what Weaving said. Bay's response comes across as an overreaction to me.

 

Weaving - "Yeah I wasn't that involved and that job wasn't very meaningful"

Bay - "YOU TRAITOR, HOW DARE YOU! YOU UNGRATEFUL CRY BABY! I EXPECT LIFELONG LOYALTY BECAUSE I GAVE YOU SOME MONEY! THERE ARE STARVING KIDS IN AFRICA! BLAH BLAH BLAH!"