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Transformers' Bay Is/Isn't Harsh

Michael Bay, the famously demanding director of the upcoming SF action film Transformers, downplayed reports that he can be a harsh taskmaster on the set—before admitting it. "The press is very weird, because a sound bite gets out there—'Michael Bay yells'—it's like, listen. I visited Jim Cameron on Titanic," Bay said in a press conference in Beverly Hills, Calif. "I am very similar to the way he directs."

The irony that Cameron is also considered a hot-tempered taskmaster was apparently lost on Bay, who nevertheless told reporters that he takes command of his movie sets, often acting as his own assistant director, the guy who manages the operations on the set for the director.

"I move my own sets," Bay said. "I shoot very fast. I never leave the set, and you know, I love working with actors. I love giving actors freedom. I love improvising with actors. It freaks studios out, because they're like, 'That wasn't in the script! That wasn't in the script! What's this? He's wrecking the movie!' And I'm like, 'Trust me. It's going to be funny.' ... But, you know, when I'm doing action scenes, I'm going to be your worst-nightmare basketball coach. That's to get the energy, the adrenaline, going."

Transformers, based on the 1980s toy franchise and animated TV series, stars Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox as high-school students who find themselves caught up in the centuries-old battle between races of giant alien robots, whose fight has erupted on present-day Earth.

LaBeouf admitted in a separate interview, only half joking, that he feared for his life every day on the set, where he had to shoot scenes running from speeding cars, dangling from skyscrapers and ducking explosions and whirring helicopter blades. "Every day," he said. "You look at Bay, and Bay's all frantic: 'Yeah, put him on the thing! Put him on the thing!' That's scary, because you're moving so fast, you don't want them to, like, mess up and forget that you're 'on the thing.'"

But Fox confirmed that Bay can also be a very collaborative director. "He gave you a lot of freedom with, like, dialogue and things like that," she said. "He's good that way." Transformers opens July 3. —Patrick Lee, News Editor

Breathing Life Into Transformers

Scott Farrar, visual-effects supervisor for Michael Bay's upcoming Transformers movie, told SCI FI Wire that it took a lot of computer and design work to morph the Hasbro toy line into persuasive, real-world giant robots that could transform into real vehicles. Farrar, speaking in an interview in Beverly Hills, Calif., brought along a vintage Transformers toy—Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots—as a visual aid.

"I just bring this because I don't have anything else," Farrar said, adding: "This is an older toy. ... This little guy, Optimus, has 51 parts. Optimus in the movie, the computer-graphics version, [has] 10,108. And everyone of the models is like that. I like to tell people that the reason it looks complex is that it is complex."

Bay's film, based on the 1980s toy line and animated TV series, tells the story of the centuries-old battle between two races of giant alien robots, which plays out on present-day Earth. To make the title robots convincing, Bay turned to the San Francisco visual-effects firm of Industrial Light & Magic, among others, who brought the creations to life as photo-real machines.

In scene after scene, real cars—a yellow Camaro, a black GM Topkick truck, a police cruiser—appear to open up, fold in on themselves, clank and stand upright, transformed into towering, massive, walking and talking living machines, often in the blink of an eye. The effect is an illusion that occasionally defies the laws of physics, Farrar admitted.

"We would not abide by true physics," Farrar said. "We would not abide by true weight. We would change it as needed to make it cool. We did a lot of research with stunt photography. We had stunt men, including Kenny Bates, the stunt coordinator, do a lot of stunt work for us, ... and then you'd try and put it in the scene. ... We did all kinds of things just to experiment with what they should do, with what would look cool."

Transformers opens July 3. —Patrick Lee, News Editor

Transformers' Bay Was No Fan

Action director Michael Bay, whose upcoming Transformers opens in July, told reporters that he was no big fan of the 1980s toy and animated franchise before he was hired. "I was not a Transformers fan before I signed on for this movie," Bay said in a press conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., over the weekend. "I think I was 20 years old when the toys came out, so I just discovered girls then ... instead of Optimus Prime," he added, referring to the giant robot leader.

But Bay got a call from executive producer Steven Spielberg, who thought he'd be perfect for the job of helming a live-action movie about the Autobots and Decepticons and their centuries-old battle for galactic supremacy. He even went to "Transformers School" at toymaker Hasbro, which owns the brand.

"I really thought, 'What the f--k am I going to Hasbro for Transformers School?'" Bay (The Island) recalled. "I thought I was going to learn how to fold up robots. But I met with the CEO, and I went through the whole Transformers lore, and I was [hooked]."

Bay, who is best known for such high-octane fare as Bad Boys and Armageddon, added: "It just hit me that if I make this really real, it could be something very new and different. And so I quickly became probably one of the bigger Transformers fans in the world. And I tried to make this movie for non-Transformers fans, OK? And I wanted it to be a little bit more, if you could say, adult."

Transformers, which stars Shia LaBeouf and Jon Voight, opens July 3. —Patrick Lee, News Editor

Transformer's LaBeouf Improvised

Shia LaBeouf, star of Michael Bay's SF epic movie Transformers, told SCI FI Wire that the action director gave him and the other actors a lot of freedom to improvise humorous dialogue. "You would just go [in], and [he'd say,] 'We've got to spice this up. Let's make it funnier,'" LaBeouf said in a roundtable interview in Beverly Hills, Calif., over the weekend. "'Let's make this [up]. Let's do this.'"

Among the scenes LaBeouf helped improvise are ones in which he banters with his on-screen father and mother, played by Kevin Dunn and Julie White. "All the stuff with the parents," he said. "Yeah, yeah, all that was pretty funny."

LaBeouf added: "It's collaborative. It's like a big collage, and everybody jumps in with their ideas and throws stuff in. I wasn't the only one. I mean, [Jon] Voight and [John] Turturro, Megan [Fox], everybody. It was constantly changing things."

In Transformers, which is based on the 1980s toy line and animated TV series, LaBeouf plays Sam Witwicky, a teenager who gets caught up in the ancient battle between two races of giant alien robots, which plays out on present-day Earth. Transformers opens July 3. —Patrick Lee, News Editor

Transformers Star Tempted Death

Michael Bay, director of the upcoming Transformers, told reporters that he persuaded his young star, Shia LaBeouf, to climb onto the ledge of a tall Los Angeles building for a climactic scene. In the scene, LaBeouf, playing Sam Witwicky, appears to cling to a statue on the outer edge of the building's roof, with nothing beneath him but several stories of empty space. (He was wired for safety.)

"I always like to put my actors in real circumstances, and ... there was a 17-story building downtown with the statue, and my producer says, 'How do you want to shoot that? We're going to do a blue screen, right?' 'Nah, f--k, we're going to put him up there.' And we put him on wires, and we rigged it, very safe, but there was only 4 inches to stand on."

LaBeouf makes his action-movie debut in the SF film, which is based on the popular 1980s Hasbro toy line, comics, TV series and animated movie. The actor, now 21, plays a teenager who finds himself caught between warring tribes of giant alien robots.

In the climactic scene, LaBeouf had to cling to the side of a building. "Shia's like, 'Yeah, I think I can do it. I'm going to go up there,'" Bay recalled in a press conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., over the weekend. "So we're ready to go, and he goes—and, mind you, I would never go out there on my own; I would never do this—but he goes, 'Oh, man, I can't get up there. I can't get up there!' I said [sotto voce], 'Dude, you're going to embarrass yourself in front of the whole crew. You get paid way more than those kids on Fear Factor! Get the f--k out there!' So he did it, and it was really scary. But he was on cloud nine when he did." Transformers opens July 3. —Patrick Lee, News Editor