Thursday was a wacky day at work for director Michael Bay, who was reportedly attacked by two men while filming the latest installation of the Transformers movie franchise in Hong Kong.
Local police tell Reuters that two young men -- brothers -- approached Bay and the younger sibling demanded that he hand over nearly $13,000.
According to local police, the older brother attacked Bay and then assaulted police who tried to intervene. Both brothers were arrested; the younger on suspicion of blackmail and assault and the elder on suspicion of assault.
In a post on his blog, Bay decided to set the record straight on exactly what happened during the bizaare incident -- and why money was at the root of it.
"Yes, the story is (sic) being passed around is not all true! Yes, some drugged up guys were being belligerent asses to my crew for hours in the morning of our first shoot day in Hong Kong. One guy rolled metal carts into some of my actors trying to shake us down for thousands of dollars to not play his loud music or hit us with bricks.
Every vendor where we shot got paid a fair price for our inconvenience, but he wanted four times that amount. I personally told this man and his friends to forget it we were not going to let him extort us. He didn't like that answer. So an hour later he came by my crew as we were shooting, carrying a long air conditioner unit. He walked right up to me and tried to smack my face, but I ducked threw the air unit on the floor and pushed him away. That's when the security jumped on him. But it took seven big guys to subdue him. It was like a Zombie in Brad Pitt's movie World War Z—he lifted seven guys up and tried to bite them. He actually bit into one of the guards Nike shoe, insane. Thank god it was an Air Max, the bubble popped, but the toe was saved.
Then it took fifteen Hong Kong cops in riot gear to deal with these punks. In all, four guys were arrested for assaulting the officers."
A police spokesperson said Bay suffered injuries to the right side of his face, but declined to seek medical treatment. His rep, however, says the director was not injured during the alleged attack.
"The director ducked and wrested the air conditioner from his attacker, preventing what could have been a serious accident. The company's security team quickly stepped in and subdued the assault. The police, who also scuffled with the assailant and two of his companions, ultimately arrested the three men. No one on the cast or crew was injured and the production immediately resumed filming without further incident," Bay's spokesperson said in a statement obtained by The New York Times,.
t:. I just think DOTM maybe turned a few more away who were going to give the franchise one last chance after ROTF. AOE boards have been even quieter than the DOTM ones were.
