In Part 1 of this 3-part epic, Alex begins to look at the factors that go into making Michael Bay movies what they are, and why Alex loves them.<\/em><\/p>\n I love Michael Bay movies for a number of reasons, but primarily because they’re awesome. Every one of his movies is entertaining, and even the ones that are absolutely terrible (Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, 65% of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) are at least hilariously bad. His movies are always interesting for a variety of reasons, but the core of what makes them as interesting as they are is Michael Bay himself. His name tends to evoke horror in the minds of film critics, even though all but one of Bay’s movies have been big hits in both America and overseas. People all over the world love his films, but not the people who get paid to write about them. Bay is the most notable action director working today, and when you see a Michael Bay film you can expect non-stop action, the hottest extras you’ve ever seen, and a fast-cutting visual style. Bay-sically, his movies are just epic pop music videos but with humanoid robots and even more product placement than usual\u2026 so they’re kind of like 2 hour Lady Gaga videos.<\/p>\n It is clear that Bay loves making action movies, and in interviews and his commentary tracks, it becomes evident that he also has an elaborate vision of himself as a tough guy. In every one of his commentary tracks, he points out at least one instance where he has to operate the camera on set himself for more dangerous shots, calling himself the only person on set brave enough to do so. Discussing shooting a scene on an aircraft carrier for Pearl Harbor, Bay mentions that there was a “Line of Death” that no camera person would go past, as it was too dangerous with airplanes taking off. But for a necessary shot, Bay himself grabbed a camera and went, in his words, “like 5 feet past the Line of Death.” Bay is also oddly obsessed with competition between his and other blockbusters, which again becomes evident on commentary tracks: Bay talks about how he shot, on average, thirty more set-ups each day than JJ Abrams’ Mission: Impossible III, and how Len Wiseman is a total pussy because Live Free or Die Hard changed its release date to avoid competition with Bay’s Transformers. He also mentions how Live Free or Die Hard couldn’t get support from the US Army, while Transformers did. Bay has “a hotline to the Pentagon\u2026 but I guess they just don’t have the juice.” (Although it’s pretty clear why the government wouldn’t support Live Free or Die Hard when you watch the truly insane decisions\u00a0that fighter pilot makes towards the end.)<\/p>\n It’s not enough to merely pick on other people, however, as Bay is a tough guy who sees himself on the right side, fighting the good fight. He wants to fight against the evils of the Decepticons, but since Decepticons don\u2019t exist, he must channel that energy to the evil people in his life: movie studios. He often mentions how he has to fight with the studio in order to get his way on set. In the commentary track for The Rock, Bay details how Disney wanted him to shoot in Los Angeles instead of on Alcatraz itself, where the film is set. Bay was not hearing this noise. He went right up to the studio heads and with his shirt unbuttoned (maybe), muscles flexed (probably), his trademark hair blowing in the wind (unquestionably), Bay said that he’s “got to shoot on this island, because this island is just so fucking bitchin’.” When money was running tight on his directorial debut Bad Boys, Bay again fought with the studio heads for the money to shoot the climactic explosion. He ended up writing a $25 000 cheque to the studio (a quarter of his director wages) in order to get the shot, which is a pretty badass way to throw your money around. Bay doesn’t go to strip clubs and make it rain (although he probably does that as well), he goes to hangars and makes everything there explode. He’s a special brand of badass. Bay also likes to fight against the scripts he is given, always choosing to rewrite dialogue with his actors as production is ongoing. He likes to let his actors improvise extensively, and sometimes adds his own visual gags into the mix (although these visual gags are typically mostly unfunny: most of the jokes about Sam Witwicky’s dog were written by Bay himself). Bay often isn’t even lucky enough to have a completed script when going into production: Bad Boys had a terrible script that needed to be mostly re-written and improvised by Bay and his stars Martin Lawerence and Will Smith, as the original script was written for Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz (seriously), and the Rock was green-lit before its screenplay was completed. This improvisation seems to lead to a lot of meetings with studio heads during production, which then leads to Bay repeatedly proclaiming in commentary tracks that the studio tends to thing that he is \u201cout of [his] mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n