Michael Bay facts for kids

Michael Bay
Michael Bay in Detroit, Michigan (October 3, 2006)
Born	Michael Benjamin Bay February 17, 1965 (1965-02-17) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Art Center College of Design
Alma mater	Wesleyan University
Occupation	movie director, movie producer, camera operator, actor
Years active	1984–present
Notable work	The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Transformers: Age of Extinction
Net worth	$430 million (2012)
Website	www.michaelbay.com

Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American movie director, producer and actor. He is known for his high-budget action movies. These include Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Pearl Harbor, and Armageddon.

Early life

Bay was born on February 17, 1965 in Los Angeles, California. He studied at Wesleyan University. His cousin-in-law is actor Leonard Nimoy.

Career

Bay on the set of Armageddon, 1998

Bay got his start in the film industry interning with George Lucas when he was fifteen, filing the storyboards for Raiders of the Lost Ark, which he thought was going to be terrible. His opinion changed after seeing it in the theater and he was so impressed by the experience that he decided to become a film director. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 1986, majoring in both English and Film. He was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity and a favorite student of film historian Jeanine Basinger. For his graduate work, he attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena where he also studied film.

Michael Bay began working at Propaganda Films, directing commercials and music videos, two weeks after finishing his post-graduate degree. His 90-second World War II-inspired Coca-Cola advertisement was picked up by Capitol Records. His first national commercial for the Red Cross won a Clio Award in 1992.

Bay's success in music videos gained the attention of producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, who selected him to direct his first feature-length film, Bad Boys. The film was shot in Miami in 1994 and starred Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. The action film proved to be a break-out role for Smith, who was segueing from television to films at that time. Shooting in Miami was a good experience for Bay who would later own a home in the city and spend a great deal of time there. The film was completed for $19 million and grossed a remarkable $141 million at the box office in the summer of 1995. Bay's success led to a strong partnership and friendship with Jerry Bruckheimer.

His follow-up film, The Rock (1996), was an action movie set on Alcatraz Island, and in the San Francisco Bay area. It starred Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris. It was also produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, the latter of whom died five months before the film's release. The film is dedicated to him. Connery and Cage won 'Best On-Screen Duo' at the MTV Movie Awards in 1997 and the film was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Achievement in Sound category for the work of Greg P. Russell, Kevin O'Connell, and Keith A. Wester.

In 1998, Bay collaborated with Jerry Bruckheimer again, this time as a co-producer, as well as directing the action-adventure film Armageddon. The film, about a group of tough oil drillers who are sent by NASA to deflect an asteroid away from a collision course with Earth, starred Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler. It was nominated for 4 Oscars at the 71st Academy Awards including Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, and Best Original Song. The film earned 9.6 million dollars on its opening day and a total of 36.5 million through the first weekend. The production budget, $140 million, was one of the highest of the summer of 1998. Armageddon went on to gross over $553 million worldwide.

Later career

Bay in February 2008

In 2001, Bay directed Pearl Harbor. It starred Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale and Cuba Gooding, Jr. The film was released on Memorial Day weekend in 2001. Again, Bay produced the film with Jerry Bruckheimer. The film received four Academy Award nominations, including Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing and Best Song. Again, Kevin O'Connell received another nomination for Best Sound, but he did not win. Pearl Harbor won in the category for Sound Editing. Michael Bay also directed the music video for nominated track "There You'll Be" by vocal artist Faith Hill. Despite all the criticisms that Michael Bay had received through the film, Pearl Harbor remained to be stagnant in the major blockbuster list, as it featured a plot which the viewers, especially young audiences, can relate with, and special effects which made the movie very realistic.

Bay reteamed with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for Bad Boys II, an event which also marked Bay's fifth collaboration with Jerry Bruckheimer. The film grossed $138 million domestically, enough to cover the production budget, and $273 million worldwide, almost twice as much as the first movie.

In 2005, Bay directed The Island, a science-fiction film starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. It was the first film Michael Bay made without Jerry Bruckheimer. The Island cost $126 million to produce. It earned $46 million domestically and $172 million worldwide. Bay stated that he was not comfortable with the domestic marketing campaign as it confused the audience as to the true subject of the film.

Bay in May 2006

In 2007, he directed and teamed up with Steven Spielberg to produce Transformers, a live action film based on the Transformers franchise. The film was released in the U.S. and Canada on July 3, 2007, with 8 p.m. preview screenings on July 2. The previews earned $8.8 million, and in its first day of general release it grossed $27.8 million, a record for Tuesday box office attendance. As of November 2007, the film has made over $319 million domestically and over $708 million worldwide.

Bay returned as director and executive producer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which was released on June 24, 2009 and went on to gross over $832 million worldwide. Although it received mostly negative reviews by critics, including aggressively critical reviews by American film critics such as Roger Ebert, Michael Phillips and David Denby (who referred to Bay as "stunningly, almost viciously, untalented"), the film was well received by its intended audience and was one of the highest-grossing films of 2009. In 2010, it earned seven Golden Raspberry Award nominations and winning three: Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Screenplay.

Bay directed Transformers: Dark of the Moon, released on June 28, 2011. He may direct a sequel to the Bad Boys franchise or a "small" film he's been developing for years, tentatively called Pain & Gain. The true crime story, based on events described in a Miami Herald article written by Pete Collins, concerns a group of bumbling bodybuilders working together to commit a robbery.

Bay produced DreamWorks' I Am Number Four, based on a series of novels by Pittacus Lore published by HarperCollins Children's Books. D. J. Caruso (Eagle Eye, Disturbia) directed.

Filmography

Movies

Year	Title	Director	Producer	Actor	Role
1981	Indiana Jones: Riders of The Lost Arc	No	No	No	Storyboarder
1986	Miami Vice (TV)	No	No	Yes	Saison 2, èpisode 21 Goon
	Vengeance: The Story of Tony Cimo	No	No	Yes	An Agent
1990	Vanilla Ice I Love You (short film)	Yes	No	No
	Play The Funky Music (segment I Love You) (short film)	Yes	No	No
1992	Patriot's Game	No	No	Yes	The English Cops talks with Sean at Truck and then killed by Irish
1995	Bad Boys	Yes
1996	The Rock	Yes
1998	Armageddon	Yes	Yes	Yes	NASA Scientist (uncredited)
1999	Mystery Men			Yes	Frat boy
2000	Coyote Ugly			Yes	Photographer
2001	Pearl Harbor	Yes	Yes
	Zigs	No	No	Yes	Extra
2003	Bad Boys II	Yes		Yes	Crappy Car Driver
	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre		Yes
2005	The Amityville Horror		Yes
	The Island	Yes	Yes
2006	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning		Yes
2007	Hitcher	No	Yes	No
	Transformers	Yes	Yes	Yes	Car Flicked by Megatron (uncredited)
2009	The Unborn		Yes
	Friday the 13th		Yes
	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	Yes	Yes	Yes
2010	A Nightmare on Elm Street		Yes
2011	I Am Number Four		Yes
	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	Yes	Yes
2012	Rise of the Guardians		Yes
2013	Pain & Gain	Yes	Yes	No
	The Purge	No	Yes	No
2014	Transformers: Age of Extinction	Yes	Yes	Yes	Truck Driver (uncredited)
	The Purge: Anarchy	No	Yes	No
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	No	Yes	No
	No Good Deed	No	Yes	No
	Ouija	No	Yes	No
2015	Project Almanac	No	Yes	No
2016	13 Hours The Secret of the Soldier of Benghazi	Yes	Yes	No
	Tenage Mutant Niinja Turltles 2	No	Yes	No
	American Nightmare 3: Anarchy	No	Yes	No
	Ouija 2	No	Yes	No
2017	Amytville: The Awaking	No	Yes	No
	Transformers: The Last Knight	Yes	Yes	No

Criticism

Despite his box office success, he has found little critical praise, and has often been parodied and/or labeled as the worst working director. He has consistently topped or appeared in Worst Directors lists by users on Internet Movie Database (IMDB). In response to the criticism, Bay has said: "I make movies for teenage boys. Oh, dear, what a crime."

Year	Film	Rotten Tomatoes
		Overall
1995	Bad Boys	43%
1996	The Rock	67%
1998	Armageddon	39%
2001	Pearl Harbor	25%
2003	Bad Boys II	23%
	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre	36%
2005	The Amityville Horror	23%
	The Island	40%
2006	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning	12%
2007	The Hitcher	21%
	Transformers	57%
2009	The Unborn	11%
	Friday the 13th	25%
	Horsemen	40%
	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	20%
2010	A Nightmare on Elm Street	15%
2011	I Am Number Four	32%
	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	36%
2013	Pain & Gain	45%
	The Purge	38%

Images for kids

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  Michael Bay on the set of Transformers

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  Bay filming Transformers: Age of Extinction; actresses Abigail Klein, Melanie Specht and Victoria Summer are walking in a corridor.