History Creator / MichaelBay

* HiddenDepths: Bay is a lot more intelligent and observant than people give him credit for. He normally doesn't care much about the critical hatred he gets, but he did once make a poignant observation that movie critics have their own fandom and thus will often say things that would make them popular, and hating Michael Bay is pretty popular. And while not mentioning RogerEbert specifically, he noted that some critics take the industry so serious they alienate their readers (Ebert basically said that [[FanHater anyone who likes ROTF is stupid]], which is something that will guarantee an angry response from people who didn't even like the movie).

* GenreSavvy: He ''knows'' that no matter what he does or how hated his movies are going to be, they'll be commercial successes anyways. In other words, he ''knows'' that people LoveToHate him. The exception to this is The Land which was less than successful to say the least.

But his [[PrimaDonnaDirector aggressive directing style]] and occasional {{jerkass}} behavior has earned him some enemies. People like BruceWillis, ScarlettJohansson, MeganFox (who [[GodwinsLaw compared him]] to [[AdolfHitler Hitler]] and {{Napoleon|Bonaparte}} in an interview) and Kate Beckinsale (who claimed that Bay made her feel "ugly" on the set. We haven't quite worked out how this is possible.) have spoken out against Bay and refuse to work with him again.

* ''PearlHarbor'' (2001)

** Even in projects he's directly involved in (arguably ''all'' of them) he receives a lot of unfair flak. This is typically a result of people forgetting that in most cases Bay is merely a ''director'' and not the actual ''writer'' - the vast majority of PlotHole, DarthWiki/WallBanger and FlatCharacter moments in ''PearlHarbor'' and the ''{{Film/Transformers}}'' franchise should be blamed on Randall Wallace and Ehren Kruger (scriptwriters for the two films respectively) instead of Bay. Other creative decisions Bay is commonly blamed for are better attributed to [[ExecutiveMeddling studio executives or producers]].

* GoodlookingPrivates: ''PearlHarbor'' and ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' (2007)

* ''Pain & Gain'' (2013)

But his [[PrimaDonnaDirector aggressive directing style]] and occasional {{jerkass}} behavior has earned him some enemies. People like BruceWillis, ScarlettJohansson, MeganFox (who [[GodwinsLaw compared him]] to [[AdolfHitler Hitler]] and {{Napoleon|Bonaparte}} in a recent interview) and Kate Beckinsale (who claimed that Bay made her feel "ugly" on the set. We haven't quite worked out how this is possible.) have spoken out against Bay and refuse to work with him again.

** At the Transformers Wiki, one of the film's errors: "[[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transformers_%282007%29#Errors Sunset occurs roughly every fifteen minutes.]]"

[[caption-width-right:350:[[CelebrityEndorsement "Hi, I'm Michael Bay]] [[SelfDeprecation and I demand things to be]] [[MundaneMadeAwesome awesome! Awesome barbecue!]] '''[[StuffBlowingUp *BOOM!*]]''' [[MundaneMadeAwesome Awesome pool!]] '''[[MadeOfExplodium *BOOM!*]]'''"]]

In 2008, possibly to hype ''{{Postal}}'', UweBoll called out Bay (among others) for his supposed lack of talent (at least from Boll's point-of-view) while insisting he's "the only real genius in the whole fucking business." Bay's [[http://www.shootfortheedit.com/forum/showpost.php?p=27387&postcount=2 response]] qualifies as his own personal SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

He is also well known for being a tough General on set, because he is aggressive and moves at a very fast pace. The movies he makes would cost probably about 30% more with another director. Despite a belief that everyone in Hollywood hates him, because of his ability to work within a budget and demanding a strong work ethic from his crew and actors has earn him a great deal of supporters just for turning filmmaking an actual work experience. He is ranked up among the most elite directors in Hollywood today, with strong relationships with friends JamesCameron and Creator/StevenSpielberg.

* UncleTomfoolery: His use of it in the ''{{Transformers}}'' films was so blatant that it made the relatively more subtle instances in his earlier films stand out far, far more.

* GenreSavvy: He ''knows'' that no matter what he does or how hated his movies are going to be, they'll be commercial successes anyways. In other words, he ''knows'' that people LoveToHate him.
** Except for [[TheIsland The Island]] - unless 'commercial success' is defined as 'failed to recoup even a quarter of its budget through domestic box office take.'

[[caption-width-right:350:"Hi, I'm Michael Bay and I demand things to be [[MundaneMadeAwesome awesome! Awesome barbecue!]] '''[[StuffBlowingUp *BOOM!*]]''' [[MundaneMadeAwesome Awesome pool!]] '''[[MadeOfExplodium *BOOM!*]]'''"]]

* MadeOfExplodium: Seemingly everything...in all of his films...
* {{Misblamed}}: When he announced he was involved in making a new {{TMNT}} film, he revealed that it would change them to aliens. Naturally, this caused a lot of fan outcry and accusations of raping the Turtles and destroying their childhoods, upto and including some of the voice actors for the original TMNT cartoon (who went on to even claim he's 'sodomizing the Turtles and the childhoods of their fans'). However, what a lot of people failed to note or remember was that Michael Bay is not the director of this project, and he's not involved in the development, he's a producer. He doesn't have nearly as much control and the decision to change them into aliens is directly that of the writing team.
** Even in projects he's directly involved in (arguably ''all'' of them) he receives a lot of unfair flak. This is typically a result of people forgetting that in most cases Bay is merely a ''director'' and not the actual ''writer'' - the vast majority of PlotHole, DarthWiki/WallBanger and FlatCharacter moments in ''PearlHarbor'' and the ''{{Film/Transformers}}'' franchise should be blamed on Randall Wallace and Ehren Kruger (scriptwriters for the two films respectively) instead of Bay. Other creative decisions Bay is commonly blamed for are better attributed to [[ExecutiveMeddling studio executives or producers]]. In other words, Bay is arguably an example of Type 6 Misblamed.

* StuffBlowingUp: "Awesome barbecue!" '''*BOOM!*''' "Awesome pool!" '''*BOOM!''' [[WhyDontYouMarryIt Why doesn't he just marry explosions?]]
** [[http://www.transformersclub.com/tfrof-intv09.cfm "What is your favorite thing to blow up or demolish?" "Well, I don’t have a favorite, as I like to blow up a lot of things."]]
** This is a prevalent opinion as evidenced by the ''Michael Bay Presents: '''EXPLOSIONS!!!''''' ''RobotChicken'' skit.
** Notably, during the making of the second Transformers film, one of the computers melted while trying to animate [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Devastator]]. [[http://www.allspark.com/content/view/5201/28/ See here.]] Also they needed like, 4 terabytes of memory to store the data for Devastator. AwesomenessIsVolatile indeed.

** Even in projects he's directly involved in (arguably ''all'' of them) he receives a lot of unfair flak. This is typically a result of people forgetting that in most cases Bay is merely a ''director'' and not the actual ''writer'' - the vast majority of PlotHole, DarthWiki/WallBanger and FlatCharacter moments in ''PearlHarbor'' and the ''Film/Transformers'' franchise should be blamed on Randall Wallace and Ehren Kruger (scriptwriters for the two films respectively) instead of Bay. Other creative decisions Bay is commonly blamed for are better attributed to [[ExecutiveMeddling studio executives or producers]]. In other words, Bay is arguably an example of Type 6 Misblamed.

** Even in projects he's directly involved in (arguably ''all'' of them) he receives a lot of unfair flak. This is typically a result of people forgetting that in most cases Bay is merely a ''director'' and not the actual ''writer'' - the vast majority of PlotHole, WallBanger and FlatCharacter moments in ''PearlHarbor'' and the ''Movie/Transformers'' franchise should be blamed on Randall Wallace and Ehren Kruger (scriptwriters for the two films respectively) instead of Bay. Other creative decisions Bay is commonly blamed for are better attributed to [[ExecutiveMeddling studio executives or producers]].

* SixDegreesOfKevinBacon: A deal of coincidences, his cousin Susan Bay is married to LeonardNimoy and it was their influence (due to being frequent donors) that got them to film at the Observatory in the first film. This lead to Nimoy being cast as Sentinel Prime in the third movie as well.

Michael Benjamin Bay is an American movie director. He's known for an incredibly energetic direction style that some claim is impossible to follow, while a lot of other filmgoers don't seem to mind.

->''Michael Bay is the devil.''
-->-- Common belief among a lot of film buffs.

-->--[[NarutoTheAbridgedComedyFandubSpoofSeriesShow Japanese Michael Bay]]

-->--Common belief among a lot of film buffs.

Then DonSimpson and JerryBruckheimer hired him to direct ''BadBoys''. The film was a modest hit and kicked off Bay's film career. When ''TheRock'' came out it solidified him as someone capable of making energetic, entertaining and profitable action films.

* ''BadBoys'' (1995)
* ''TheRock'' (1996)

* ''BadBoys II'' (2003)

* AmericaSavesTheDay: He uses this a lot--as noted below, he likes the US Military, and they like him because they always look good in his movies. One exception is ''TheRock'' which was a major aversion--Sean Connery Saves The Day instead.