Director Michael Bay is best known for his flamboyant filmmaking style and action blockbusters. Bay started his career with the 1995 buddy comedy Bad Boys before going on to direct several installments of the Transformers franchise. However, one of Bay’s earliest jobs was on one of Steven Spielberg’s best movies.
In an interview, Bay reflected on working on the storyboards for Spielberg’s now-classic 1981 action-adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark. However, Bay revealed that he initially thought the film was going to flop and admitted as much to Spielberg. Here is how Spielberg reacted to Bay’s comments and how Raiders of the Lost Ark changed the latter’s life.
Michael Bay recalled receiving his first film offer from Steven Spielberg
Director Michael Bay started his film career interning with George Lucas’ Lucasfilm. When he was 15, Bay was recruited for filing the storyboards for Raiders of the Lost Ark, directed by Steven Spielberg. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bay reflected on the experience.
The Bad Boys director explained that after finding some success as a music video director, he was called for a meeting with Spielberg. During the meeting, Bay recalled the incident and told the acclaimed director that he initially thought Raiders of the Lost Ark was going to suck.
‘Then I saw it at the Grauman’s Chinese Theater with my parents, loved it, and decided that [making movies] is what I wanted to do.’ He burst out laughing and offered me my first movie. But it didn’t take.
Bay made the above comment, recalling his conversation with Spielberg during their meeting.
The former admitted that Raiders was a crucial stepping stone that inspired him to direct movies. Spielberg was amused by Bay’s comments and offered him a chance to direct a movie, which the latter turned down. However, this wasn’t the only time Bay would turn down the Oscar-winner.
Michael Bay revealed why he accepted Steven Spielberg’s offer to direct Transformers
After rejecting Spielberg’s offer for his debut film, Bay made a name for himself with a string of commercially successful movies in the 1990s and 2000s. Years later, Spielberg recommended Bay for the director’s role on an adaptation of the popular Hasbro toyline Transformers.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bay admitted that he had a long chat with Spielberg regarding the movie but initially dismissed the idea of directing it. He said:
I hung up [after we talked] and went, ‘I’m not doing that silly movie because it sounds like a toy movie.’
However, Bay revealed that he went to the Hasbro office, where he learned about the toyline’s history and cultural significance.
The filmmaker felt that the concept of the toys was visually engrossing and could make for a good movie if he could make it gritty. Thus, Bay and Spielberg got to collaborate on the film, with the latter serving as an executive producer.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is streaming on Disney+.
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