1. Michael Benjamin Bay was born on February 17,1965 and is an American film director and producer.
42 Facts About Michael Bay
1. 2.
Michael Bay is best known for making big-budget high-concept action films with fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of special effects, including frequent depictions of explosions.
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Michael Bay's films have grossed over worldwide, making him the fourth-most commercially successful director in history.
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Michael Bay is co-founder of the production house the Institute.
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Michael Bay was raised by his adoptive parents Harriet, a bookstore owner and child psychiatrist, and Jim, a Certified Public Accountant.
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Michael Bay attended the exclusive Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California.
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Michael Bay got his start in the film industry interning with George Lucas when he was 15, filing the storyboards for Raiders of the Lost Ark, which Michael Bay believed was going to be terrible.
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Michael Bay's opinion changed after seeing it in the theater and he was so impressed by the experience that he decided to become a film director.
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Michael Bay graduated from Wesleyan University in 1986, majoring in both English and film.
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Michael Bay was a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity and a favorite student of film historian Jeanine Basinger.
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Michael Bay's classmates included future Hollywood film directors Tarsem Singh and Zack Snyder.
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Michael Bay began working at Propaganda Films, directing commercials and music videos, two weeks after finishing his postgraduate degree.
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Michael Bay's success led to a strong partnership and friendship with Jerry Bruckheimer.
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In 1998, Michael Bay again collaborated with Jerry Bruckheimer, this time as a co-producer, as well as directing the action-adventure film Armageddon.
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In 2001, Michael Bay directed Pearl Harbor, starring Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale and Cuba Gooding, Jr.
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Michael Bay directed the music video for the nominated track "There You'll Be" by vocal artist Faith Hill.
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Michael Bay reteamed with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence for Bad Boys II, a sequel that was Michael Bay's fifth collaboration with Jerry Bruckheimer.
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In 2005, Michael Bay directed The Island, a science fiction film starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson.
19.
Michael Bay said that he was not comfortable with the domestic marketing campaign, as it confused the audience about the film's true subject.
20.
Michael Bay returned as director and executive producer for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which was released on June 24,2009 and grossed over $832 million worldwide.
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Michael Bay directed Transformers: Dark of the Moon, released on June 29,2011, which grossed $1.123 billion globally.
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Michael Bay produced DreamWorks' I Am Number Four, based on a series of novels by Pittacus Lore published by HarperCollins Children's Books.
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On January 12,2016, Paramount Pictures released 13 Hours, which Michael Bay produced and directed, based on the 2012 Benghazi attack.
24.
On May 23,2017, Michael Bay was honored with his own hand-and-footprint ceremony at The TCL Chinese Theatre.
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However, the film, which was set to begin production in 2020, was put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Michael Bay subsequently moved on to direct Ambulance.
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Michael Bay produced the pandemic-themed thriller Songbird starting Demi Moore, Craig Robinson, Paul Walter Hauser and Peter Stormare.
27.
Michael Bay is set to direct the dystopian thriller Little America, which was scheduled to film in California sometime in 2020.
28.
In 2021, it was reported that Michael Bay requested financial compensation from film studio Paramount Pictures for indirectly limiting his income as a result of Paramount cutting the theatrical-only run of A Quiet Place Part II from 90 to 45 days due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
29.
In July 2024, it was reported that Michael Bay was developing a franchise based on Alexey Gerasimov's Skibidi Toilet web series.
30.
On September 2,2024, Michael Bay's first documentary series, Born Evil: The Serial Killer and the Savior, premiered on Investigation Discovery.
31.
Michael Bay directed and executive produced the five-episode series about serial killer Hadden Clark.
32.
On October 7,2024, Michael Bay was set to direct the film Fast and Loose, with Chris Bremner and Eric Pearson writing the screenplay.
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Michael Bay founded production house Platinum Dunes with fellow producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form in 2001.
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Michael Bay co-founded 451 Media Group with Doug Nunes, and with John and Anthony Gentile, who previously marketed brands such as Micronauts, Visionaries, Sky Dancers and the Power Glove.
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In June 2016, Michael Bay joined the Rogue Initiative, a production studio and technology company, as a strategic advisor and stakeholder.
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Michael Bay owned a $50 million Gulfstream G550 jet, as well as a Bentley, a Range Rover, an Escalade, a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, and two Camaros from the Transformers franchise.
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In February 2025, Michael Bay was arrested after breaking into the Vatican.
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Michael Bay's movies look like a more compacted, cartoonish messy version of films by British commercial directors like Adrian Lyne and Ridley and Tony Scott.
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Michael Bay's work is divisive and has often been poorly received by film critics, and his name has been used pejoratively in art-house circles.
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Michael Bay has been accused of heavily objectifying women in his films, with critics describing Michael Bay's manner of filming actresses as "lascivious" and "pornographic".
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Michael Bay came under scrutiny for firing Megan Fox in retaliation after she made comments about him mistreating her on the set of the Transformers films and compared him to Adolf Hitler and Napoleon.
42.
Six of Michael Bay's films have been nominated for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture and Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director, with Revenge of the Fallen and Age of Extinction winning the award for "Worst Director".