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Michael Bay Boasts About ILM's Record Breaking Workload

by Alex Billington
May 25, 2009
Source: LA Times

You just got to love Michael Bay. Even though he gets a lot of shit from people who hate his movies, he doesn't care one bit about any of it, and still puts out $200 million blockbusters every other summer that do end up entertaining millions worldwide anyway. So why am I mentioning this today? Because in the new LA Times interview with Bay, he touches on exactly that topic (and plenty more about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen). Bay says: "Look, a lot of people think it's fun to hate on Michael Bay. There's a lot of poison on the Internet. People always try to knock someone who's had a ton of success in movies. Whatever."

As we all know, Bay is finishing Transformers 2, which is coming down to the wire in terms of being finished on time for its June 24th opening. "This one," Bay says, "is barely going to make it to theaters. You have no idea how complicated my life is." In regards to how much work is involved, part of the reason why it's taking so long is that ILM must render the robots in IMAX resolution. Apparently the first Transformers movie took up an "astounding 15 terabytes"; the new one required 140 terabytes. "That breaks every record," he boasts. With IMAX and at least double the number of robots, we know why.

We're working on putting together an article looking at just how ambitious this movie is for ILM. But for now, frankly because we just don't know much else besides what is reported here, I suggest everyone check out the full interview with Bay. He's not as great of a public speaker as Guillermo del Toro, but it is still entertaining listening to him talk, too, especially because that's not all that often. As for Transformers 2, this is just a sign that we can definitely expect something much bigger and better than we've, perhaps, ever seen before on the big screen. Well, at least the robots will look amazing, right? Getting excited yet?

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Related categories: Hype, Movie News, Opinions

dom

There is a very big downside to this subject and it often comes up in discussion over on CGTALK - it last happened with Pirates of the Caribbean.. ILM did that show in record time with great effects and in return what happened? Every producer started asking for the Pirates FX approach for their own projects even when budgets were much smaller - and thus many smaller fx studios suffered to match these expected levels in x time and ended up either creating crappy work or couldn't stay afloat financially. ILM is an FX house unlike any other, the budgets for the films they work on alone prove this! Thanks Bay for continuing to add to the problem for an industry thats still young and developing!
LSP

It's not him, it's the idiots that think they can keep up with the Jones'. You don't need all that to make a great film. It happens and oh well. Welcome to a competitive capitalistic soon-to-be socialistic economy. Then you won't have to worry about it. Oh wait, you don't cause you're not in that business. Thanks Bay for not caring, it's the best thing about you. Just do what you do. Blow shit up! lol
Ramone

#1 I disagree completely! The only way the industry is going to move forward is for a company like ILM to push the boundaries. It makes the smaller guys step up to the plate! Without this competition, we would still be seeing effects that were produced in 1996... Anyways, Mr. Bay is very talented. And personally I cant wait until I see this movie. I have dreams of how awesome it's gonna be, and I bet when I see it, those dreams will seem like the 80's cartoon...
Moviegimp

Great interview. I love this guy, doesn't take himself seriously, doesn't care what people say about him on the internet and is having the time of his life. Micheal Bay makes movies the equivalent of rock concerts, louder than hell and enough explosives to blow up and small town. You want to see the symphony or opera then go for it, the rest of us are going to rock out. BRING ON THE TRANSFORMERS!!!!
Cat

# 1 complain complain blah blah blah ILM is awesome at what they do.
Marcus

@Ramone. You say that we would be stuck with graphics from 1996. Just remember how amazing Jurrasic Park still looks. Despite the fact that Im super hyped for Avatar and its groundbreaking work, I would still be happy for another 20 years with 1996's graphics. Its like the game industry phylosophy, if the game has super amazing graphics but has a shit story, its still a shit game. Even if a film has amazing special effects but a shit story, its still a shit film.
REAL6

So the question remains: Who's better, michael Bay or Uwe Boll?
Mike McRorey

"Even if a film has amazing special effects but a shit story, its still a shit film." Like Star Wars episodes 1-3?
xtheory

ahh jeez. the douche is starting to refer to himself in the third person now too.
b.m.

Self confidence yes...talent? No....This guy has completely embraced everything vacant and hollow about hollywood. not an artist, he's a business man...go make some money mr. bay, but dont mess up my transformers, etc!
Al

For the record, I do not hate Michael Bay. I hate when his films are talked about in the sense that they are Cinematic Masterpieces. I just feel the world needs to be reminded that they are just straight forward explosion flicks.
Jimbone

"Well, at least the robots will look amazing, right? Getting excited yet?"................No.
TigerClaw

140TB is a lot of storage for a movie of this magnitude, It shows how much we appreciate High Definition, They go through all this trouble to give us the best quality film possibly.
Blue Silver

ILM and Michael Bay may bust their asses to give us optimum quality summer popcorn fare and what do most do????? Bitch, bitch, bitch. I salute you Michael Bay! And yess....Your movies rock! A BIG THANK YOU for giving us a REAL potential blockbuster (aside from Star Trek) soon!
germs

If only Bay would take a little bit of that ambition and apply it to actual story telling. Maybe then I could get excited for his movies.
ray

Those like ILM are what make industries progress forward, movies like transformers 2 are what abuse that....but there will always be those that do and think the world of themselves when they dont deserve the credit, like bay with transformers where the ones that deserve the credit is ILM...just to get something straight, what makes transformers so cool are that they are transformers, bays influence is miniscule, what he does for this movie is something that many other directors can do....
chrisUK

19th June is sooooo far away... already booked off work in preparation! Nice to get this one slightly earlier than the rest of the world, had to wait to see the first one!
Al

15, dead on.
avoidz

I guess there are a lot of people who will to pay to watch a bunch of computer graphics explode in front of them. That's why these things keep getting made. Bay is successful at this, no question, but they are not great films, just popcorn movies. "You have no idea how complicated my life is." Yeah, it must be tough fitting in making these movies between sessions of banging hot models at the Bay mansion
Al

i love all the haters. Glad to not be alone.
ME

20....its not hating, the guy is just not as good as he thinks and everyone sees it except himself.....ILM are the true hard workers behind the transformers movies, and would be making lots of money regardless if bay were or weren't involved..
Voice of Reason

Now if only we were able to visually understand and process all the 140 terabytes of choppily nauseating visual chaos, that'd be effing great.
Voice of Reason

Also....boo fucking hoo, Michael Bay. There's this guy called peter Jackson that did 3 4-hour movies with a shit ton of visual effects that Im pretty sure trumps your live-action toy fair. Jackson also didnt call attention to how complicated his life was, instead, a seeming heavy but joyful task to complete his passion. There's a lot of poison on the internet with due reason, jackass. I hope in addition to the movie itself, that audiences barely make it to the theatres for this POS.
Frame

@19, Great films are rare and there isn't anything at all wrong with popcorn flicks. I don't go into summer blockbusters expecting Citizen Kane. Regardless if the story has any merit in motion pictures I typically go to the movies to be entertained. Iron Man and Star Trek are great examples of how an action movie can have a soul but as nicely done as the action scenes were in those films (both from ILM as well) I have yet to see a spectacle on the silver screen as chaotic as anything in a Bay movie... "over the top" as they may be it's the sweetest eye candy as far as I'm concerned and such sequences are what I remember most about the action genre other than standout performances. The way I look at it the average so-called film connoisseur thinks it's the "in thing" to hate Bay.
Jont

its an entertainment industry and michael bay entertains people. end of discussion. transformers should be 140 tb of info anyone who says otherwise needs to stay at home and help their grandmother figure out the VCR again.
dom

Ramone - They are only pushing the boundaries because of the crazy ass budgets they get! If the smaller studios got the same cash, they could invest as much time into research and development too.. instead what you get is unfinished and crappy looking fx work done on extremely poor timeframes - aka Wolverine. #15 - Very good point! He has too muc passion for one thing and he doesn't distribute his resources equally.
dom

P.S. I am no Bay hater... I love the Bad Boys movies, but I am more fustrated about the fx industry right now... Ramone, if you want to see greater fx work.. let the frikkin artists have the time to improve it! Not squeeze them to do it in record time - I bet there's nothing new in T2 in regards to FX work.
solider

ILM has the responsibility to retain its reputation and/or become the biggest, baddest CGI studio there is, whether there is a huge budget or not, nor if there is enough or not enough time to do it. It's one of those things that artists in general get abused on. Artists are NEVER fully compensated for the amount of time and skill they put on their work, this is the sad reality. The upside of this is that if ILM truly pushes through and delivers an outstanding display of CGI, they establish themselves as the best out there, more movie makers will turn to them and in turn they can up their price. and LOL at #8
DieHard Indy Fan

"Artists are NEVER fully compensated for the amount of time and skill they put on their work, this is the sad reality." agree 100% a little off topic but being an artist... i can attest to that. You push yourself to give 110% on a project and give the client something special and they come back next time EXPECTING it only for a cheaper amount of cash to boot... frustrating business to be in sometimes...
dom

Exactly #29... For those interested, listen to this.. http://www.fxguide.com/modules/fxpodcast/files/fxg-090521-okun.mp3 Skip in to the 9th minute... and also read this thread - http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=5888101&postcount=196
dom

and further to that - http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118003757.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&query=visual+effectsc