Unless you’re somehow surfing an Internet without ads, you know Transformers: Dark of the Moon came out this week. The movie’s currently pulling a 90% fresh audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so it’s clear some people out there still enjoy Michael Bay‘s action and explosion packed series. The fighting robot epic received little critical acclaim, however, with Roger Ebert going so far as to call it “one of the more unpleasant experiences I’ve had at the movies.”
Naysayers will be happy to hear Bay’s moving away from his usual big-budget blockbuster extravaganza style for his next project, a dark comedy currently titled Pain & Gain. In an interview with MTV at the Moscow premiere of Transformers, Bay revealed, among other things, that he expects the budget to be somewhere around $20 million.
“I’m still going to do it,” Bay said. “I’m going to do it next.”
All Bay will spill so far is that Pain & Gain will be based on a true story about abductions and extortion in the Florida criminal underworld. He says he wants to make a “Pulp Fiction-type of movie” and that it will not be in 3D.
Bay originally hoped to make his “little” movie between Transformers 2 and 3, pushing for a 2012 release date for Dark of the Moon. Paramount wasn’t having it, however, and now Bay’s been working on giant robot movies for 5 years straight.
Bay also hinted at the continuing possibility of a Bad Boys 3, as long as Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are available.
“It’s hard to get our schedules together,” he says. Since it looks like Men in Black III will be in production until the Sun eats the Earth, I wouldn’t expect Smith’s calendar to free up anytime soon. Bay has also said he will not be returning to the Transformers franchise. Are you ready for some Pain & Gain?
What are your thoughts about Michael Bay on a smaller project? Should he stick to the blockbusters he is good at making, or is he not good at making them to begin with?