Last night director Michael Bay appeared on Starz‘s In The House. In the program he addressed a few things. The first was the decision regarding fast tracking Transformers 3 for a 2011 release and putting his small film Pain & Gain on hold:
“The true story is we went to Vegas to celebrate [‘Revenge of the Fallen’] crossing the $400 million mark domestic. I said I’m excited to do my small little movie. They said, well we’re here to talk about that. I’ve become friends with these guys that run Paramount and they [told me,] ‘We’re going to get fired if we don’t have a 2011 franchise,’ so I’m like you can’t let these guys down. “The economy’s been so rough, it’s kind of important. When you say yes to movie like this you automatically give 3000 people jobs. 1000 for the toys. 2000 for the filmmaking. I’m going to put [the small film] on hold and do it right after [‘Transformers 3’].”
This sounds sincere to me and hopefully puts an end to the constant bickering that Bay decided to do TF3 first for the money. We also reported yesterday that Bay announced that two of Transformers 3‘s action scenes will be in Chicago and Moscow. He gave a bit more updates on the show in regards to the story:
“You can’t just rehash the old,” he explained. “We’re adding a lot of new elements. We’re adding new characters. We’re adding a lot of twists.”
He sounds very confident, but unlike the last time we heard this song and dance from Bay, he actually has the time to devote to these “twists” and “new characters.” The final (and perhaps most important) update from Bay was in regards to the constant debate over whether or not the film will be in 3D:
“It’s a process we’re testing with some ‘Transformers’ scenes,” he said. “How successful it is with my movie in terms of a lot of real stuff coming out of the frame, real dirt, real complicated little particles coming towards the lens, because hopefully that process will work. I’ve seen some tests that look great on other movies. I just want to see how it looks on my footage.”
Bay is probably the biggest name in Hollywood right now that has been 100% against using 3D in films. Bay has constantly referred to himself as an “old school film maker.” I will let you interpret that how you wish (I personally agree with that) but, I think a 3D environment is too jarring for the types of films Bay makes. The way Bay moves his camera, or rather the speed at which he moves the camera, is too fast for anyone watching in 3D to comprehend. Though I was not one of the people who had a problem with the action in Revenge of The Fallen, I can only imagine that 3D would only make things worse. We sit 3 months away from the start of production so hopefully we will have a final answer between now and then.
Should Transformers 3 be shot in 3D? Do you think Bay will pull of a story with a lot of twists this time around?