With Michael Bay confirming last week that he bagged his "Pain And Gain" star Mark Wahlberg for "Transfomers 4: Hasbro Christmas," what is the first press outlet he talks to? Uh, TMZ. That's right, the blockbuster director was shoehorned between stories about Don Lemon's lame Twitter feud with Jonah Hill and allegations against Cee-Lo Green to talk about his next movie, and revealed a small bit about where the next installment will go and what he thinks of his former leading man, Shia LaBeouf.
First off, before fans worry about continuity, Bay assures that a narrative thread will carry over from "Transformers: The Dark Of The Moon." "The movie is going to continue four years from the attack on Chicago, which was in the last movie. It's going to have the same lineage, but it's going in a full new direction. It actually feels very natural how it's going in that direction…," he explained. "We're doing a lot of things that are really going to make it fresh and feel new."
He notes that "We're in the inception part of the story," and of course declined to give any further details, but it looks like Sam Witwicky will be a distant memory. But what about the young actor who has been very vocal about leaving the franchise? (In June 2011 LaBeouf said, "I've learned a great deal about a certain type of filmmaking. But I have ambitions toward another type of filmmaking that I haven't been allowed to engage in yet.") Well, Bay wishes nothing for him but the best and understands the pressures that must have been on him.
"Fame is very hard on young people. I kinda helped raise Shia for three movies, and it's really tough. Fame is a very rough thing and Shia's a great, great guy and a great actor, and I have nothing but respect for Shia," he declared. And if you think Bay is pouring it on a little thick, LaBeouf had actually pretty much said the exact the same thing more than a year ago: "I was seventeen when I met Michael, and I'm sort of Michael Bay-raised. I've learned a great deal from Michael, as a person, as an actor, as a person on set. And it's not that I don't enjoy working with Michael. I love working with Michael. I would do any movie Michael wants to do. I just don't think there's anywhere to take it with Sam."
"What he's saying is, he wants to be taken seriously. And sometimes when you're in a blockbuster, people don't take you seriously, I think that's what he's saying. He's going through his more smaller movie stage," Bay continued.
So pretty wise and gracious words from the director. "Transformers 4: Brought To You By Mountain Dew Xtreme" opens on July 4, 2014. [via JoBlo]
