Steven Shea, Filmmaker: He was a music video director for Meatloaf,
which is amazing because if you watch Meatloaf’s “I’ll Do Anything For Love,” it looks exactly like
Transformers, like exactly the same lenses, same shots, it's exactly like Transformers.
Film Courage: Why is Michael Bay a controversial filmmaker or is he not, is this a fallacy?
Steven: I think Michael Bay becomes controversial, well today, I think there's multiple reasons. I
think Michael Bay personifies a character that likes hot cars and hot women and a lifestyle
that is slowly becoming more and more uncouth and today's modern audience and so I feel like
that was a very consistent MTV generation type of program. Miami Vice and he lives in
South Beach in Miami so I feel like that's one element of it I think that a lot of filmmakers
have this idea that they are artists and artists are not allowed to have money and artists are not
allowed to be successful. Whereas there's this whole idea of selling out people, like oh they're
selling out. It's like well, how are they selling out? Well now they're making all this money and
I'm like as an artist if I could make my art and get it to more people and be incredibly financial
successful, I would 100 percent want to do that. I don't believe in the whole element of selling out.
You have a job, you know these things are jobs even as a director, you still have a job,
you have a boss, you're going to have a boss no matter what. It's the studio,
it's an executive producer, it's a financier and you have to do what that boss wants or you're
going to get fired. Now they hire you for your creativity and to bring what you have to the table
but it's still a job and I think a lot of people don't really understand that. I'd say a filmmakers
like Michael Bay, who's one of the most successful financial filmmakers of all time, his movies made
billions of dollars and you may like his movie or you may not like his movie. He's made movies that
I don't like, he's made a lot of movies that I do like. But the fact that he's a commercial
filmmaker shouldn't be a negative to him. Why would someone not like that a person who can
make movies and make a lot of money and make a lot of people happy? there's fans of his all
over the world so it's always kind of confusing to me where well this filmmaker's not a true artist
because he makes too much money or his movie scripts aren't as good and it's like okay well
you can have that argument you know those movies aren't for you but you can go over and watch your
Richard Linklater movie and probably enjoy that a lot more which is totally fine like there are a
lot of coexist because if movies didn't make money there would be no movie business you wouldn't be
able to make anything and it's not like Sundance winners are making billions of dollars at the box
office they make those movies to win awards they don't make them to make a lot of money
and that's okay that's totally fine there's a balance between that studios are like these are
our money makers and they finance the award winners and then everybody gets everything
and that's a pretty simple concept to me so I don't understand why so
many people have such a problem with it or lambast Michael Bay because of that
um now granted not every movie he makes is amazing that I don't think any filmmaker has made every
single movie even Spielberg has had movies that did not do well or were not received well so
I don't think you can really completely count out a filmmaker because of that you know it
seems like in every industry you know writing art music there's always one or two that get branded
as a sellout or like let's take Nickelback I don't see anything wrong with their songs
but there was for a while they were just attack or Bridges of Madison County or Banksy there's just
different people that they get this this label that oh well this is not true whatever right and
I it's it's really interesting how that then the mob the the hive swarms over there and attacks
and says okay this is a sellout this is what a sellout but is it really if people if people are
voting with their dollars and they're they're voting for their dollars of Michael Bay movies
what's wrong with that you just don't go see them right
and they would fail miserably if no one went to see them and
granted now he's doing a lot more streaming films because those studios are offering him the same
amount of money to make streaming films and we just did Netflix film and an Amazon film and so
um that's fine like and those audiences will enjoy it and his audiences that don't watch his
movies won't and it's fine totally fine it's it's the whole sellout thing is weird to me because
I don't understand why being financially successful makes you any less of an artist
I get that the idea like well you come in and the studio is like well you got to do all these things
or we're not going to hire you and you're like okay I'll do those things oh well you're a sellout
it's like well what do you mean like I'm doing a job it's all a job you still have a boss that
pays you to do a job and if you do a bad job they don't hire you back they are somebody else because
there's a million other reviews out there that are willing to do the job so it's kind of confusing
the fact that the art versus business you know it's a show business
not just a show and so I think that these studios have it built where it's like they can make enough
money to do the smaller pictures that will make awards and play Sundance and things like that
but there's a balance across the board and that's okay like as long as people understand that's all
right like you're allowed to make whatever you want it might not make Michael Bay money and you
might not never make a movie again but that's okay like everyone's allowed to like whatever
they want that's that's all allowed I think and the audience is the boss in a lot of ways too
so you think that Michael Bay's movies you say might represent something in this current age
where what it's it's too much of sort of the the 80s 90s beautiful lifestyle that maybe now we're
rebelling against here but things are definitely across the board being more scrutinized and as
they should like I'm 100 on board with me too I'm 100 bored with all of these movements to make the
industry cleaner and better and more inclusive I'm totally on board with that absolutely and
so I feel like some of those elements that have carried over that used to be consistent
are changing and and probably should change you know we talk about horror movies and we have 80s
cliches I don't think every movie should be an 80s cliche I think that that's silly and lazy at
some point you know you want we have modern times that we have modern cliches we can easily utilize
so it doesn't have to be about that but I think he he has a very specific brand that he produces and
creates and if that brand is incredibly successful they're going to keep making that brand but you
have filmmakers like Lars von Trier who has a very specific brand as well and that brand's not for me
his movies are way more exploitive than anything Michael Bay has ever done but he's an artist
he's not because he's not making billions of dollars and that's a very interesting discussion
as far as people that are like well Michael Bay's not an artist but large volunteer is an
artist and it's like but he's more exploitive and he's less exploitive but he's making more money
my bottom line is you're allowed to like whatever you want and I don't care it doesn't affect me at
all and I'm not going to go be like oh well you liked Hereditary so I'm not going to talk to you
again like you're what your voice doesn't count because you liked this movie I didn't like it's
like I don't care you're allowed like whatever you want sure and you hope more people would
think that and some people like to look at pretty people and fast cars and and and want to envision
themselves in that lifestyle yeah and and that's a very consistent brand that's been sure done for
decades there's a lot of I don't know if people are aware but there's a lot of movie stars that
are attractive sure that's not a new thing and not saying every movie has to have all perfect
movie stars in it and they don't most of them don't but I don't know it's it's it's a constant
discussion of what's the line and especially nowadays with the internet and social media and
back in the day it was like oh you look at this magazine cover like we shouldn't put a track to
people on magazine covers because it makes people feel bad and now it's like oh we're
on Instagram and this this influencer who's half dressed has five million followers and so I need
to do that if I want to be famous I have to do this and get an Only Fans or get a Patreon and
do all these things and like that's what the kids nowadays are dealing with it's like you're stuck
in this giant mass of a billion people all vying for attention at the same time to the internet
and any way they possibly can and I have friends that make hundreds of thousands
of dollars on Only Fans and that's great like if you can do that and you're satisfied it's
it's making your living that's awesome like good for you I don't care again I'm not the police of
anyone else's happiness if you do something that makes you happy as long as it's legal
that's fine like that's great because I wouldn't want you coming to my house and being
like oh you like to play video games well that's ridiculous you shouldn't do that you can't do that
you shouldn't play video games it's like why why can't I play video games what does this affect you
it doesn't affect you at all and so it's always a confusing argument to me because yeah no one
should be the sheriff of someone else's happiness do you remember the TV show Solid Gold from the
80s okay so it was just like a music it was almost like a with Dick Clark with the with the
oh but it was with very risque dancers and Andy Gibb and they would introduce you know it was
almost like a Casey Kasem top 10 but they had the dancers come out right sort of and and yeah
it was it was quite you know these were like Vegas showgirl style dancers which you know and then you
would have you know quarter flash or whatever the 80s band was that was right but you know
there's a reason people like to look at certain things and yeah it's just interesting
Baywatch was on the air for how many years sure sure right right and the industry's always kind
of been about that you get some very charismatic people and there are very charismatic people that
are not necessarily what people would call you know incredibly attractive I guess but there's
we have fantastic comedians and actors all across the spectrum now of things literally across the
spectrum and that's fantastic the more inclusion the better I totally agree with everyone should
get the ability to find their own happiness well and what constitutes eye candy is is
very there's just there's very different levels totally so but I guess that's a negative term
now so we can't use that I didn't say it okay I did I don't want to get canceled no sorry sorry
I said eye candy do you have arguments with any of your friends about Michael Bay movies
Michael Bay is going to haunt me forever I don't think I have arguments with friends over Michael
Bay and it's not like, I don't have like a shrine to Michael Bay in my house it's a very small
Shrine okay but I just put an offering every day for him when I would try to get into film school
it was like it was a problem that I wanted to be a commercial director to make movies that
made money I knew that horror movies and action movies made money and I wanted to make movies
that first off could appeal to a global audience and make as much money as possible because you
learn very quickly if you make money in movies you get to keep making movies sure
so by not getting into film school it was basically like well that's you're not the kind
of filmmaker that we want we don't want any more filmmakers like you you're wrong and it's like
I don't really think I'm wrong I think I'm just different and I think it's confusing that nobody
wants to make money in a business that you make money with so the Michael Bay argument and like
oh and I'll speak my piece about Michael Bay where I don't understand someone not wanting to make
money in movies if you don't want to make money in movies that's very easy and your job is going
to be really easy because it's really hard to make money in movies so you're gonna have a great time
but I don't get I get into it at film festivals more so like or around I have there's people
that I call filmis I've always called filmis since college that are like well you know I
only go to these types of theaters and I only watch these types of movies and if the movie
cost over 30 million dollars I won't watch it because I can't support that kind of blow I'm
like I don't care like you can watch whatever you want it doesn't affect me like at all
but it's strange when people don't like they have this argument that he should not be included as
a storyteller or as a filmmaker when some of the stuff he's done his action things and the
stunts and what he's pulled off are absolutely incredible and he's got some of the best stunt
teams in the world and he's really well involved with the military and gets access to all of this
stuff that nobody else gets access to because he respects those elements scripts you know
he's not as worried about because there's plenty of explosions so you're happy with the explosions
he's made some movies that I love he's made some that I don't so it's not like I argue about it
that much but I'm always confused because if I could be Michael Bay and make whatever I want
at a massive budgetary scale that'd be amazing like I would love to do that because who doesn't
want unlimited power and control over their story so he's earned that by doing what he
does and he's got a very specific brand and I appreciate that and there's lots of directors
that have that same ability you know Tim Burton has a very distinct brand It's JJ Abrams has a
very distinct brand like they they are getting well known for what they do Kevin Smith and a
lot of very successful directors do what they do best and that makes a lot of money for them
and I don't think just because someone's making more money or making the things you don't like or
you don't respect that they shouldn't have a seat at the table at all I think that's ridiculous.