Tag: michael bay

TRANSFORMERS 3 Bumblebee Car Wreck

More bad news (and a bad scene) from the set of Michael Bay’s TRANSFORMERS: THE DARK OF THE MOON

From Fox 5 News:

WASHINGTON – A D.C. Police SUV was involved in a wreck at the filming of “Transformers 3” in Washington D.C.

While the movie was filming a car chase scene on 3rd Street and Maryland Ave in southwest D.C., the police SUV collides with a yellow Chevy Camaro, which in the movie series is known as the character Bumblebee.

The police SUV was not supposed to be there and the wreck itself was not scripted.

The police officer driving the SUV is a 25-year veteran senior explosive ordinance technician. He was taken to a local hospital and sustained minor injuries.

Law enforcement sources tell FOX 5 that he was driving to a call for a suspicious package incident nearby and was using a different radio channel than the police officers who were securing the perimeter for the movie.

Statement from the Metropolitan Police Department:

“Earlier today, a MPD marked cruiser responding to an emergency assignment, collided with a vehicle involved in the filming of a movie at Third Street and Maryland Avenue, SW. The officer sustained minor injuries and was transported to a local hospital. No civilian injuries have been reported.

The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the facts of the crash and filming of this movie on closed DC city streets has been suspended until safety procedures can be reviewed.”

TRANSFORMERS 3 Chicago Set Photos and Ending

All in a day’s work for Josh Duhamel. MichaelBay.com and AceShowbiz has posted these new set pics from next summer’s TRANSFORMERS 3.

Aceshowbiz.com is also reporting that:

Michael Bay has revealed the final scenes of the third “Transformers” film. Speaking to Chicago Sun-Times, the helmer says they are shooting in Chicago until the end of August and the footage filmed there will be featured as part of the closing sequence.

Swipe to reveal Inviso-text ahead [SPOILER ALERT!] The Chicago footage “is at the very end of the movie and the city is under alien attack, so it’s very critical and important to the film’s climax,” Bay explains. “Something very bad has happened to America – and this is at the very end of the movie.”

They had some additional news on Megan Fox’s replacement, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.

She is only said to be new female lead but her specific role was not mentioned. TFW2005 recently visited the Chicago set of the film where the site found out that the character played by Rosie is named Carly. In the animated series, Carly is described as the one who will eventually become Sam Witwicky’s wife. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura himself has confirmed that “Rosie will definitely be [Shia Labeouf’s] love interest though.”

Ferrari 458 Italia (Parked on Rush St) on the set of TRANSFORMERS 3 in Chicago, IL

Shia LaBeouf with fans on Michigan Ave.

Tyrese Gibson on the set of TRANSFORMERS 3 in Chicago, IL

Lester Speight and Tyrese Gibson on the set of TRANSFORMERS 3.

Tyrese Gibson on the set of TRANSFORMERS 3.

Tyrese Gibson on the set of TRANSFORMERS 3 in Chicago, IL

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and Transformers Director Michael Bay.

The third installment stars Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, James Avery (Silverbolt), Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime), Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, and Ken Jeong. Directed by Bay, with a screenplay from Ehren Kruger, TRANSFORMERS 3 will be in theaters next summer in 3D on July 1, 2011.

Chicago Meets Optimus Prime, Bayhem & Tyrese in TRANSFORMERS 3

MichaelBay.com directs us over to this TRANSFORMERS 3 video along with a brief description – “Optimus Prime turns the corner hard followed by an explosion on the corner of Jackson and LaSalle.” Cool beans that this guy got a link from Bay.

I’m all for Bay and his penchant for explosions, but not if its Optimus Prime!! However, I do like the long trailer that Optimus is finally sporting.

On Sunday, Tyrese “Epps” Gibson posted these pictures over on Twitter ( @Tyrese4ReaL). “My New Uniform for Tranformers 3 revealed!!” and “Me & Rosie working hard!! She’s a sweet one!!”

Sam, Optimus and the rest of the usual suspects will be battling Shockwave, the robot cyclops-turned-laser-cannon, who became dictator of Cybertron after the other Autobots and Decepticons journeyed to Earth.

Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura recently told IGN that as far as he’s concerned TRANSFORMERS 3 should be the final film in the franchise.

“I would think so…It may not be the end of the line of Transformers for Hasbro and Paramount,” he laughed. “But I would think so… [Director] Michael [Bay] I’m sure is… He’s spent a lot if years working on one thing.”

Even Bay said as much in an interview with USA Today last month.

“As a trilogy, it really ends,” he says. “It could be rebooted again, but I think it has a really killer ending.”

The third installment stars Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, James Avery (Silverbolt), Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime), Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, and Ken Jeong. Directed by Bay, with a screenplay from Ehren Kruger, TRANSFORMERS 3 will be in theaters next summer in 3D on July 1, 2011.

Bay Says See You Later to Fox On TRANSFORMERS 3

And no maybe’s about it either. Piss off director Michael Bay by calling him Hitler. “He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is. So he’s a nightmare to work for.” That’ll learn ya, Megan. You can’t really afford to be so mouthy after JENNIFER’S BODY’s tanked last fall – HARD! (I, on the other hand, liked it.) But I digress. Apparently she’s hitting the talk show circuit pretty hard promoting her next flop film JONAH HEX that comes out on June 18th.

From Nikki Finke over at Deadline Hollywood who first broke the news:

Exclusive: I’ve just learned that Paramount won’t be picking up Megan Fox’s option on Transformers 3 — and that it was “ultimately” director Michael Bay’s decision. (So he gets his revenge for her remark comparing him to “Hitler”.) Right now Bay and writer Ehren Kruger et al are finishing up the script for the three-quel and “giving Shia a new love interest makes more sense for the story,” an insider tells me. Bay will start casting immediately for the new female co-star.

Oy, such drama for a Wednesday!  Finke went on to say:

So did Megan deserve to get fired? I say yes. No actor/actress can expect to go around dissing a director and expect to work together as if nothing happened. Much less the egotistical Bay. But in Fox, he had met his match. Why, as recently as this week Megan was quoted as dissing Bay yet again. In recent months she has shown off a more natural skin hue instead of her usual orange color — and blamed the Transformers helmer for her unhealthy tanning binge. “I had been tanning a lot so that Michael would be happy with my skin tone. Every spare moment of sun that was outside, I had to be in it,” the 24-year-old actress lamented in Allure magazine. “It’s not going to happen again because of the damage and the possible skin cancer.”

According to Bay over on his site, everything between the two was all honky-dorie back in October:

Well its official: We have a great Transformers 3 story. The release date is now July 1st 2011. Not 2012. P.S. Megan Fox, welcome back. I promise no alien robots will harm you in any way during the production of this motion picture. Please consult your Physician when working under my direction because some side effects can occur, such as mild dizziness, intense nausea, suicidal tendencies, depression, minor chest hair growth, random internal hemorrhaging and inability to sleep. As some directors may be hazardous to your health, please consult your Doctor to determine if this is right for you.

So there you have it readers. Do you think Bay should’ve gone back on his “word” and given Ms. Fox the heave-ho? Who do you think should be the new love interest for Shia LeBeouf’s “Sam Witwicky” in next year’s TRANSFORMERS 3? Feel free to leave a comment below.

Review: A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

Ah yes, another remake.  The celluloid regurgitating factory known as Platinum Dunes has made the final turn – I hope – in remaking the classic characters owned by New Line Cinema.  Fans could smell the fumes running high on the money making highway when you could purchase Leatherface, Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger on keychains and other child like trinkets.  While Leatherface never really got to an iconic status due to a short run of sequels, Jason and Freddy have been fighting over the hearts of fiends for 20 plus years.  Last year, Platinum Dunes released the remake of FRIDAY THE 13TH.  While it fell short to expectations, there is not a lot you can do with the character of Jason that hasn’t been done already.  Freddy on the other hand could have an interesting story to tell.  That is why, I was somewhat excited for this remake.

I have been hooked on this damn train since there were talks about an Elm Street prequel that would explore the back-story – the one you don’t see in the original NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET – of Fred Krueger and why the parents burned him alive.  I always felt that the back-story alone would make a great film and could be an interesting direction.  The closest that some might say it got was with EXORCIST III where the film was it’s own thing but connected to the EXORCIST universe towards the finale.

Sadly, we just get the same old stuff we have seen in the previous Platinum Dunes remakes of these horror icons.  Glossy, over-saturated scenes. Vapid teenagers that evoke no emotion from the audience and, lets not forget, lens flares.  I swear to god, after the remakes of FRIDAY THE 13TH, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE one would think that the damn lens flares would get a cast credit.  I wonder if Michael Bay demands this…

…Ok, I’m getting off topic.  If you haven’t seen the original NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET it breaks down like this:

Teenagers are having nightmares of the same man who threatens and stalks them in their sleep state.  After a death of one of the teens, they realize that there might be something rotten in Denmark and this guy that they are all dreaming about might be behind it. If you get cut in your dream, you get cut for real.  Get it? Good.

Samuel Bayer is making his feature directorial debut here after making music videos (are you really surprised?) for years.  However, what Sammy has a looser grip on than his Platinum Dunes buddy Marcus Nispel (the guy that directed the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE & FRIDAY THE 13TH remake) is story, tension, intrigue.  Basically, the things that make a movie.  Visually, the film is tiresome because we have seen it all before.  The actors who play the teenagers and the parents are given one dimensional characters that show no personal traits.  This makes the audience really only care for Freddy.  He is the only interesting character and the whole movie becomes a guessing game on how they are going to remake iconic scenes or how the filmmakers will approach something differently.  The problem with this is that the movie carries on as if it is a mystery if Freddy was an innocent man or not so when the reveal happens, it falls flat.

However, most horror fans and fans of the series probably expected some of this.  So, the main question is…How is Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger?  I’ll be the first to tell you that I couldn’t think of another actor on the radar to play the character.  I thought he was a perfect choice and so did a lot of other people – partially due to his performance in LITTLE CHILDREN.  It is with regret that I tell you that Haley doesn’t really make this character his own.  In fact, the whole logic – and this is not at fault of Haley – of Freddy’s drive to haunt the teens in their dreams isn’t consistent throughout the whole film.  Haley’s Krueger delivers some cheeky one-liners, but instead of it being creepy, most of them got a laugh from the audience I saw it with.

Albeit from a couple of decent scenes, stay away from this one – at least until it shows up on cable. Because the scariest thing about NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2010 is that if you dose off during this comatose inducing film, that when you wake up, your wallet will be lighter than it was before you entered the theater.

Overall Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

FRIDAY THE 13TH 2 Pronounced DOA

At least, that’s the word from Platinum Dunes producer Brad Fuller via his Twitter page.  When a fan asked how the proposed sequel to 2009’s FRIDAY THE 13th reboot, Fuller simply replied, “it is dead – not happening.”  Simple enough response, but then the quest of “why” comes into the picture.

The 2009 film raked in over $91 million worldwide against a $19-million budget.  A sequel seemed inevitable after its $40.5-million opening weekend.  This time last year, plans for the sequel were well underway.

This is also interesting news when you consider it comes just eight days before Platinum Dunes drops the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET remake in our laps.  You would have thought the decision to announce the F13 sequel dead in the water would have come at a later date, and even from something a little more formal than a Twitter reply.  Seems like a Fuller faux pas, in my opinion.

The story behind this decision is certain to come out at some point.  At this point, though, it’s all speculation and rumor.

Who Wants a Third BAD BOYS Movie?

Martin Lawrence.  That’s who.  And why shouldn’t he?  Per his contract (at least with 2003’s BAD BOYS II), he made just as much as Will Smith, and making as much as Will Smith on anything is enough to put a smile on your face.

Lawrence recently sat down with MTV to talk about his newest movie, DEATH AT A FUNERAL, when the subject of a BAD BOYS III was brought up.

It’s real realistic.  We’ve talked about ‘Bad Boys 3.’

The “we” there being Lawrence, Smith, and director Michael Bay, all of whom Lawrence confirms would be up for returning for a third outing.  The fourth piece of this puzzle, though, is producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who hasn’t collaborated with Bay since BAD BOYS II.

Of course, I remember how long it felt between 1995’s BAD BOYS and its sequel.  The eight-year jump from a second to a third film is fast approaching, and, with Bay handling TRANSFORMERS 3 at the moment, a third BAD BOYS films won’t be happening before 2011.  However, with Lawrence just turning 45 and Smith turning 42 this year, the duo are anything but getting too old for this shit.

Major TRANSFORMERS 3 Updates From Mr. Bay

In news that most of you will file under U for “Ugh!”, Michael Bay has made an earth-shattering update on his own, personal blog.

Check this out:

Hey, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted. Just been a little busy.

Transformers 3 has been going very well. We are going to shoot in LA, Chicago, Washington DC, Florida, Texas, Africa, Moscow, and China. On the talent front, we just locked in Frances McDormand and John Malkovich. Both amazing actors I’ve always wanted to work with. We also just got Ken Jeong, he is the super funny actor stuck in the trunk from “Hangover” and the Doctor from “Knocked Up.”

We start shooting pre-shoots in about one month.

I also was at a Ferrari charity event this week raising money for a hospital being built by Ferrari in Haiti. I announced that night the newest Autobot to join Transformers: the Ferrari 458 Italia.

I also want to thank everyone on this site that donated to the Make -A-Wish charity. We raised $20,000 which I will personally be matching. This is a great charity where they make wishes come true for kids who are very ill. We have had many Kids from Make-A-Wish visit us on our Transformers sets and this time we will be posting video of their visits on Transformers 3.

McDormand?  Malkovich?  Jeong?  Okay, so that last name doesn’t surprise me all that much.  Bay loves bringing in the latest, great thing to any of his projects, and, with THE HANGOVER and ROLE MODELS, Jeong is becoming a notable name in comedy.  And that’s something we need more of in TRANSFORMERS 3.  Comedy.  Not giant robots blowing stuff up, but yuck-yucks.

With McDormand and Malkovich on board (and with the possibility that John Turturro might be returning), you would almost think this, next TRANSFORMERS movie would be a character study, possibly co-written by the Coen Brothers.  You’d probably be dead wrong.

Of course, who can blame Bay for choosing the Ferrari 458 Italia as the new Autobot?

That’s just personal reasons on Bay’s part.  I’m sure Ferrari would have no problem giving him one of these bad boys simply for considering giving their new car a cameo in his next movie.

TRANFORMERS 3 hits theaters on July 1st, 2011.

A New Trailer For Your ELM STREET NIGHTMAREs

The new NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET trailer, brought to us by MySpace Trailer Park, shows us a bit more than the previous trailer, and I’m not sure I would even go so far as to say it’s just more of the same.  We get some different characters.  A different angle to the story (this one shows nothing of Jackie Earle Haley/Freddy pre-parental-vengeance).  My interest also peaks at the sight of Aaron Yu talking about his nightmares via web cam.  Does this new NIGHTMARE deal with all the children of Springwood and not just a select few?  Bringing the whole small-town pandemic aspect into this new series this early might give it the fresh take it so very much needs.  This new trailer even shows us a bit of that wry humor any decent horror fan might expect from a NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET movie.  Freddy’s last line in this new trailer is one for the books.

I can’t help but wonder, though, if this new film is a by-the-books remake without many inventive kills.  That certainly was the case with FRIDAY THE 13TH (minus the kill at the dock).  I’m sure we won’t know those answers until the film is released, but seeing some iconic imagery (the glove coming out of the bathtub and whoever the “Tina” equivalent is here floating over her bed) really makes me wonder if there’s just too much fan appreciation going on here.

Nonetheless, the new trailer looks sleek and scary.  Can’t ask for much more than that.

Check it out:


A Nightmare on Elm Street Trailer 2 in HD

Trailer Park Movies | MySpace Video

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET hits theaters on April 30th.

DJ Caruso to Helm I AM NUMBER FOUR

Director DJ Caruso is lining them up and knocking them down one by one, and, next up, he is taking them on one by one by one by one.   See what I did there?   According to The Hollywood Reporter, the DISTURBIA and EAGLE EYE helmer has signed on to direct the adaptation of Joby Hughes and James Frey’s upcoming, young adult, sci-fi book, I AM NUMBER FOUR.   The project has been set up at DreamWorks, where the marriage between the studio and Caruso has led to some top-notch, Hollywood movie making in recent years.

Written by SMALLVILLE creators Miles Millar and Al Gough, I AM NUMBER FOUR centers on a small band of aliens who escape from their home planet just before it is destroyed.   On Earth, they take the form of humans and, soon, learn they are being hunted by an other worldly being bent on their extinction.

If you ask me, this sounds like perfect fodder for the WB crowd, and, with Millar and Gough adapting the screenplay, you might think just that.   Caruso, on the other hand, brings a certain level of firmness to the project.   While not all of his films are the best at what they do, they all bring something new to the film making world, and, I am sure, I AM NUMBER FOUR, won’t be an exception.

DreamWorks purchased the rights to the book, which will be the first of a series of six, in June with Michael Bay stepping in as producer.   He was rumored at the time to be directing the film, and he will stay on as the film’s producer.   No word yet on whether this will be Caruso’s next project, or if he is moving to THE ART OF MAKING MONEY, Y: THE LAST MAN, or DEAD SPACE first.