Speaking with
ABC, Michael Bay - director of the hugely successful
Transformers franchise - says that the upcoming third and final installment,
Dark Of The Moon, will be 'epic in scope', but has more heart than the last film, the critically panned
Revenge Of The Fallen. He also talks about how much CGI was used in the film (the amount may surprise you), while also chatting about filming in 3D and his making movies for audiences instead of critics.
On the overall feel of DOTM...
"This one is much more of a mystery," he said, sitting at a shady outdoor table on the Paramount lot. "It's really epic in scope, it's got more heart. It's kind of back down to basics. Movie two, we kind of went off on a tangent."
On filming the movie in 3D, and just how much CGI was used in the film...
He shot more than half the footage with 3-D cameras, including soaring images captured by wing-suited stuntmen flying off of high-rise buildings. "We were able to strap that camera on things that it's never been on before," he said. "You look at it and you just know it's real. You can't fake that stuff."
Only 10 to 15 percent of the movie is completely computer generated. The remaining footage was carefully converted from flat images to dimensional ones by a team of more than 5,000 artists who spent a year on the project. Even Spielberg gave the 3-D his thumbs-up, Bay said. "Spielberg said to me, 'This is the best 3-D I've ever seen,'" the director proudly recalled. "And, you know, he doesn't blow smoke."
On his views concerning making movies for critics...
"Honestly, they've had a field day making fun of me, but people go to my movies in droves," Bay said. "You can't do movies for critics. You've got to do movies that you like and you feel in your gut and hopefully the audience likes."
On the longer shots and 3D action scenes...
"This one really tops myself."
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon invades theaters June 29th, next week!