In the reception room on the top floor of the Relativity Building, Ronan meets Michael Bay.

The director, who uses explosions as his second life, has a long face that is unforgettable.

"Sit casually. Ronan greeted, "Michael, we're old friends, you're welcome." ”

Sitting on a single sofa, Michael Bay said bluntly: "I didn't expect that at this time, Ronan would be interested in working with me. ”

Ronan smiled and said, "Transformers is a project that suits your style, and I'm sure you can succeed." ”

"Thank you. Michael Bay's failure made him feel the coldness of the world that he had never entered Hollywood: "Ronan, thank you for believing in me. ”

Since the first film directed in Hollywood, even if "Pearl Harbor" did not meet the expectations of the filmmaker, strictly speaking, Michael Bay has never had a single failure, and it has been smooth sailing along the way, and I feel that except for the crow's beaks of professional film critics, everyone else values him very much.

But after the failure of "Escape from Clone Island", DreamWorks stopped working with him, and the people around him began to speak coldly, as if everything had changed.

It was also at this time that Relativity Entertainment sent out an invitation.

Michael Bay also hopes to re-prove himself with the success of a new work.

"About the Transformers project. Ronan didn't go around in circles and asked directly, "Michael, are you interested?"

There's no need for the two sides to go around in circles, and if Michael Bay isn't interested, Relativity Entertainment might as well hurry up and contact the alternate director.

The person sitting opposite was Ronan Anderson, who sent out the invitation to Relativity Entertainment, Michael Bay knew that this was what he urgently needed at the moment, and said without hesitation: "Ronan, I have already read the script, I have read both versions, and as far as my personal wishes are concerned, I am willing to be the director of the "Transformers" project. ”

Ronan nodded slightly: "I will let Shahai Entertainment talk to your agent about specific cooperation." ”

Michael Bay said: "I'll say hello to my agent when I get back. ”

Ronan knows very well that the reason why the talks went so smoothly and Michael Bay agreed so simply is closely related to the failure of "Escape from Clone Island".

The film's painful box office and word-of-mouth failures have seriously undermined Michael Bay's overconfidence, even inflated, due to years of success.

But there are some things that Ronan must say in front of him so that "Transformers" does not have a situation similar to "Escape from Clone Island".

Ronan said directly: "Michael, "Escape from Clone Island" has not been doing well recently, have you considered the problem?"

Michael Bay smiled wryly and said, "Maybe the audience is tired of me." ”

Ronan cocked up his finger and shook it: "How can the audience get tired of you?"

Michael Bay put away his smile and said seriously: "I thought about it a little bit, and I thought a little bit about this film when I was filming and making it. ”

"That's how I see it, too. Ronan couldn't have turned "Transformers" into an experiment in Michael Bay's style of transformation: "Michael, it seems to me that your abilities have never been a problem. It's not hard to solve the problems you face after "Escape from Clone Island". ”

If anyone else says this, Michael Bailey will not pay attention to it, but this is the opinion of the top gold producer in the industry, and he can't afford not to take it seriously.

Michael Bay is humble, at least in front of Ronan: "Ronan, I really need someone to guide me right now. ”

If you really want to point out Michael Bay, of course Ronan doesn't have this ability, after all, he is not a director, but from the perspective of a bystander, he can somewhat remind this commercial director.

Ronan pondered for a moment and said, "Actually, the key lies in your choice. Michael, you also said earlier that you had too many ideas when you were filming and making "Escape from Clone Island". Then let go of these unnecessary thoughts, find yourself, and return to yourself. ”

The meaning of this could not have been clearer, and Michael Bay understood what Ronan meant after only a little tasting: "What do you mean, that I am back on the purely commercial route?"

Ronan doesn't point fingers at other people's lives, but he must be responsible for the company's projects, saying: "'Transformers' is a purely commercial film project. Michael, I asked you to be the director, and that's what you do best on this project. ”

What Michael Bay does best, no one knows better than himself, of course.

Ronan said directly: "I don't need you to think superfluously on this project, and bring out the best things you were at when you were successful before, and I believe you will be able to succeed." ”

Michael Bay said slowly, "I see. ”

In fact, the failure of "Escape from Clone Island" has made Michael Bay reflect on whether he really thinks too much about film shooting and production?

As for Michael Bay's abuse of explosions and vulgar jokes, Ronan did not talk to him for the time being, and when the project was prepared, he naturally found time to discuss this issue with Michael Bay.

And unlike before, Ronan planned to serialize "Transformers" from the beginning, and appropriately integrate part of the style of "Special Forces" to create a "Transformers" universe, and all the "Transformers" movie plots and content are not separated, with a relatively unified plan.

In particular, there will be no self-denial like the "Transformers" series in the past.

To be precise, the planning rights for the series are in the hands of Relativity Entertainment and Sand Sea Entertainment, not Michael Bay.

The tragic failure of "Escape from Clone Island" can not only lower Michael Bay's salary, but also effectively limit his power.

This is also the key reason why Ronan waited until after "Escape from Clone Island" to let Relativity Entertainment reach out to Michael Bay.

Countless fans have complained that the reason why they are interested in "Transformers" is the influence of childhood memories and feelings on the one hand, and the huge publicity sensation on the other hand.

Fans who are waiting to watch the Autobots vs. Decepticons have not responded well to the first half of the film, and the first hour of the film was more than an hour old, but it only talked about how Bumblebee helped an American young man fall in love.

There are many more people who complain that Optimus Prime, who is the absolute male protagonist, did not appear until more than an hour later, and the logo of "Decepticon" was not seen from beginning to end.

At that time, someone gave the most correct way to watch "Transformers", enter the theater and sleep for an hour, and then recuperate yourself to watch the rest of the movie, you will find that the film is really cool.

And then there's the deliberately funny content everywhere.

Even in North America, Michael Bay's jokes are recognized by audiences and the media as boring, and many times it's all the characters talking awkwardly.

Probably Michael Bay was impressed by several collaborations with Will Smith, and always thought that he had a very strong ability to be funny, but he didn't know that without Will Smith, his jokes would be boring even for American audiences.

Michael Bay's favorite thing about the audience is also the explosions, collisions and special effects.

While there have been instances of over-the-top abuse, in these respects, Michael Bay is at the top level in Hollywood.

Ronan has deeply considered the situation of inviting Michael Bay as the director, on the one hand, it is necessary to appropriately limit Michael Bay's abuse of certain elements, and on the other hand, to do something about the design of the robot, so that the audience can clearly distinguish between the Autobots and the Decepticons, as well as the main positive and negative King Kong characters.

Otherwise, when you fight, you will be in a mess, and you can't tell who is who at a glance, which will affect the viewing effect too much.

Regarding the design of the Autobots and Decepticons, the Industrial Light & Magic team hired by Shahai Entertainment has already started preliminary work, and in order to maximize the emotional effect, Ronan emphasized that the shape of the two factions of King Kong must be retro, so that people who are familiar with toys and cartoons can see the shape in the movie and immediately associate it with the memory in their minds.

No one can deny that the "Transformers" movie series can be successful, and the peripheral products are selling well, and the emotional effect is one of the keys.

Michael Bay is not a fan of Transformers, and he has admitted it outright.

In Ronan's view, this is not only not a defect, but an advantage, "Transformers" needs an emotional effect, and it can't be turned into a pure fan movie, otherwise the problem will be serious.

Zack Schneider used to be a die-hard fan of DC Comics, and he couldn't wait to copy the comics to the big screen as they were.

The result: It is more difficult to rely solely on fans to support the market for a top-notch big-budget commercial film.

"It's okay if you're not a fan of Transformers. Ronan reminded Michael Bay: "But you have to know about the series. ”

He emphasized: "Michael, when you go back, you have to make up for the knowledge related to Transformers, Transformers have influenced many people's lives, and we have to pull them into the theater." The framework of the film was already decided, we wanted to make a work that highlighted the humanity of Optimus Prime and the Autobots, and then we would find the best actors to make the most of this robot-related cultural property. ”

Michael Bay has done some homework before, saying: "Kids who grew up in the '80s might now be eager to see characters and stories that they once loved getting made into a movie, and I think it's going to be a wonderful feeling." ”

Ronan smiled and said, "There are a series of publicity plans behind Relativity Entertainment, and when we can reach an agreement, you will see these, and I hope you can cooperate with the work of Relativity Entertainment." ”

"I'll have the broker talk to you in detail. Michael Bay, of course, doesn't give random promises that he doesn't know what's going on: "Hopefully we can finally work together on such a great project." ”

Ronan shook his hand: "I hope so, too." ”