Michael Bay: Sony ‘Had No Faith’ in ‘Bad Boys,’ Claimed ‘Two Black Actors Don’t Sell Overseas’

Entertainment Weekly. “I was watching James Cameron’s ‘True Lies’ and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, this guy has so much money. I have only $9 million.“They had no faith in it,” Bay continued.

Action junkie director Michael Bay is back to making spectacle films with the theatrical release of his heist thriller “Ambulance.” Bay started out working with Will Smith by launching the “Bad Boys” franchise, and the director recently revealed in an interview that he didn’t originally have backing from the studio. While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the filmmaker recalled that Sony Pictures didn’t believe in the original “Bad Boys” movie released in 1995 due to the buddy cop film featuring black leads, sitcom stars Smith and Martin Lawrence.

Zack Sharf Michael Bay told Entertainment Weekly that he would “absolutely” work with Will Smith after the actor slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars. Bay directed Smith in two of his signature action movies, “Bad Boys” and “Bad Boys II,” which together grossed over $400 million at the worldwide box office. Smith returned to the franchise in 2020 with the third entry, “Bad Boys for Life,” which earned $426 million worldwide and featured Bay in a cameo role.“Absolutely, 100 percent,” Bay said when asked about working with Smith again.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterMichael Bay, the filmmaker behind “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor” and the “Transformers” franchise, was once the premier architect of big-budget explosive blockbusters. “Ambulance,” the director’s latest detonating action-thriller, proves times and tastes have changed in the days since mayhem and Autobots ruled the box office.Over the weekend, Universal’s “Ambulance,” a heist thriller that largely unfolds on an EMS vehicle, stalled out with $8.7 million from 3,412 North American theaters.

Ambulance (★★☆☆☆), supposed criminal mastermind Danny Sharp (Jake Gyllenhaal) is asked if he has a plan. Among others, his adopted bro Will (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), lured into another of Danny’s ill-conceived schemes, demands to know, “What’s the plan?!”Will’s question has the ring of an inside joke aimed at director Michael Bay for this hectic adaptation of the 2005 Danish drama Ambulancen.

Angelique Jackson Twenty-four years ago, director Michael Bay had yet to dream up the high-speed car chases in “Ambulance,” but was instead focused on a team of deep-core oil drillers who were tasked with saving the world from an asteroid the size of Texas.Perennial action hero Bruce Willis headlined the 1998 space movie, playing Harry S. Stamper, leader of the rough-and-tumble crew of newbie astronauts. It may be hard to imagine now, but “Armageddon” was only Bay’s third feature, so landing Willis was a major coup, particularly since the director had been inspired by the action star’s movies (especially 1988’s “Die Hard”) since early in his career.In a recent interview, Bay reflected on Willis legacy and told Variety what makes the actor — whose family announced last month that he will be stepping back from acting — so iconic.

“Ambulance,” falls somewhere in the middle.Yes, it’s a Michael Bay movie with giant stars (Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II play bank robbers who hijack an ambulance as an escape), giant explosions and equally oversized emotions, but it’s also something of a contained thriller, with a budget of only $40 million. (By comparison, “The Northman” cost $90 million and was directed by the guy who made “The Lighthouse.”)TheWrap spoke to Fischer about what it was like pulling “Ambulance” together, Gyllenhaal’s recent interest in action movies, and whether or not there’s a Michael Bay cinematic universe.  After I watched the movie I read that the budget was only $40 million. Did it really only cost $40 million?I mean, look, you know they don’t like it when producers talk about budgets, but it’s not far off the mark.

Jason Momoa has just seen “Ambulance”, the new Jake Gyllenhaal action thriller from director Michael Bay.

Of all the many things that go fast in Michael Bay's pedal-to-the-metal retro action thriller “Ambulance” — the speeding EMS van, the army of police cars trailing it, Bay's ever-swooping, whooshing camera — nothing goes by in more of a blur than the exposition.Here is Will Sharp (Yahya Abdul-Mateen), a former Marine, on a frustrating phone call trying to get insurance approval for his wife's lifesaving surgery. He's getting nowhere so, with a kiss for his wife (Moses Ingram) and toddler son, Will rushes across town — this is Los Angeles — to meet his brother Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal). They haven't seen each other for some time but brief flashbacks to their childhood suggest a deep bond.

Michael Bay’s latest, the L.A. action extravaganza “Ambulance,” calls to mind one of the many, many oft-quoted lines from “The Big Lebowski.” John Goodman’s Walter Sobochak, in his rebuttal of the “believe in nothing” stance of the nihilists, proclaims, “Say what you will about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it’s an ethos.” Now, to be clear, I am not comparing the work of Mr.

Eiza Gonzalez walks the red carpet in a chic look for the premiere of her new movie, Ambulance, on Tuesday night (April 5) in Miami, Fla.

Jake Gyllenhaal is opening up about a crazy stunt in the new Michael Bay film “Ambulance,” in which he plays a career criminal driving a stolen ambulance full of hostages while being chased by police along the bank of the Los Angeles River.

Wilson Chapman editorIn Michael Bay’s new action thriller “Ambulance,” Jake Gyllenhaal plays career criminal Danny Sharp. One of the highlights of the film is an intense stunt where Gyllenhaal hangs outside the door of the titular vehicle, shooting a gun while helicopters chase him, his adopted brother Will (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and their hostages — EMT Cam Thompson (Eiza González) and a patient — as they speed along the bank of the Los Angeles River.At the film’s Los Angeles premiere on Monday night, Gyllenhaal revealed that the scene wasn’t in the original script. Instead, Bay came up with the idea the night of filming.“I had no idea,” Gyllenhaal told Variety on the red carpet outside the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

This year’s Oscars ceremony turned into a media circus after Will Smith slapped guest presenter Chris Rock for making a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith‘s hair, alluding to the actress making a sequel to the Ridley Scott film “G.I. Jane.” Since then, Smith has made multiple apologies and even resigned his membership in The Academy.

Jake Gyllenhaal is showing off his impersonation of Michael Bay.

slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars.Bay, who directed Smith in “Bad Boys” and “Bad Boys II,” was not watching the 2022 Oscars live, but was flooded with texts about the incident.“I wasn’t watching. I saw it. First of all, it’s wrong to begin with,” Bay told Yahoo! Entertainment.“I don’t really care.