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Michael Bay responds to Hugo Weaving

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I don't care that you edited your post, that part was joking, I should have communicated that better.

Can you actually point out where I said you should thank Bay for it? All I said was that the end result of the Bayformers was that Transformers is a stronger brand.

And are you even fan of Transformers? I'm genuinely curious because even aside from the quality of the movies, the surge of G1 inspired toys like the Classics/Universe/Generations and especially the Masterpiece line is enough to make most Transformers fans happy. The fact that we got two pretty good non-Bayformers video games in the WFC line is awesome and if anything it gave Hasbro/Takara incentive to move away from the cheesy, hokey and silly nature of the Unicron trilogy and Transformers Animated and pushed them towards Transformers Prime, which seems to have generally favorable praise from the community.

That all existed prior to the movies coming out. Though Alternators did die after the Movie's release ;_; There certainly has been a huge boon to the franchise though. There wouldn't be two separate Transformers TV shows on the air right now if that wasn't the case.
 
Why would you think that?

I don’t think Red Skull will be there," he pondered. "And it’s not something I would want to do again. I’m glad I did it. I did sign up for a number of pictures and I suppose, contractually, I would be obliged to, if they forced me to, but they wouldn’t want to force someone to do it, if they didn’t want to. I think I’ve done my dash with that sort of film. It was good to do it and try it out, but to be honest, it’s not the sort of film I seek out and really am excited by

Seems like he doesn't really care if there's a contract or not.
 
I agree with Bay, and it's exactly what I was thinking when I first read about Weaving saying these things.

From one end I can understand a desire for a more artistically charged role. On the other hand, he was paid millions for an hour, at most, of reading lines in a comfortable recording studio.
 
I agree with Bay, and it's exactly what I was thinking when I first read about Weaving saying these things.

From one end I can understand a desire for a more artistically charged role. On the other hand, he was paid millions for an hour, at most, of reading lines in a comfortable recording studio.

And...? Weaving wasn't complaining.
 
The problem is Weaving and money. If I made $200k on anything it would be a very significant thing in my life. Not so much in his.
 
Seems like he doesn't really care if there's a contract or not.

He clearly says if he has to, he will come back. They are able to force him thanks to the contract. He just expects them not too. Weaving probably had a long talk with the producers and let them know where he stands.
 
That all existed prior to the movies coming out. Though Alternators did die after the Movie's release ;_; There certainly has been a huge boon to the franchise though. There wouldn't be two separate Transformers TV shows on the air right now if that wasn't the case.
Classics actually existed because the first movie was pushed back a year and they needed a filler toy line in the mean time. Masterpiece existed prior but merely had Optimus, repaints and Starscream from 2003 to 2006. You can't argue that once the first movie came out there was a large audience of people that remembered watching the 80's cartoon that suddenly had the urge to relive some of that nostalgia. Also in terms of merchandising it's not even close. Prior to the movies, the most you would find of non-toy related Transformers was in Hot Topic and now you see Transformers stuff everywhere.

Seems like he doesn't really care if there's a contract or not.

It's kind of a catch-22 for Marvel. Technically they could force him to fulfill his contract but now that he's publicly stated his opinion, they probably would not want to risk him phoning in a performance (and having it be meaningless to him) and possibly hurting the overall package of the film. Meanwhile he probably got paid more because of a multi-film contract, so tell me who benefited more from that situation.
 
To me Weaving seems more like he is complaining about himself, so it makes no sense for Bay to respond like that.
 
I guess since I'm a huge Michael Bay fanboy I am required to post on this thread or something. I saw the news article earlier, but not this thread. Anyway, I'm kinda disappointed in Bay's response to this because it really didn't need a response. Weaving was just talking about his work, and honestly he can say whatever he wants as long as he's honest. He wasn't really whining about it either. The fact that his response was even longer and more confrontational than the entirety of Weaving's actual comments in relation to the Megatron role just says it all I think. It's pretty lolz all round.

But, having said that, I do find it somewhat odd that if Weaving really didn't care at all for the work, and if as he said it is "rare" for him to do work he didn't really care for... why did he do it 3 times? It wasn't a one-off. He came back again. And then again! It would be understandable if he did one bit part in a movie and said "Well yeah I probably wouldn't do it again, didn't really care for it." But when he plays the main villain in all 3 movies, which wasn't even planned as a trilogy, it seems to suggest to me that he at least had some attachment or felt some obligation to the role. Maybe he looks back on it differently now though.

Bay definitely comes off looking sillier here, like an angry kid who feels wronged because an uncle told him that his favorite TV show was a "dumb cartoon" or something. He should make it up to us for having to read his stupid rant by directing Bad Boys 3. :)
 
Which character did Weaving voice in TF? It's weird that I don't know this because his voice is usually very easy to identify.
 
Which character did Weaving voice in TF? It's weird that I don't know this because his voice is usually very easy to identify.

He voiced Megatron in all three movies. This also goes back to my thing about the thing with engaging and pleasing the fans. Like Duckroll said if he felt detached from the movie that should've been apparent after the first movie and he could've (and perhaps in retrospect should've) walked away from the franchise after that one but instead continued to come back. If he had stepped away or declined the role in the beginning I'm sure Bay would've re-considered Frank Welker for the role.
 
I for one am totally shocked that Michael Bay can't relate to how an artist thinks. "OMG, this should be totally about the money! WTF's wrong with this guy, amirite?"
 
But, having said that, I do find it somewhat odd that if Weaving really didn't care at all for the work, and if as he said it is "rare" for him to do work he didn't really care for... why did he do it 3 times?

Because like 99.9% of humanity he was willing to perform meaningless toil to support himself. It paid well but in retrospect was not emotionally or personally satisfying.
 
Because like 99.9% of humanity he was willing to perform meaningless toil to support himself. It paid well but in retrospect was not emotionally or personally satisfying.

What could've possibly made his experience more "personally" and "emotionally" satisfying? It was a 1 hour and 43 minute voiceover gig that he was paid an enormous amount of money for.

I can understand Weaving saying he felt detached from the project and how it was just a job for him. But I have a hard time believing anyone could feel genuine regret over making such easy money.
 
To me Weaving seems more like he is complaining about himself, so it makes no sense for Bay to respond like that.

Weaving suggested that the director of a movie gave no direction to, and did not even meet with a major voice actor in it. That's a significant insult and Bay would have been right to respond and refute it, but he didn't because it's apparently true, so he went with random childish remarks instead.
 
What could've possibly made his experience more "personally" and "emotionally" satisfying? It was a 1 hour and 43 minute voiceover gig that he was paid an enormous amount of money for.

I can understand Weaving saying he felt detached from the project and how it was just a job for him. But I have a hard time believing anyone could feel genuine regret over making such easy money.

Thank you.

It would have been a case of:

Jerry: Sorry Hugh, could you say that line again, but don't go so hard on the 'T',

Hugh: I am Megatron.

*wait*

Jerry: Okay, that was good. Next line.

Exchanges like this for less than two hours. Have you guys ever been through an ADR recording session? They're BORING and MECHANICAL as all fuck.

Weaving is just being honest (while making a point that he doesn't feel anything negative toward the film) that it wasn't that engaging for him as an acting role. Which makes sense when he doesn't even meet the fucking director of the film he's working on for - again - 1 hour and 45 minutes.

So why does he come back you ask? Transformers is a franchise, so I imagine it came with a standard three picture contract. Plus, he would be fucking retarded not to. He'd probably get something like 500k for two hours of work.
 
But I have a hard time believing anyone could feel genuine regret over making such easy money.
So does Michael Bay, apparently.

Bay also has a hard time telling the difference between someone phoning in a performance and someone actually giving a shit, though.
 
Michael Bay said:
"Do you ever get sick of actors that make $15 million a picture, or even $200,000 for voiceover work that took a brisk one hour and 43 minutes to complete, and then complain about their jobs?

Bayformers 3 paid Shia the Beef $15 million.
 
What could've possibly made his experience more "personally" and "emotionally" satisfying? It was a 1 hour and 43 minute voiceover gig that he was paid an enormous amount of money for.

I can understand Weaving saying he felt detached from the project and how it was just a job for him. But I have a hard time believing anyone could feel genuine regret over making such easy money.

the guy is a serious actor and artist. it reads to me as him explaining why his performance was so bad
 
Michael Bay is right.

Michael Bay had the luxury of being able to afford the original voice actors (something Transformers hadn't had in years), and he had Peter Cullen and Frank Welker (the original Optimus and Megatron, and two of the finest voice actors alive today) sitting on his doorstep. And he told Frank Welker/Megatron to take a hike because he wanted to throw hundreds of thousands of dollars at Hugo Weaving so he could have Agent Smith appear as Megatron in his movie instead.

Hugo Weaving says that he kind of regrets taking the job, because it meant almost nothing to him, and was just another paying job. He didn't even get to meet the director. Michael Bay has a problem with anyone who has anything less than total love for every part of his production. And not because he thinks his work was perfect, but because they all earned money thanks to him, therefore First World Problems. Also, he'll match a voice actor's charity donations. Yeah, I guess it's hard to argue against the arguments of First World Problems and charity.


On the other hand, Michael Bay could have had this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp3P5cAOM6A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHlgHjl-90I

Peter Cullen said:
I'm shuffling through the pages, and I finally get, y'know... BS BS my line, BS BS my line...
 
For Michael Bay, the day Weaving voiced Megatron was the most important day of his life.
For Weaving, it was tuesday afternoon after he got back from doing his play
 
So why does he come back you ask? Transformers is a franchise, so I imagine it came with a standard three picture contract. Plus, he would be fucking retarded not to. He'd probably get something like 500k for two hours of work.

That doesn't mean anything, he's already laying the ground work to get out of his contract with Marvel Studios. Michael Bay also gave out Weaving's pay and it was 200K.
 
I can understand Weaving saying he felt detached from the project and how it was just a job for him. But I have a hard time believing anyone could feel genuine regret over making such easy money.

Does every moment of your job satisfy you creatively and fulfil you? Do you ever feel detached from it?

Because to most of the world you probably make a shit-ton of money.
 
I mean Weaving is good, but you shouldn't bite the hand that feeds you. I think there will be a decrease in the hands entering the Weaving Cage in due time.

I did not like the idea of Teenage Ninja Aliens either.

To be honest, it would be a good ego stroke making 200k for an hour and forty minutes of work, whether I was a high profile experienced celeb, or a newbie starting his first gig on the scene, I would feel appreciated because I know my skills got me to this point.

Sometimes people talk all high and mighty, and in the days of the technological media, one should refrain from such social embellishments.

If Weaving were doing crystal meth and spouting ignorant shit from what is supposed to be his mouth, I would understand... BUT NO.

I am barely making it in life, and have a truck load of debt from school. Suck on a roasted duck Weaving, a roasted duck with avian flu.
 
I mean Weaving is good, but you shouldn't bite the hand that feeds you. I think there will be a decrease in the hands entering the Weaving Cage in due time.

I did not like the idea of Teenage Ninja Aliens either.

It's possible that he recently reflected on some his work in recent years and want to move in a different direction. I associate his Megatron and Red Skull roles with a sort of typecasting based on his Matrix work. To mainstream blockbuster audiences he was probably being remembered as being an actor who is good at being the imposing over the top villain, which is possibly not what he wants out of the rest of his career.
 
He didn't say he regrets it.

WEAVING: No. That’s a weird job for me because it honestly was a two-hour voice job, initially. I was doing a play and I actually didn’t have time, anyway. It was one of the only things I’ve ever done where I had no knowledge of it, I didn’t care about it, I didn’t think about it. They wanted me to do it. In one way, I regret that bit. I don’t regret doing it, but I very rarely do something if it’s meaningless. It was meaningless to me, honestly. I don’t mean that in any nasty way. I did it. It was a two-hour voice job, while I was doing other things. Of course, it’s a massive film that’s made masses of money. I just happened to be the voice of one of the iconic villainous characters. But, my link to that and to Michael Bay is so minimal. I have never met him. I was never on set. I’ve seen his face on Skype. I know nothing about him, really. I just went in and did it. I never read the script. I just have my lines, and I don’t know what they mean. That sounds absolutely pathetic! I’ve never done anything like that, in my life. It’s hard to say any more about it than that, really.

Why is this still a thread?
 
It's possible that he recently reflected on some his work in recent years and want to move in a different direction. I associate his Megatron and Red Skull roles with a sort of typecasting based on his Matrix work. To mainstream blockbuster audiences he was probably being remembered as being an actor who is good at being the imposing over the top villain, which is possibly not what he wants out of the rest of his career.

We were talking about typecasting in class the other day, and I thought of how Weaving was more inclined to his role as a hero in Lord of the Rings, it could be his annoyance at his villainous portrayal, I can't see him in a different light either. Ho, hum, yes.

Maybe they should try anti-hero to ease him into the public as an okay person.

It's funny how much strain typecasting places on the actor, and influences the public + directors.

But it's also funny how his villain cockiness has found its way into the media.
 
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