6. Bay Gets Busy

Despite his initial reaction, Michael Bay signed on to bring the Transformers film to fruition, mostly because he wanted to work with the man who made ET.

But Bay naturally brought his own worldview to the movie, ditching the early drafts of the script as too kiddie-orientated and pushing for a harder, more militaristic edge.

With a script finally in place, featuring a selection of classic robot characters (including Optimus, Megatron, Bumblebee and Starscream, who survived every draft), the film was ready to shoot.

To save money for the production, Bay reduced his usual fee by 30%.

He planned an 83-day shooting schedule, maintaining the required pace by doing more camera set-ups per day than usual.

Principal photography began on April 22 at Holloman Air Force Base, standing in for Qatar.

Given his close working relationship with the military, Bay was able to get the US armed forces to sign on to help, despite the fact that most of the villains transformed into armoured vehicles.

With the crew shooting fast and loose, the marketing campaign started to gather speed.

Cue the teaser…
 

Next: Bay's 'bots Revealed...