HARD AT WORK: Bay is characterised by his aggressive visual style
You can't argue with someone who just cracked the biggest Wednesday opening gross in history - US$62 million (RM221 million) in the States alone and almost US$100 million around the world. The numbers are still climbing and when the dust finally settles, Bay might have a few more records under his belt.
"Yeah you always try to challenge yourself," Bay said in an interview recently. "I think this movie has a lot more fun and more passion than the first one. It is just much more of an adventure. So it feels different. We have shot some great stuff and it is definitely a better looking movie."
BAD BOYS: Made at US$9 million, raked in US$140 million
After launching his career as an award-winning commercial and music video director, Bay quickly emerged as one of Hollywood's boldest and most bankable feature film directors.
Characterised by his aggressive visual style and high-octane action sequences that have become the LA native's cinematic signature, the films that Bay has directed and produced have surpassed US$3 billion in worldwide ticket sales.
"Whenever you are doing a movie, you don't really know if it is going to work or not," said Bay. Even so, he has proven to be one of Hollywood's most bankable directors.
His third directing effort was Armageddon, an idea he and writer Jonathan Hensleigh came up with. Bay also produced the film with Jerry Bruckheimer.
Armageddon earned over US$550 million around the globe. Bay continued his hot streak in 2001, directing the epic Pearl Harbour which raked in US$450 million in box office receipts worldwide, and at the time becoming the best-selling DVD.
In 2003, Bay reunited with Will Smith, Martin Lawrence and Bruckheimer for the summer hit Bad Boys 2. The filmmakers followed that effort with the action thriller The Island.
"This one (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) is fun. It still has its ups and downs, though. It is challenging because I shoot these movies really fast. A lot of the directors who do these big movies have a second unit that is on the go the entire time. I don't have a second unit, so we are doing it all ourselves.
"I want to maintain my vision and I also pride myself on bringing these movies on budget. We are shooting this for 30 million or 40 million dollars cheaper than what the second movie would normally cost."
Bay's first Transformers film was the third highest grossing picture of 2007.
TRANSFORMER: Bay's current big hitter
Bay's production company, Bay Films, remains one of the most cutting-edge production entities in Hollywood
today and continues to grow. Six years ago, he joined forces with producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form to create Platinum Dunes, a company whose mission is to make films with budgets under US$20 million that would give talented commercial and video directors the chance to break into the feature world.
The first offering from the company was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - a re-imagining of the 1974 cult classic, which opened to top-notch reviews and grossed over US$110 million - The Amityville Horror (over US$108 million), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2: The Beginning (US$51 million) and a re-conceptualisation of the 1986 thriller The Hitcher (US$20 million).
Their most recent release, a fresh incarnation of Friday the 13th opened this past February with receipts beyond US$90 million. Platinum Dunes has a broad slate ahead, including original projects The Horsemen and Fiasco Heights. The company is currently in production in Chicago with A Nightmare on Elm Street.
"Sometimes I keep a notepad by my bedside to jot down ideas from dreams," said Bay. "Lately I have had directing dreams. That is the worst. You are half awake/ half asleep and you dream about shots."
In 2006, Bay and two partners bought one of the film industry's premier digital effects houses, Digital Domain, from James Cameron.
It provided effects for Titanic, Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean and will be the first production house to build an animation film using a gaming engine, which will greatly reduce animation costs.
One week out of film school in 1989, Bay began directing commercials and music videos for Propaganda Films. His works for such acts as Meat Loaf, Aerosmith, Tina Turner, Donny Osmond, and the DiVinyls won the young filmmaker recognition, acclaim and a number of MTV Video Award nominations. He won the coveted Best Music Video prize in 1992 and 1999.
When Bay's first television spot - for the American Red Cross - was honoured with a Clio in 1992, it heralded the aspiring film director's rapid ascent from unknown film school grad to creative force.
Over the next three years, the Wesleyan University graduate would direct some of the best known and most acclaimed advertising campaigns in the world, including those for Nike, Budweiser, Coca Cola, Reebok, Miller and Victoria's Secret.
In 1995, Bay, at the young age of 27, was honoured by the Directors Guild of America as Commercial Director of the Year. He is the youngest director to have won nearly every award bestowed by the advertising industry. Bay's Got Milk? campaign now resides in the permanent collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art.
He won the Grand Prix Clio for Commercial of the Year for the irreverent Got Milk?/Aaron Burr commercial, this famous spot was voted into the top 10 classic spots of all time.
ARMAGEDDON: Made a deep impact with audiences
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