14 DAY TRIAL // Michael Bay will do one more “Transformers” film before parting ways with the franchise for good – for real, this time. In a new interview, the director talks about the fourth upcoming installment and how people should not call it a “reboot.”
The word “reboot” was first thrown into the conversation when it emerged that the cast of the previous 3 films would not return for the fourth: so there will be no Shia LaBeouf, no Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and no Josh Duhamel.
It was only natural to assume that Bay would reboot the franchise before passing the torch on to another director, who would then carry on his “legacy.”
That's not the case, the director tells the Los Angeles Times.
Yes, the story will go into a different direction (hint: upwards, into space) but that doesn't mean the fourth film will be a reboot per se.
“It’s not a reboot, that’s maybe the wrong word. I don’t want to say reboot because then people will think we’re doing a Spider-Man and starting from the beginning. We’re not,” Bay explains.
“We’re taking the story that you’ve seen – the story we’ve told in three movies already – and we’re taking it in a new direction. But we’re leaving those three as the history. It all still counts,” the director goes on to say.
Semantics.
“I met with the writer before I went off to do 'Pain and Gain' and we talked about a bunch of ideas. We let that simmer for a bit. He’s been thinking about stuff and now we’re getting back together next week to see what we’ve got and to see if it gels,” Bay further explains.
There is a possibility to make Bumblebee and Optimus Prime leave Sam on Earth and head into space in search of a new adventure, and the director certainly admits that such a possibility exists.
Still, he says, he aims to keep it “grounded” and “accessible,” so whatever space exploration / action will take place, will probably be limited.
In the same interview, the director also says that the next installment in the franchise will be cheaper than the previous one, “The Dark of the Moon” – by $30 million (€23.8 million).
That might seem like a hefty figure but, considering that “Dark” had an estimated budget of $195 million (€155.3 million), it would not be that cheap either.
“Here’s the thing, it’s tough to find someone who’s done these kind of movies and to have the complication of creating the new stuff that needs to be in this movie – not just characters but a new type of action, I hope – and that’s a lot for someone new to bite off. And so after this one I will leave it in the best hands possible. That’s the plan,” Bay adds, stressing he's truly done after this one.