Michael Bay, the director of “Bad Boys”, claims that Sony “shut down the power off” during the production Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s blockbuster hit because they believed it would “fail.”
Bad Boys is a long-running franchise that spans three decades. But not everyone believed in its potential success. All the films in the series have become blockbuster hits due to the onscreen chemistry of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. But, according to Michael Bay making the first movie was a difficult feat.
Michael Bay is an award-winning filmmaker with an extensive, star-studded resumé and is a respected member of Hollywood creatives, but when he attempted to sway Sony Pictures when he worked on Bad Boys back in the 1990s, the studio didn’t think it would be a hit.
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Bay claims that they tried to stop production.
Sony didn’t believe in the movie, because two Black actors don’t sell overseas. They had no faith in it,” said Bay. “I was watching James Cameron’s ‘True Lies’ and I’m like, Oh, my god, this guy has so much money. I have only $9million. They literally shut me off. They turned off the power. That’s how rude they were on this movie.”
“Luckily I had 500 days of film set experience doing videos, commercials, working with some of the most famous athletes in the world, and that’s where you really truly know how to deal with assholes,” he added. Bay had to be creative as he directed the film because Sony didn’t offer the same resources as other films.
“I said, ‘Where’s the circle trolley? Get the circle trolley.’ And we made this round move and you guys rise up and it became a very famous shot,” Bay said. “People try to imitate it, but it was a seminal moment.” He said the film “literally changed the game on Black actors,” adding, “It’s the first movie that really traveled overseas.”