U.S. director Michael Bay takes pictures with his camera on the red carpet as he arrives for the world premiere of the film "Transformers: Age of Extinction" in Hong Kong June 19, 2014.
U.S. director Michael Bay takes pictures with his camera on the red carpet as he arrives for the world premiere of the film "Transformers: Age of Extinction" in Hong Kong June 19, 2014. REUTERS

While Transformers fans are eagerly waiting for the "Transformers: Age of Extinction" to hit the silver screen, its director Michael Bay revealed that the much-anticipated trilogy almost did not materialise at all.

"I don't think I'm going to make it. It was tough," Director Bay revealed at MTV during the Transformers premiere in Hong Kong.

The film's fourth time director stated that he nearly passed on the project. After the third installment of the Transformers series, he worked with a much smaller film "Pain and Gain" which also starred Mark Wahlberg, the lead star for "Transformers: Age of Extinction." The director deliberately moved away from the world of Optimus Prime but the "Pain and Gain" film turned out to lead him right back to the robots in disguise.

With Mark Wahlberg explicitly expressing his desire to work on a Transformers movie with the director, Bay pondered on and realised that it made sense to return to the Transformers set for at least one more film.

"I figured that some director is going to have to come in and redesign the entire franchise, recast it, and it would be a nightmare for someone who doesn't know it like the back of their hand. That's so much work. Two years to redesign every character and come up with new characters, a brand new cast... it's daunting," director Bay stated.

And a daunting process indeed to come up with "Transformers: Age of Extinction." The director stated that the production team barely made it to the release date. The task proved to be even more daunting when at the eleventh hour Chinese firm Beijing Pangu Investment has pulled out the sponsorship contract with Paramount Pictures on grounds of breach of contract.

The investment company which provided the financial resources for the movie production filed a lawsuit in court pertaining to the breach of contract, damage to reputation and financial loss. It accused Paramount Pictures for failing to give full value of their buildings in the much-awaited "Transformers: Age of Extinction" film. Pangu then requested to the Chinese authorities for the postponement of the movie release in China.

To show the Chinese sponsors how willing they are to go the distance just to keep their partnership, Paramount Pictures sprang into action in a whirlwind of activity. LA Times mentioned that that the giant replica of the Bumblebee Transformer was relocated from another part of Beijing to the entrance of Pangu Plaza Hotel, the investment company's flagship building. Then Paramount Vice-Chairman Rob Moore, director Michael Bay, producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, and star Jack Reynor were jetted from Shanghai to Beijing for the celebration prior to the China premiere.

"Transformers: Age of Extinction" will be out in cinemas on Friday, June 27, 2014.

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