Steven Spielberg Told Michael Bay to 'Stop' After 3 Transformers Films: 'Made Too Many'

Michael Bay said he "should have stopped" making Transformers films, but admitted, "they were fun to do"

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Director Michael Bay says he went against the wishes of Transformers executive producer Steven Spielberg when he expanded the film franchise beyond a trilogy.

Bay, 57, directed the first three Transformers films — Transformers (2007), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) and Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) — and went on to direct two more and produce later installments.

While speaking to Unilad UK about his latest movie, Ambulance, Bay said Spielberg, 75, once advised him to leave the Transformers franchise after completing the trilogy, but he rejected the director's advice.

DreamWorks/Paramount

"I made too many of them," Bay told the outlet. "Steven Spielberg said, 'Just stop at three'. And I said I'd stop. The studio begged me to do a fourth, and then that made a billion too. And then I said I'm gonna stop here. And they begged me again. I should have stopped. [But] they were fun to do."

Reflecting on his 2007 Transformers film, which starred Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky and Megan Fox as Mikaela Banes, Bay said, "The first one was scary."

He explained, "It was technology we didn't know would work, and then it became very successful."

Bay added, "It was the first time digital effects were that highly reflective, so it broke a lot of new ground. It was a fun experience. It made more than [$709 million], that's a lot of movie tickets and a lot of people that have seen it."

Despite the size of the Transformers franchise, Bay insisted to Unilad UK, "I'm passionate about any movie I do, from Pain & Gain to 13 Hours. I like going from big to small, you want to move off the same thing."

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In total, Bay has directed five Transformers films, directing his most recent in 2017 with Transformers: The Last Knight. Following The Last Night, Bay moved into a producer role for 2018's Bumblebee and the latest Transformers movie, Rise of the Beasts, which is expected to premiere in 2023.

Spielberg has executive produced seven Transformers films in total. The famed director has worked on Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Transformers: The Last Knight, Bumblebee and the upcoming Rise of the Beasts.