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Optimus Prime Time
Optimus Prime 见参～～
''Transformers'' director Michael Bay opens up about working with
Steven Spielberg, the art of the action film, and the possibility of a
sequel
电影“变形金刚”导演Micheal Bay敞开心胸畅谈与Steven Spielberg共事的
感觉、拍摄动作片的奥妙、以及续集是否会问世。
By Adam B. Var
记者：Adam B. Var
''I've thought more about robots in a year and a half than probably
anybody,'' sighs Michael Bay. Slouched in his chair, a gentle breeze
wafting through his surprisingly zen Santa Monica, Calif., office,
he's still hung over from the previous evening's mega-premiere of
his latest summer-action extravaganza, Transformers - the movie
adaptation of the 1980s cartoon TV series and Hasbro toy line about
a race of alien machines who bring their war to Earth. (He may be
doing more celebrating after seeing the estimated $36.3 million in
box-office revenue from the movie's first 36 hours in theatres,
including $27.5 million on July 3, its first full day of release, a
new record for a Tuesday opening.)
在加州Santa Monica充满”禅意”办公室中的椅子上，懒洋洋的Michael Bay
叹了口气说：“过去一年半以来，我脑中想到机器人的时数比地球上任何人
都还要多。”才刚刚结束一场超盛大首映会的他，又推出了一部Micheal Bay
出品的暑假动作巨片－变形金刚。变形金刚奠基于一九八零年代的电视卡通
与Hasbro公司的玩具产品，故事主要提到一个外星机器生命族群，将他们的
争战带到地球上。（记者注：如果Bay知道变形金刚在上映的前三十六小时
内就赚进三千六百万美金，包含七月三号一天之内赚进两千七百五十万美金
，创下历史上周二首映票房纪录的话，他也许会更放松一些吧）
Over the course of the next hour, Bay talked to EW.com about his
working relationship with exec producer Steven Spielberg, what
helped him get over the notion of directing just ''a toy movie,'' and
how he feels about being, you know, Michael Bay.
在接下来的一个小时中，Bay与EW.com聊到了他与执行制片Steven Spielberg
之间的合作关系，什么力量帮助他摆脱”我是被请来拍玩具电影”这样的想法
，还有，他对于．．“当Michael Bay”有什么想法。
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I have to tell you, as a Transformers
fan since childhood, the special effects were pretty darn cool.
ＥＷ：我必须要告诉你，身为一位变形金刚多年的粉丝，片中的特效对我
来说相当相当酷。
MICHAEL BAY: That's what it's all about. I worked a long time on
that. It wasn't always easy.
ＭＢ：这部片就是关于酷囉。我花了很多时间在那上面。这可没那么简单。
I can see why - the machinery is incredibly intricate. Why did you
want to go in that route and not more -
ＥＷ：我看得出来，片中的机器人真的是不可思议。为什么你选择采用这
样的表现方式而不是．．
Simple? Like a cartoon? Basically it's the equivalent of, like, the
Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters. It's got to withstand, you
know, a 40-foot screen - you just need a lot of detail and a lot
of things moving just to keep your eye dazzled by these complex
machines. It wasn't always peaches and cream. The robots kind
of sucked in the beginning. My whole thing is lighting with
[visual] effects. We all know something in our brain is telling
us it's not lit right - that's what makes you say it looks like a
cartoon. You figure out how it's all going to reflect different
pieces of light - different materials reflect differently.
ＭＢ：简单点的设计吗？像是．．卡通？基本上，这跟“Ghostbuster”
（捉鬼特攻队）里面的“Marshmallow Man”（棉花糖人）不能比。我们
的成品必须要．．能够在．．十公尺高的萤幕上放映出来，还要有看头，
要让你眼花撩乱需要很多的细节、很多小零件的移动，这样你才会被这些
复杂的机器人给震摄住。而整个创作的过程可一点都不轻松写意。机器人
的设计一开始还蛮烂的。我抓住的重点就是“视觉特效”。我们都知道，
我们会从事物表面的光泽、外表得到讯息，然后大脑处理之后会”告诉”
我们眼睛看到的事物是不是不对劲，这个机制就是我们之所以会看着一样
东西然后说”这看起来像卡通嘛．．”你必须搞懂一样东西为什么会反射
出那么多不同的光线，还有不同的材质怎么反射光线。
What first hooked you into wanting to direct Transformers?
ＥＷ：是什么原因促使你接下变形金刚导演一职？
It was a pitch that Steven [Spielberg] gave me. The story is true: I
hung up [after we talked] and went ''I'm not doing that silly movie
because it sounds like a toy movie.'' I thought about it. And I said
okay, you know, [I'll] just go to Hasbro [for] this thing called
Transformer School. I sat in this conference room and we went
through the entire lore of Transformers. I like Japanese anime movies
- I just think visually they're really cool. There were some images
in the room; I kept looking at one and I'm like, you know, if I make
it real and edgy, it might be something really interesting. So I was a
non-Transformer fan, but that's good because I think it makes it more
accessible for people that are non-Transformer fans. I kept having this
image of a kid hiding his robots from his parents. To me that's just
a great kid fantasy. You have alien robots that are your friends.
That's charming to me. [Chuckles]
ＭＢ：是Steven给我这样的动力，是他给我的那个切入角度给我动力。在
我们通完电话后，我第一个反应是”我才不要加入这个白痴计画，这听起
来像是一部玩具电影嘛．．”。之后，我考虑了一下，然后说服了我自己
。我想”好吧，我会去Hasbro公司，我会去参加变形金刚特训班看看”。
之后，我去公司的简报室，开始吸收所有变形金刚的知识。我喜欢日本的
版本，我真的认为，日本版本看起来蛮酷的。房间里还有些照片，我盯着
其中一幅开始想”如果我把这东西搞得像真的一样、又很先进，这也许会
很有趣”。我原本不是个变形金刚迷，但是，这因为这样，我比较能够吸
收整个题材。我不断看到一个孩子想办法让父母亲别看到他的机器人朋友
这样的影像。对于我来说，这是一个很棒的关于孩子的故事。你知道的．
．有外星机器人当朋友。听起来很迷人。哈哈哈。
My understanding is that Spielberg really was the guy that roped
you into directing this film. What was the first time that you realized
that he was following your career?
ＥＷ：据我了解，Spielberg是真正让你接下导演一职的人。你什么时候才
发觉他在注意你。
When I was 27, I did a whole string of commercials that were pretty
famous, the type of commercial where people go to a bar [and say],
''Did you see that commercial?'' That ''Got Milk?'' stuff, a whole
string of funny Nike ones, whatever. So I sent this reel [of my work]
around Hollywood. I get this call from my agent. ''Steven wants to
see you.'' I go, ''Steven who?'' ''Steven Spielberg wants to see you.''
Okay. I drove down to his office. A true story - I said, ''You know,
when I was 15, I worked at Lucasfilm and I filed your Raiders of
the Lost Ark storyboards. I saw the entire movie [in storyboard form]
and I honestly thought it was going to suck.'' [Laughs] And he
started laughing. And I said, ''When I went to the Grauman's Chinese
[Theater] with my parents and saw it, I went 'Oh my God, I've got to
do this.''' [Pause] I don't know, he's always been nice to me.
ＭＢ：当我二十七岁的时候，我拍了很多出名的广告，就是那种大家聚在
一起的时候会问”你有没有看过那个ＸＸ”的广告。有“Got Milk”、
“Nike”等等。之后，我把自己的作品送给好莱坞圈内人。有一天我的经
纪人打电话给我说”Steven想要见你”，我问他”史蒂芬周吗？”，他说
”Steven Spielberg想要见你”。好吧。我就开车到他的办公室。接下来都
是真正发生过的，我说：“你知道吗？我十五岁的时候在Lucasfilm上班，
我负责把”法柜奇兵”分镜图归档。我看了所有的分镜图，而我真的认为
这部片一定很烂。他（Steven）就开始笑。”接着，我说：“之后我跟我
父母一起去到Grauman的中国戏院看这部片，我的反应变成”我的老天爷
啊！！我一定要进这行！””我不知道．．他总是待我不错。
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: There are stories of him asking you
how you would pull off certain shots, or certain sequences.
ＥＷ：我们听说他（Steven）会要求你照着他说的拍某个镜头、某个片段？
MICHAEL BAY: What was fun working with him, we would sit
in my war room and [I'd say], ''Oh, Steven, I got this scene and I
want to do it like this and shoot like that.'' And he knows what I'm
talking about. He goes, ''Oh, what if you do that?'' But you can see
when I'm showing him stuff that his gears are ticking for Indiana
Jones 4. [Chuckles] You can see that he's a competitive director.
ＭＢ：跟他共事有一点很好玩，我们会在剪辑室，然后我会说：“嗯，
Steven，这里有一幕我想要这样拍。”他知道我在说什么，之后，他会
说：“喔～那如果这样拍呢？”但是，你看得出来，当我在秀出自己的
想法时，他的脑袋想得是“法柜奇兵四”。哈哈哈。你看得出来他是位
相当优秀的导演。
I'm told he worked a lot with the Transformers' screenwriters Alex
Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to bring a certain innocent tone to the
film. The motto seems to have been, ''It's about a boy and his car.''
ＥＷ：有人告诉我们，Steven与变形金刚的编剧Alex Kurtzman 与 Roberto
Orci花了很多时间要把一种．．纯真的感觉放进电影中。而这种ＦＵ好像
是“一位男孩与他的爱车”。
Yeah. That was the hook to the movie. But I added a stronger
military thing at the beginning to make it more, I guess, badass,
to make the stakes higher. But originally the tone was very suburbia.
We kind of changed that and made it edgier. I like the idea of the
suburbia. I specifically shot this a little bit more suburbia, meaning,
like, I would never put actors at a Burger King, but it's what people
do, you know what I mean? Or in [lead character Sam Witwicky's
suburban] house. It's not a sexy house. But it's identifiable, and
more accessible.
ＭＢ：是啊。那就是这部电影的一个主轴。但是，我在电影开头加了很强
烈的军事要素，让整部片．．好像牵涉到更大更重要的大事。但是，一开
始电影的基调是非常生活化。我们有点把这个基调变奏，让它更．．前卫
点。我喜欢生活化。我还特地放进了比较多生活化的感觉，像是，我以前
不会把演员放在汉堡王，但是，这就是真实世界人们会做的事情。你知道
吗？还有，Sam的房子里面，那不是间很酷的房子，但是你认得这样的房
子，因为你认得这样的”影像”，你会更容易投入在片中。
Was there a particular demographic that you thought would be
your target audience?
ＥＷ：有没有哪个年龄层、客群是你刻意锁定的？
I just thought it would be from kids to, you know, to 20-something
whatever. The first day on the set I'm working with all these guys
in the military and I was apologizing for the movie. Forty-something
guys. I was like, ''Okay guys, I know this sounds really stupid, but
there's a 40-foot-tall robot over here and it's going to flip and land
right here.'' They're like, ''Which robot? Is this Starscream?'' I'm
like, how do these guys know that? And I realized, oh my God,
it's a lot older than I thought.
ＭＢ：我只是想．．这应该是给孩子们看的，你知道，二十岁左右的，随
便啦。开拍的第一场戏是跟一群军人合作，我还向他们道歉。有四十几个
人吧。我说：“好吧，各位．．我知道这样说很蠢。但是，这里有架十二
公尺高的机器人，他会在空中变形，然后他会在这里着陆。”。然后，他
们竟然问说：“哪只？Starscream吗？”。我的反应是”你们怎么会知道
Starscream！”。从那之后，我就了解了，这部电影可以锁定更多更年长
的对象。
What is your work ethic with actors? What do you want and expect
out of them when you are on the set?
ＥＷ：你与演员之间对于工作态度的要求到哪个程度？当你在片场，你会
希望看到演员有怎样的表现？
I want people to bring their A game. There are some directors that
sit in a chair. They sit in their trailer. I am always on the set. I do
12-hour days, that's it, and I don't go in overtime. And I shoot very
fast. When I am doing action I'm like your worst nightmare basketball
coach. I am there with my kneepads on, right next to you, and I'm
there because I'm trying to instill the adrenaline. When they see me
intense, I see actors' intensity starting to rise. It's like a game you've
got to play. Sometimes you create a bit of chaos. We call it on the
set ''Bayos.'' But no, honestly, it's like a manipulation thing.
ＭＢ：我希望看到“最高水准”的演出。有些导演，都坐在椅子上。坐在保
母车里面。我总是待在现场。我一天工作十二小时，就是这样，而且我不加
班。而且，我拍戏超快。当我在拍动作片段时，我会是妳做恶梦都不想见到
的导演。我到现场就是打到高速档在冲，我就在妳身边，因为我要把那种血
脉喷张的感觉注入的片中。当演员看到我紧绷著，我也会感受到演员们开始
燃烧小宇宙。这像是把妳丢到游戏当中，你就是要玩下去。有时候，你会把
步调搞的有点混乱。我们称之为“Bayos时刻”。但是，说实话，一切都还
是在掌握之中。
You made certain changes to the Transformers from the '80s series
to update them and make them cinematic - like giving Optimus
Prime a long-nose truck cab instead of a flat-front. There was a
lot of fan uproar about that. There were even rumors that you got
death threats.
ＥＷ：你把八零年代的变形金刚做了些改变，像是。。升级还有让他们更
有“大萤幕”感－像是Optimus Prime的卡车头不同于过去。有许多粉丝大
表不满。甚至传出有人威胁要你好看？
No. You get these funny talkbacks, like, ''Damn you, Michael Bay,
you wrecked my childhood, Michael Bay. I want to hunt you down.''
I mean, whatever, you know. People are passionate about their
childhoods. [laughs] But honestly, they remember the cartoons
greater than what they really are if you look at them. Because
they don't stand up at all.
ＭＢ：没有的事。你会收到很多有趣的来信像是“他Ｘ的，Micheal Bay你
毁了我的童年美梦。”“Micheal Bay我要追杀你到天涯海角。”。你也知
道的，人对于童年总是有股热情。但是，说实话，如果你现在把卡通拿出
来看，他们“印象中”的卡通其实比实际上的情况来的好看、出色，因为
真正原版的卡通其实太古老了。
I watched the 1986 Transformers animated movie the night before
seeing your film, and it was, um, kinda not so good.
ＥＷ：我在到电影院之前看了一九八六年的变形金刚电影版卡通，嗯，看
起来是没那么优。
Yeah, I saw 15 minutes of that movie and I wanted to put a gun to
my head. ''I can't see this. I have to go into my own head about what
this movie [I'm making] is.'' [Laughs] So yeah, you take the heat,
but they weren't seeing [the robots] in a 3-D world.
ＭＢ：对吧。我才看了十五分钟，就已经想拿枪轰掉我自己的头了。我脑
袋就在配音说：“我不能看这个版本！我应该把脑袋中自己拍的那个版本
拿出来看．．．。”你感受到那种．．魅力，但是，那时候的机器人毕竟
不是在３Ｄ的世界中呈现。
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I couldn't help noticing that all the
Autobots other than Optimus Prime are GM cars.
ＥＷ：我很难不去注意到一点就是，片中除了Optimus Prime之外所有的
Autobots都是ＧＭ的车．．
MICHAEL BAY: Why did I do it? I did this movie for [a budget
of] $150 [million]. That was a hard number. Steven, he's tight with
the budget. So it forced me to get creative. I opened it to any car
company, from Ford to Porsche, anyone. I just did it to keep an
open mind because I wanted to find Bumblebee. I did not want a
Volkswagen [like in the original cartoon series] - it's the Herbie
Love Bug to me.I've had a relationship with GM, so they took me
to where they do these cool concept cars. I saw this picture of that
Camaro [used in the film], and I'm like, That's the car. It saved me
$3 million on my budget, getting all those cars. I don't think you
are whoring out the movie, because I think each car kind of fits the
character. Maybe not Jazz [the Autobot that's a Pontiac Solstice in
the film]. Jazz is the one thing which I was like, ehhh, I wish he
was a different car, personally. It's too little. But that's why I did it.
It saved me money.
ＭＢ：原因吗？我手上有一亿五千万的拍片预算。这可不算充裕。Steven
对于预算也抓得很紧。所以，我必须想出一些办法。我把这个合作机会提
供给所有人，从福特到保时捷。我这么做是为了找到Bumblebee，所以我
不设限。我不想要金龟车，也就是原来卡通里面的设定，那看起来好像
“金龟车贺比”。我与ＧＭ有合作过，所以，他们把我带到概念车中心。
就在那里，我看到了一台Camaro（电影中的Bumblebee），我脑袋一转，
就是这辆了。能够获得这些赞助车辆，省了我三百万美金。我不认为与车
商合作降低了这部电影的格调，因为，我觉得每辆车都与它的角色形象互
相辉映。也许．．只有Jazz跟Pontiac Solstice这组比较．．个人而言，我
希望Jazz能配不同的车子。因为最终这个组合让它看起来蛮小只的。但是
，我还是必须这样做，因为我要开源节流。
Was there any concern that you were also serving Hasbro, making
sure that you are true to the toys and original characters?
关于玩具制造公司Hasbro这边，你有刻意让角色与玩具以及初代角色有忠
实的重现、相似吗？
Well, I said ''Listen, if I do this, I'm going to redesign these things.
You might not like everything, but I'm going to do it my way or
I'm not going to do it.'' Starscream [the Decepticon fighter jet] they
had a big f