Michael Bay Has Story And Is Starting Work On Transformers 3 For 2011 Release

Today is day one of Michael Bay's hard graft on Transformers 3. He has, apparently overnight, flown to Rhode Island to talk to Hasbro about incorporating new characters into the film and is now working with Ehren Kruger on the screenplay. The final day of his travails will be on July 1st, 2011 which is now the date set for the film's release – just like Paramount and Dreamworks had initially promised us back in March. But what does this mean for his 'smaller film', Pain and Gain? And is Megan Fox coming back for more punishment?

According to a post that Bay himself made to his official forum, Megan Fox will indeed be coming back for more. Contractual obligation? Most likely. He's keeping up the war of words, however:

Megan Fox, welcome back. I promise no alien robots will harm you in any way during the production of this motion picture. Please consult your Physician when working under my direction because some side effects can occur, such as mild dizziness, intense nausea, suicidal tendencies, depression, minor chest hair growth, random internal hemorrhaging and inability to sleep. As some directors may be hazardous to your health, please consult your Doctor to determine if this is right for you.

Great. That means we've literally got over two more years of this daft back and forth between them. Let's just all agree to tune out now.

When the 2011 date had originally been touted, Bay seemed to balk and talked about shooting a smaller film before returning to his megabot behemoth of a franchise. That turned out to be Pain and Gain, a kidnapping and extortion thriller about a pair of idiot bodybuilders, which he now tells us will follow directly after Transformers 3. I Am Number 4 and Bad Boys 3 seem to have been set on the backburner for a while then, though I wouldn't be surprised to see either of them derail Pain and Gain. Heck, I wouldn't really be surprised to see Bay follow Transformers 3 directly with Transformers 4.

Thanks to Twitter user @ImmaculateCale for thinking to send me a heads up on this story. Give them a follow out of gratitude, why don't you?