Michael Bay Testing 3D For Transformers 3

Michael Bay has been vocally against the growing popularity of 3D films, at last year's theatrical exhibitors ShoWest convention making the very unpopular statement that "I think it might be a gimmick." He added that he didn't know for sure, and that he was "looking forward to [James] Cameron's picture." And Avatar came, and became the biggest grossing film of all time — that's what they call a game changer.

We've heard that Paramount is pushing to film Transformers 3 in 3D, but will Bay budge? Bay appeared on Starz' "In the House" last night, where he talked about many things, including the possibility of seeing big giant robots on the big screen in 3D:

"It's a process we're testing with some 'Transformers' scenes," he said. "How successful it is with my movie in terms of a lot of real stuff coming out of the frame, real dirt, real complicated little particles coming towards the lens, because hopefully that process will work. I've seen some tests that look great on other movies. I just want to see how it looks on my footage."

I find it very interesting that Bay uses the word "process" and not "technology". Also curious is the comment that he's "seen some tests that look great on other movies". Both of these statements lead me to assume that Bay isn't planning to shoot Transformers 3 in 3D after all, but is considering post production 3D processing, a process that even James Cameron has called out as being a gimmick. One of the reasons Bay mentioned last year for not wanting to make a 3D film was that the 3D technology is too fragile for his explosive-level of filmmaking.

"The way I shoot is too aggressive for 3D cameras. It's a time consuming thing," said Bay. "Who knows... It might be a fad. I'm kinda old school. I'm old school because I like to shoot on film. I like anamorphic lenses, and that is old school."

Other bits revealed on the Starz show:

source: MTV