Hello, I'm Michael Bay, director of Bad Boys.
Sometimes people think I'm crazy. This is my very first movie.
I was about, I think, 28, 29.
The reason they call me crazy, or thought I was crazy...
...is the very first shot we did for Bad Boys...
...was a plane flying over a miniature Miami sign.
We went out to the runway.
I said, "I want to be at the end of the runway.
And we're going to put this three-foot sign...
...three-foot by twelve-foot Miami sign...
...right under the basic landing strip...
...where the wheels are 20 feet from the light stands...
...when they come down, hit the runway."
When I got there, they set up this sign off to the side of the planes...
...and I'm like, "Guys, no, no, no.
We need to put this sign right under the planes."
We... They're like, "You're out of your mind."
I said, "But that's where the shot's gonna work.
It'll be cool, trust me."
My word on this movie was, "Bitchin'. It's gonna be bitchin'."
And we went out to the runway and they said:
"Well, an EI-AI plane hit this light stand about three years ago."
I'm like, "That's good, let's put the sign right here."
These 747s and DC-10s were coming...
...about 30 to 50 feet right over us.
It was the most exhilarating thing.
I ain't cleaning up after you.
My hand can't get down there. When it does, it gets stuck.
Then you got this shit.
Get that fry.
This scene with Martin and Will getting carjacked...
...was taken off a true story of carjackers.
They sometimes work in threes, they sometimes use a female decoy.
We took this right out of real cop stories.
This is actually a scene we added...
...after we test-screened it.
We shot an incomplete movie because that was all the money we had.
When the money ran out, we needed a little more movie.
So we added, I think, about four scenes.
Funny. Let me tell you how bad a day you're having.
Actually, they're using my car here.
We didn't have the money to rent a car, so we just used my car.
"You think I can get a high price?" Say, "Yeah, it was in Bad Boys."
...who drive stupid-ass cars...
See, Martin's calling my car a stupid-ass car.
When I showed my mom this first scene...
My mom always likes to see what I'm doing and she watches the movie.
After she saw the first scene...
...she goes, "There a lot of 'fucks' in this scene.
What'll you do?" I think there were 18 "fucks."
And I'm like, "I'll cut a few out." So I cut it down to, I think, 12.
Wesley Snipes, Passenger 57.
There's that "motherfucker." Martin has a way. He's got 12 fucks.
It could mean 12 things. He gave me a whole lecture on it.
Here's that shot.
We shot it at about 120 frames.
That plane went right over.
Miami's actually a beautiful place to shoot. It's really hot.
When it's hot and sticky and muggy...
...the crew gets a little on edge sometimes.
The murder rate in the world goes up in August.
That's right when we shot this movie.
The budget was, I think, $17 million.
I had about $9 million to make the movie...
...but it didn't matter because it gave me a chance to do a movie.
My whole goal on this movie...
I knew I had, let's face it, a bad script, but what I did have is...
...two great, charismatic actors...
...Martin and Will.
That's what this movie's all about. The charisma of these two guys.
It was to make a fun movie.
You can drive trucks through the logic...
...of some of the script in this movie.
There was a lot of improvisation on the set...
...and using the comic genius of Will and Martin together...
...I think really helped make the movie.
It's a genre movie that we tried to shoot...
...and give it a whole new look.
Make it hip and faster.
My stunt coordinator, Kenny Bates...
...is someone I've worked with quite a bit.
He was one of the guys who invented the accelerator-decelerator.
It was a machine that could pull guys off a building...
...or jump off a building.
You've got a wire and it mathematically slows you down...
...so you can get away with these tricks.
This scene where we had this guy in this van and we shot him out...
Kenny Bates called him a human sandbag.
I said, "Kenny, what do you mean?" He says, "We'll throw him out."
"Isn't that gonna hurt?" He said, "No, he's like a big sandbag.
I've done lots of stuff to this guy.
We're gonna throw him out the car, going about 25 miles an hour."
I said, "That's rough." "Don't worry about it." So we did it.
Actually the guy flew out and he gave me, like, two takes...
...sped up to about 30 miles an hour.
To smooth it out a little, we dragged a piece of plywood...
...so it wouldn't scratch him up.
He fell out, hit the plywood and then he bounced off onto the cement.
This first scene, the setup where you kill a police officer...
...or a decoy police officer, is taken out of real police crime scenes.
What they do is they kill a decoy officer...
...and they're trying to figure out who this officer is.
What happens is, when you kill a decoy officer...
...the whole department will look for...
The department shuts down and they focus strictly on what is going on...
...who killed this officer.
When an officer is down, it is a major, major deal.
This crime scene was actually taken... George Gallo...
This was something that happened in New York City.
They killed a decoy officer and they broke into a drug vault...
...that they had to, crazy enough, vent it...
...because the drugs were making toxic fumes.
They had to vent it out...
...and the guys actually broke into a heroin locker.
It was actually cocaine...
...but in this movie we changed it to heroin.
He was commenting on our craft service.
We didn't have money for good food so...
What you're seeing right now, in the breaking-into-the-vault here...
...is an extremely fast-cutting scene.
It's cut so fast because we had no money.
We had about $15,000 to build some of these small sets.
If you look at them too long, you can see how chintzy they were.
Literally, almost cardboard walls.
I wanted to keep it fast and energetic...
...keep the pace up and also try to hide how cheap the sets were.
A lot of times when I do my action stuff...
...one of the things I do is write all my own action.
And I do it from a visual character standpoint.
You know, added something with this sled going through the vents...
...because I felt crawling, there was just no speed to it.
If you watch the scene, it starts picking up.
It's got a real momentum to it.
That's how we invented this sled, just to get some real speed going.
The sled was fun to ride. It would go very fast down these tubes.
The challenge of making this movie in Florida was quite different.
I'm normally used to working with a crew I've worked with for years...
...in commercials.
And I was basically set up in Florida...
...surrounded by an entire crew from Florida.
They looked at me as some 28-year-old, 29-year-old kid...
...thinking I didn't know what I was doing.
And I did shoot this movie...
...I guess, in a non-traditional manner.
And throughout the process, a lot of them were saying:
"This isn't gonna cut."
Jerry Bruckheimer said, "You've got to show them scenes that you've cut.
You've gotta show them how this movie does cut...
...how it is working and how funny it is."
When I did that, I really got the crew on my side.
It's very frustrating when you're a director...
...and you've got all these people saying, "You can't do that."
There are no rules to film. That's the first rule.
You can break rules and you can make your own rules.
- Daddy. Daddy. - What's up?
We obviously cast this little boy because of his ears.
If you look at Martin, you look at the little boy...
...has that same problem. But you know what?
I think Martin has bigger ears, actually.
There was a scene we took out that was quite funny.
It was Will Smith in the morning waking up, just like Martin...
...but Will had two Latin twins in his bed.
Bad Boys was a movie that a lot of studio heads have pointed to...
...where it said that actually black guys can make money in Europe.
This movie made over $100 million in Europe...
...and it's one of the movies that helped make Will Smith a movie star.
I think Will told me...
We had an argument when he was running down the street.
I wanted him to go shirtless.
He said, "I want a shirt on and leave it open."
And I'm like, "Okay, okay."
He points to that saying, "This is where I became a movie star.
When I was running down that street and I had a shirt halfway off."
Will is a true, consummate professional.
He is one of the nicest guys you've ever met.
He is a very intense, hard worker.
Martin Lawrence is probably the funniest guy I've ever met.
He is a comic genius, and he has got a face worth a million dollars.
Just the way he can manipulate his eyes and use different accents.
I got along very well with Martin.
In a way, we talk about this movie...
...like we were three kids kind of growing up on this movie.
See this?
What's wrong with this picture?
What I liked about the Bad Boys process...
...when I look back on the movies I've done...
...from The Rock and Armageddon, having all the money in the world...
...and now this new Pearl Harbor project...
...but Bad Boys taught me how to do something low-budget.
Basically I was given days that were 12-hour days...
...and if I didn't make my day, they would shut the generator down...
...and the scene would be incomplete.
So it was a marathon...
...of shooting scenes and knowing that I had a time clock.
If I didn't make it, that scene was the way it was...
...or it wasn't in the movie.
So it was a major test and I think it was a great test.
You've got these young directors doing these $100 million movies...
...and I wouldn't want that training ground.
I like the lower budget training ground.
This is where I employed every trick I knew...
...from making music videos and commercials...
...where you are on tight schedules with not a lot of money...
...and you've got to employ all the tricks of the trade...
...to get your movie made.
...but we came up with a problem.
Your mama snorted up all the dope.
I got this project with Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer many years ago.
I was the low man on the totem pole coming from commercials and videos.
I told Jerry I figured I had nothing to lose...
...and I said I would do this and do that...
...and I know this other English director is the first choice...
...and he's an older guy. I'm 28.
I know how to sell movies to this...
Or actually, I know how to create entertainment for my age group.
The two people we were gonna use were Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey.
Jon Lovitz actually credits my career...
...by saying it was the best choice he ever made...
...of making my career by him not doing the movie.
When Dana Carvey was coming off of Saturday Night Live...
...he was going to play the Will Smith character...
...and Jon Lovitz was going to be Martin.
I actually did a director's test for Jeffrey Katzenberg at Disney...
...and we had to shoot 12 pages.
We had about $8000 to spend...
...and I think I failed.
Jeffrey Katzenberg didn't think it was funny.
The movie kind of fell apart because Dana Carvey left.
So the movie dissolved, I went back to commercials...
...and Jerry Bruckheimer was set on making this movie happen.
I really wanted to work with these two producers because...
...they had worked with people coming out of commercial field.
These producers have worked with guys...
...coming out of the commercial field...
...such as Tony Scott and Adrian Lyne.
They taught me a lot about producing...
...how it's a checks and balances process...
...in terms of directing...
...and how you really have to make a movie as a team.
Hey. You driving.
This scene with Martin is really Will's scene with Karen Alexander.
I just started to have Martin do some funny stuff in the background...
...and it slowly expanded to more and more.
It's kind of how we work sometimes.
I was just trying to get charisma of these guys going.
Martin always says, "Yeah, I'm a boxer, I'm a boxer."
We started playing around, we shot this fast with Martin's stuff.
And as you can see, he's great with physical.
One of the worst nightmares in the gym.
Some major ill shit happened down at the P.D.
There's lots of heroin and cash involved.
There'll be some jolly young men who want to party.
What do you need?
Lots of people will talk to you, not me.
You mean customers?
I'm not asking you to get into any wild shit.
Finally, when the movie was greenlit at Sony...
The movie moved from Disney to Sony.
Sony had paid, I guess, $3 million for the script...
...and getting the script to move over there.
We had Martin Lawrence at the time, who I thought was truly a funny guy.
And they wanted to use Arsenio Hall.
They wanted to partner Arsenio Hall and Martin Lawrence together.
I had been watching Will Smith on TV and I told Don Simpson:
"This Will Smith can be a star.
This guy is funny and he's really hip.
He really hasn't broken out in a movie."
Don and Jerry simultaneously were also looking at Will Smith...
...and we came to a consensus.
Will came in, he wanted to really do the movie...
...and so I met with Martin and Will...
...and we were off to the races doing Bad Boys.
- Right after I tripped, it opened. - They must want us to come in.
Take a peek.
Hello!
We're your new neighbours.
Don't be alarmed. We're Negroes.
No, man! Too much bass in your voice.
A lot of this scene was improvised.
This whole line about brown sugar:
...brown sugar?
Basically Will and Martin would come up with these lines...
...we'd go into my trailer, discuss it...
...and then slowly we'd start breaking it down and creating these jokes.
Here in this scene, you're going to see Martin's physical comedy...
...how funny he is.
Let me take a stab at this one.
He sells the ventilation plans...
This scene in here, we have my line producer.
I wanted him to be the dead guy because we sometimes had arguments.
He looks better this way than he did as a line producer.
Please? Look around.
The smell and the...
It's just unexpected.
It looks like our buddy Arrona was a gambler.
Got dog track, jai alai...
- Needed money to pay his debts. - Bookie.
Damn, man!
Watch where you swing the dead leg!
My bad, my bad!
Damn this. I'm calling Homicide.
I'm a narcotics cop.
Dead bodies.
I kept wanting Will to be really rough with this body.
Like pulling this knife in his hand that was stabbed into the table.
Now, Martin wasn't supposed to feel nauseous in the script.
In the script, it called for him not liking to be around dead bodies...
...but this whole throw-up thing and nauseous thing was a Martin...
It was just amazing physical comedy.
When you work with two comedians...
...they like to one-up each other on who gets the best line or joke.
Will in this movie was pretty much the straight guy.
When we were doing this driving scene...
...we were...
I think Will called Martin...
Scratch that. Everybody in the damn...
Will called Martin a bitch and Martin didn't like that.
He came to me and says, "Hey, Mike, 'bitch' means fighting words.
So I'm gonna fight with Will." He really wanted to punch Will.
As a director, I try to get these guys going on film...
...and I tell Will, "I want you to say bitch. Say bitch."
Martin doesn't know this, but the camera's rolling.
So look at Martin.
You'll see him struggle on camera here once Will calls him a bitch.
And then he's gonna start improv'ing this whole ending.
All I ever wanted to be was a cop.
I get up early and I take it...
It's almost coming.
I'm the first guy in and the last to leave a crime scene.
So fuck you! And fuck them!
And fuck anybody who got a problem with Mike Lowrey!
- I love you, man. - Fuck you, Marcus.
I do.
You're cool, man.
- You're my partner. - Shut up.
Slow-ass driver.
- Driving like a bitch. - Why I got to be all that?
Slow-ass.
I'll take us off this cliff, keep fucking with me.
Then it would be, what, two bitches in the sea?
You can tell when things bug Martin.
That bugged him and that was improv, that "two bitches in the sea."
Bad boys, bad boys What you gonna do?
What you gonna do When they come for you?
Only models and that's all.
Max just dropped by. I got to go.
You want me to call around looking for the newly rich?
Are there any new guys partying a lot, spending lots of money?
This guy called me today, desperate...
...looking for new girls in town. Are you available?
It'll be a quick $2000.
I got plans with Julie.
She's your roommate, right?
Bring her. She's cute, she's sexy.
She's not a working girl.
He's on speedballs.
He probably can't get it up.
Maybe we'll go check it out.
Could be the party I'm looking for.
It's obviously hard trying to find an actress that...
...can have the improv skills to keep up with Martin and Will.
And we tested a lot of females...
...and Téa Leoni had a great comic timing, she was very witty...
...and she was great at improv.
So she became our woman...
...and I think she did quite well.
She's also a very funny woman.
If I were in trouble, he's the person I'd call.
I know, I know. I've heard this before.
- Hello. - Hi.
You must be Max. Welcome.
I'm Eddie.
To the AI Capone suite.
I guess we're a little early.
This is Julie.
This suite in here where we shot this scene is the AI Capone suite.
If there was ever a freakier place to shoot...
This is on top of the Biltmore.
Apparently there were several people that were killed in this suite.
They threw some guy off a balcony...
...in this hotel, named Pinky or Fats.
When we shot here, weird stuff would happen.
They say this room is haunted...
...and apparently this whole suite was rigged...
...for the prohibition era.
These doors were certain passageways...
...for, I guess, prostitutes...
...and certain secret bars...
...and there were escape passages throughout this room.
The hotel was nice enough to let me stay here for a week for free.
The vibe, I couldn't sleep. It was a weird place.
Okay, Max, I think we've been here about...
I remember when I went to Sony...
...the head of the studio sat me down and she said:
"Do you think you can handle a movie like this?"
I thought about it and I looked her in the eye and I said:
"I've been directing since I was 25...
...and I've had over 500 directing days to my career at the time."
That's more than...
...a lot of first-time directors have ever had.
I said, "Yes, I can."
Looks like I'm catering this.
I was looking for my 2 keys of dope. Now I know where they are.
Yours? It's our score.
- And the girl? - Nobody.
Just entertainment.
Hi. I'm Max.
Nice to meet you.
I like a woman who takes pride in her appearance.
Don't you?
I hate when a bitch lets herself slide.
You look like a model in that dress.
Will you model for me?
Oh, great! It's the goon squad.
Max Logan, who was the woman who was killed...
Something very weird happened. She really wasn't an actress.
And these three men came in, Tchéky Karyo leading them...
...and he was acting...
...and the scene called for him to put a pillow up...
...and have a gun and shoot through the pillow.
For some reason, Max...
...Karen Alexander, she started to cry.
I'm like, "Karen, what's the matter?" She goes, "This is very scary."
I said, "Karen, they're just acting."
She goes, "I know, but I'm scared. I've never done this before."
It was just a strange thing.
Being in the AI Capone suite...
...and these guys were going to act out killing her...
...she started to have this reaction...
...that seemed to be uncontrollable, and she literally got freaked out.
Get her!
What the fuck?!
Shoot her!
This scene where we jumped off the roof...
...where Téa jumps off the roof...
...was done on an accelerator rig Kenny Bates invented.
Something he got a technical Academy Award for.
Movies use it quite a bit nowadays.
It basically gives an actor, or a stunt person, free fall.
I've been on it before...
...and it feels like you're free-falling and you very slowly stop.
It's just kind of a mathematical, physics thing, how it works.
So that was a stunt woman on a little, teeny wire.
People try to steal his accelerator because they don't like paying rental.
And the thing about Kenny Bates is he is a physics genius.
You wouldn't know it by looking at him, but he really is.
People have tried to steal his device and make their own.
I've heard in some movies, where guys jumped off buildings...
...it just stopped in a split second, it didn't have a slow recoil.
I've heard it's broken people's backs and necks.
You've gotta be careful when doing stunts.
Because, remember, it is just a movie.
What you got over there?
Cover her.
He knew the girl?
Look, man.
We'll get the witness and get the fools who did this.
See if you can catch a ride with Howard.
Where you going?
Checking calls made to Lois Fields. Max worked for her.
- I'll come with you. - No, we'll catch up later.
You okay?
I'm cool.
Hello? Hello?
Hello?
Shit!
Look, baby, I know quality time was my idea.
Don't talk about it.
Hold on, babe.
I need a full file on Eddie Dominguez.
Now, I love Joe Pantoliano, who plays the chief.
But I think I was experiencing...
...as a feature-film director, first time out...
...my first, what you would call, actor trick.
Let me tell you, now that I've done three movies...
...worked with many movie stars...
...every actor has a trick.
Meaning, they know how to play you to get more shots...
...to get a close-up...
...to just do little tricks.
Right here, Joe did not want to stand behind Martin...
...because he didn't feel it worked.
But what I saw between the lines... I told Joe:
"We have to do this in one shot. There's no money or time.
They are going to shut the generator off.
I don't have time to reverse the angle and shoot the other way.
It's too big of a set to re-light."
We had a semi-fight. He said, "I'm more comfortable on the other side."
And I said, "Joe, we can do this with you behind him."
And what I think Joe really wanted was a real tight close-up.
This happens all the time with actors.
Being a director, half of it is psychology.
You're a businessman, a psychologist and an artist...
...all in the same breath.
So I tried to assure Joe...
See how he turned his back to me?
He wanted me to come around on his face.
I kept promising him, "I'll give you a close-up.
We'll just punch in."
But you can see he's slowly fighting me on this one.
No, it's another murder case, you twerp.
You're not talking about the murder case at the Biltmore...?
After a little talking, we get him turned around, I give him a close-up.
I'll only talk to Mike Lowrey.
Why only Mike Lowrey?
None of your business. I talk to Lowrey or I blow town.
Mike, phone! Telephone!
He's coming right now. Hold on.
Talk.
I ain't got time.
This is the witness from the hotel.
He just got out of the john. Hold on.
- Talk to her now or she'll walk. - I can't be Mike.
She's going to walk out.
- This is our witness. - Calm down!
Now, let me just say, actor tricks, it's not a bad thing.
It's not like I'm trying to dis on Joe.
I don't know what I'm trying to say...
...but they're all fighting for screen time. That's what happens.
I was Max Logan's best friend.
Calm down, calm down.
Talk to me now.
She said if she ever needed anything...
I need your help.
Give me the address.
All right.
It'll be okay. Mike's to the rescue.
I'm on the way.
- I'll find Lowrey. - I can't go.
You got to go!
Get Mike to handle this.
Get to this address now. Get up!
You won't see your wife for a month! Get up!
Get this fucking door fixed!
Here we were cramped in this apartment in Miami South Beach...
...and it was so humid in here.
My special effects team, physical effects, they...
I said, "We'll blow the door off with the shotgun."
It came out like a big pizza pie...
...and a piece of wood flew across the room.
I'm like, "This is not how a shotgun blows off a door."
So we had to redo it...
...and this was the thing that kind of made me think:
"God, maybe I need someone who's done real big movies before.
And we gotta pull someone in from Hollywood."
That's how I decided to bring in Mike Meinardus.
We were trying to save money by hiring guys that were local in Miami...
...and sometimes when you bring on crew members...
...that aren't as advanced...
...you sometimes cost a movie more money.
I've been very lucky to work with excellent crews in many of my movies.
One thing I look for in crew members is they make it a career, not a job.
There's a big difference.
People that are totally passionate and are committed.
I'm a perfectionist with my crews.
Fortunately I've got a crew now that's followed me for three movies...
...from The Rock to Armageddon to this new movie, Pearl Harbor.
When you've got a synergy with people...
...and it's a family, things go smoother.
Everyone has a short hand with each other. It saves time and money.
I cared about Max also.
I'm just here to help you.
This scene was a lot of fun to do, when they broke through.
We had these dogs.
I've always had a fantasy of myself...
...owning two dogs named Luke and Duke.
I thought they'd be German shepherds...
...but we got these two little, midget, mangy little dogs.
Lukie, Dukie, whatever.
You got a back door?
When Martin's running out when the gun blows...
...you'll see this dog run the wrong way.
Martin literally almost squished this little poodle.
We kept the camera going and he picked this dog up. It's funny.
See that pizza that came across the door?
That's called a bad physical effect.
We just had to make do with it.
Run! Run! Move!
Here, doggie. Come on, doggie.
Lucky. We would have had a dead poodle on our hands.
There is too much killing going on!
Go after them!
I'll go around front!
Come on, move your ass!
Fuck!
Get in the car!
Damn.
- Go, goddamn it! - Fucking door!
Go, goddamn it, go!
How did you miss them? You fat fuck!
Watch your fucking mouth!
Lose weight, you'd have caught them.
I'd like to squeeze your fucking head.
Now you're in fucking trouble!
- You get the licence plate? - I got the plates.
You cockeyed fuck!
This is a getaway car? We won't get away from anything!
Is this a family station wagon?
You got a baby seat in the back!
It's an undercover car, okay?
I know they saw my licence plate.
Did they shoot Max?
I only saw bullets. You tell me what they look like.
I was busy trying to keep a bullet out of you.
I need you to look through some mug shots...
...to identify Max's shooter.
- Where? - Protective custody.
I told you I'm not going into protective custody!
I'm not playing.
You really pissing me off. I'll book your ass!
I'll develop amnesia. I suddenly feel a case of it coming on.
Fine, where would you feel safe?
You want to do protective custody?
In-home protective custody, at your place. I can handle that.
Yeah, my place. My place is...
No way!
Right!
Yeah, my place is the shit.
Mike Lowrey's place. You right.
That's the best idea you came up with tonight.
Wait here.
Detective Burnett!
How are you? Mr. Lowrey's not here.
He said I could use his place.
He didn't mention it to me.
Who's the chick? How's your wife?
Fine, she's fine.
Your kids, they're good? Family's the most important thing.
Is it?
Mr. Lowrey said you got a baby factory going on at your house.
Here you go.
If that ain't enough, I'll run you in for extortion.
You know, I'm so stupid sometimes.
Are you?
Now that you mention it, Mr. Lowrey mentioned you'd come by.
We built Mike Lowrey's apartment on-stage.
Remember I talked about the effects?
We didn't have the topnotch team on at the beginning of the movie?
We use in movies something called smoke.
It's what you use to give an atmosphere. It softens the film.
It's like an oil-based mist that kind of goes in the room.
You're gonna see, in this shot, it looks like there is a fire.
You'll see it in several scenes.
We had to add this line with Martin:
"I must have left some incense burning."
Because when you see it in the movie theatre...
...you see these big patches of clouds.
We had to explain it somehow.
Why am I tripping on shit I know is there?
You found a light switch.
I should have known it was there since I decorated the place.
This is Yvette.
Ignore this. It's one of my freaks, Yvette.
She's always calling, got to have it.
Don't call here no more now, freak! Just one of my freaks.
Take a look at that whopping smoke there. That is a mistake.
My first movie. I knew it was wrong, but that was all the money we had.
That's the problem with a low-budget movie.
Most people don't notice it, but I notice it.
Gives me a rush.
Bruce, my line producer, had a tough job...
...because he was given a movie that the studio didn't believe in...
...and all they cared about was the money.
They cared about me making my days.
It's not always that easy making my days.
It's like doing a war when you're making a film.
There's always the unexpected, there's rain, or this or that...
...certain overruns, certain over-budget.
So he had a tough time.
I think we actually almost came to blows one day.
It was the end of the movie...
...and going through this process...
...which is a very tiring, painful, just arduous process...
...not having enough money the entire time...
...it's like pushing a huge, 15,000-pound ball up a hill.
There was a scene at the end of the movie where...
...Martin shoots a guy out of the aeroplane.
It was a big explosion. We had a guy on a ratchet.
It was a dummy and we ratcheted him...
...into this big shelf system.
For some reason there was a major rainstorm...
...and we couldn't do the shot because the explosion would be too bright.
We were on an open-air kind of air hangar.
Literally the week before the movie was to end...
...the line producer said, "We're wrapped."
I said, "When are we gonna do the shot? We have to do it."
He says, "No, we're not doing it. It's not in the movie."
I said, "Wait a minute.
This is where the audience claps."
He says, "We're not doing the shot."
I said, "No, no, no. What do you mean, we're not?
We're doing the shot."
After months and months working in the humidity...
...and the humidity makes you sometimes...
It gets to your head. You're tired in the humidity...
...and he's saying, "You're not doing the shot...
...and I know you need the shot in the movie."
I said, "How much will it cost to force the crew in the morning?"
Forcing means you bring them in before their call time...
...and you pay them, I think, time and a half.
I'm like, "How much will it cost to force a crew to shoot in the morning?"
And he goes, "Twenty-five thousand dollars."
I'm like, "Okay, fine."
That, at that time, was a quarter of my fee, so I said:
"I'll write you a cheque right now."
He couldn't believe I was ready to write a cheque to Columbia Pictures.
He says, "I can't take your money." I said, "You better fucking take it."
Sometimes directors have to play this game to get what they want.
You gotta know the right times when to do the song-and-dance bit.
It doesn't work all the time...
...but when you really want something, you do it.
I said, "Take my money or I'm getting on a plane and going home.
I'm through with this movie business.
I was totally happy in my commercial business. I'm treated like shit."
I was treated poorly on this movie...
...but that made it a great learning experience.
The studio didn't believe in the movie...
...but Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson believed in the movie.
I knew Martin and Will did and I did.
So I kept sticking it out. Grinding out each day.
The studio president got on the phone and says, "We can't take your money."
I said, "You better take it because I swear I now have a plane ticket.
I'm catching a plane in an hour and a half."
They said, "We've never taken money from any director besides Tony Scott."
I said, "Tony puts his money where his mouth is, and I do too.
So take my money, let me pay for the scene and we will all be happy."
Finally they took my money and before we shot the shot...
...I put the lens on a close-focus lens...
...where I put the cheque in front of the lens and I photographed:
"To Columbia Pictures, from Michael Bay, $25,000."
A note on the side said, "A quarter of my directing fee."
Then we did the explosion. So the entire studio saw my cheque...
...in big, huge screen whatever.
They cashed my cheque and they didn't give me my money back...
...no interest, till it made over $60 million, okay?
I haven't killed anybody yet today, captain.
That was one of the great fights on the movie.
But let me tell you, it was a character builder.
...it's the only good news I got, okay?
You guys are bad news.
What does that mean? It means...
There was a day at the end of the movie where Will Smith...
...who is a consummate professional, like I said...
I really wanted him, at the end of the movie...
...when everything is over...
...I wanted Will to say to Martin, "Hey, man, I love you."
I wanted to soften Will just a bit...
...because he's kind of an asshole in the movie.
I felt it was really important to show his love for his partner.
That's what this is about, two guys who love each other like brothers...
...and it was really important to get this in the dialogue.
Three days before we shot the scene...
...Will said, "Yeah, this is great, we're gonna do this."
The classic fights are always funny between actors and directors.
The day comes, it's 3:00 in the afternoon, beautiful Florida day...
...on the tarmac of the airport.
We're ready to shoot, we'll be done by sunset, it'll be great...
...and Will said, "I don't want to say 'I love you.'"
I'm like, "What do you mean, you don't?"
He goes, "I don't want to say it."
I said, "Will, you said you'd say it, and it's part of the dialogue.
If it's stupid, we'll get rid of it."
He goes, "I'm not gonna say it." I'm like, "Okay."
We went on to a conversation that lasted an hour and a half...
...and remember, if I didn't shoot it, it's not in the movie.
As the humidity's getting to us and the crew starts backing away...
...because we are talking, arguing.
We're going at it, all four of us, Téa...
...Martin, myself and Will.
The bad sign is when the crew's quiet...
...and on a beautiful day, they pull out these huge 12-K lights.
And they wheel them around us because the sun is going down.
Finally, I'm at the end of my rope. I've explained the movie to Will...
...he's explained it to me.
I said, "Will, I just need you to say, 'I love you.'
If you don't want to say it, fine. Don't say it, okay?"
I pointed to the sun, which is now on the horizon. It was now 5:30.
I said, "That's motherfucking nature and she's not waiting for us.
You know, I don't care if you say it. Just go out and act. I don't care.
Whatever you want to say, fine, but she's not waiting for us.
If we don't shoot it now, it's not in the movie.
We don't have an ending."
So he goes out there and the sun is going down.
We had 15 minutes to shoot this whole ending with him sitting on the car.
And finally, after all this bitching and moaning from Will, he goes:
"Hey, man, I love you." And it's in the movie.
It wasn't so painful, but my God, sometimes we get on these things...
...where we just don't want to give in.
That was our doozy fight. Will will explain it a lot funnier than me.
We had some funny fights with Martin too.
- Mike can't do it. - Are you listening to me?
I read a book that could probably help y'all.
Can you go down and have a Coke?
- Please! - All right.
Want something?
Bring me a Coke.
Want one?
I'm fine, thanks.
Mike.
This is my idea to shoot in a boat actually filled with manure.
It smelled real good down there.
I said, "This is a perfect place to shoot this scene."
They said, "Can't we find some place easier? "I'm like, "No, I like this."
So, what is it?
The cutting agent is a highly volatile...
...substance.
- I don't care. - The ether...
I don't care! I don't care!
I'm not a fucking chemistry teacher.
We actually learned a lot about cutting heroin.
Probably more than I'd ever want to know.
- Yeah, it's totally fucked. - Shut up!
Okay.
What else?
It's taking longer to cook than we planned. If we rush it...
...we can't sell the drugs.
Tchéky Karyo is a really intense French actor.
I remember seeing him in La Femme Nikita.
He was la femme Nikita's trainer.
- Hi. - You dressed?
Yeah, I am.
We must go through some mug shots. I'll hook into the computer.
- And we can do this. - Who's that guy in the photos?
Sometimes I don't look at my shelf...
This scene here, I whispered to Téa:
"I want you...
...to ask Mike if he's gay and homosexual and keep driving it in."
Martin didn't know about it, but I knew it would set him off.
Because that's like a, I guess, trigger point with Martin.
So you're going to see him again...
...try to improv his way out of this scene.
When I saw it, the whole wall, I thought maybe...
...they were pictures of your lover.
Totally off-the-cuff and real reaction.
Gay?
Nah, nah, nah.
He's trying to think of a joke. That "nah, nah, nah."
You're not listening. It's not registering.
See, this is a trigger point.
I can tell on his face there. He is like, "Oh, my God."
The dents come from that.
That's how I gets down.
That's...
...sweet.
I'm gay. If I was, I'd change the drapes in this motherfucker.
No.
Take notice of the smoke cloud behind them, wafting around.
Here's another fun improv scene.
We basically set up...
...a story about the bologna.
...living, breathing creature. It probably had a name.
It's just bologna.
My bologna has a first name.
Actually, your bologna has about 30 names...
Téa was good at improv'ing and keeping up with Martin...
...and making it feel right off-the-cuff.
...and stuff.
They put it into a machine and grind it all up.
Then out comes, like, this sheet. That's what you're eating now.
You know what?
I don't eat bologna no more. How about a pickle?
- Can I eat the pickle? - It has salt, but it's a vegetable.
Salt in the pickle? Let me rinse...
None of this is scripted. It's just, we kept going and playing on the set.
How's that?
That's actually the fun of making a movie like this.
Because let's face it, you're just trying to entertain people.
That's the guy.
He was there, in the room.
We got a tip they was running major druggage, like 50 keys.
So we steps to the door.
"Freeze! Miami P.D.! Get down, get down, get down!"
Out of nowhere, this pimp named Chino punched me in the head.
Chino's running hos. Your dad will explain that.
Look at it.
Your dogs shit all over my place. Liquid shit.
It doesn't help, shellacking it in with furniture polish.
There's a piece there. Get it.
- I got it. - Look like a chip of shit.
Can I please have the parole jacket on Noah Trafficante?
- Thank you. - You know what?
I'm tired of this witness.
I want my life the way it was.
I'm tired. I got married so I could stop lying.
I can't believe you're complaining.
You got it easy compared to me, living in that zoo you call home.
Why you call my place a zoo?!
- I'm tired of you. - You want to fight?
Listen, Francine, please...
That's my silk shirt, man!
It's nice.
I figure since I'm gonna be Mike, I might as well dress like Mike.
I wanna be I wanna be like Mike
You're sick. Something's wrong with you.
You have a problem that should be checked.
Probably.
- The file. He worked at Club Hell. - Thank you.
Can you take care of this? I gotta call the wife.
Whose wife?!
Can you please do some work?
- Once today, just do something! - I tell you...
Do something to help this case.
Boy!
You look handsome today.
No, see, it's not that kind of day. Leave me alone.
Seriously.
When Will gets on this phone, it was completely made-up.
Something to get Martin going.
Go ahead.
All right.
How are the kids?
How's potty training?
You're so silly.
Will you be late?
No, it'll be 10:30, 11:00 before I get in.
Don't wait up. I'll be there.
This is the greatest part.
When these two are getting into it with each other.
That's what this whole movie's about.
What're you wearing?
Give me the phone! Give it!
She hung up a long time ago. I was playing.
This stuff is unscripted.
Right then and there, we're coming up with it.
Don't break up a home.
Stop wearing my clothes.
Just look at Martin's face here. This is what you pay him for.
I can't believe this.
Come on, Eddie Dominguez's file can't be that hard to get into.
I tried 3 times, I just can't get in.
And Will, Mr. Smooth.
That never stopped you before. Just let me know if you get anything.
Anything for you. But I can't get in. I tried.
- What's up, Chet? - Hey, Mr. Lowrey.
Hey, Mr. Lowrey.
The Lowrey Brothers.
I think it's a good scene right here. It was not written that way.
I was actually dreading shooting this scene.
And that's kind of the magic of movies.
Sometimes the scenes you think are written great...
...they don't turn out that good.
I think when you shoot movies, they create a life of their own.
- You must be Marcus. - I'd be Marcus.
It's really the vibe that you create and all the actors.
Movies, you have good days and bad days, just like anything.
I recognised you from...
...every one of the photographs.
Well, it's my man, you know.
The wall. Yeah, those on the wall.
You must be very good.
I'm sorry?
As a partner. Given your job, what you do.
What time are we doing this thing tonight?
- Excuse me? - Mike said we're going to a club.
"We"...
...as in me and my partner.
You wanted protective custody. You at my house.
That's just great.
I'll stay here with Chet the mini-moron doorman to protect me?
Chet is very good.
That looks like a stain on your rug. Damn.
That was my baby, Luke. He gets nervous in new surroundings...
He just shits.
It's like marking his territory. Sort of a male thing.
I offered to pay Mike for the cleaning and he refused.
I'll get rid of it.
You don't need that.
I was going to throw it out. I want a new look.
Mike, he's a special guy. Mike is special.
I call him Special Mike.
It's funny, you can laugh at that. That's why...
...I love him.
Me, I'd be pissed.
Look at this cute dog on the couch.
That's Luke.
Look how he crawls on the leather.
You want to meet Duke? He's in the bed. He's upset...
...and having diarrhoea and throwing up.
Oh, baby.
Let's go see if Duke is going to be okay.
Me and you. Me and you.
Who are you?
- Who are you? - Look, you must get out.
- Hands off! - Don't push me!
I'm Yvette.
Get your hands off me!
What're you doing?
Get out. If you don't stop stalking me, I'll arrest you.
You old psycho!
- You asshole! - She's into some weird shit.
What's going on?
That was crazy Yvette.
Stalking me.
I forgot she was coming. You threw her out?
Yvette is a masseuse.
She massages shit.
She told me.
Are there any other totally hysterical...
...half-naked women popping by that I should know about?
She was naked?
Titties were out.
You threw her out naked?
My wife would hate... She hates womanizers.
When we were creating these farce scenes...
...there were a lot of things going on.
Your trash is all over.
Enough! Please!
Me and my partner...
...we're going to Club Hell to bust Noah.
Anyone have a problem with that?
Fine.
Don't blow the case.
Basically we created Club Hell...
...in an abandoned interior of a bank.
You got it? You got it? Frank?
It's ether! It'll explode, you dope!
Don't even breathe, you knucklehead!
Oh, this movie is so dated, when I look at this movie.
Noah.
I remember you.
It's hard for a director to look at the movie after they've completed it.
Because I've already seen it hundreds of times.
You put a movie to bed, you don't want to look at it...
...because you think of all the pain.
You think of what a war it was to get it finished.
You realised how much you want to change after you see it again.
Looking at Bad Boys, I guess I did it about four years ago...
...so much I would change.
But I really do love the charm between the guys.
We're here arguing like schoolgirls.
Let's stop this bickering.
Because you're getting on my nerves.
This was a wild bank interior that was abandoned.
It had taco carts in there.
We just found it in Florida and created this bizarre club.
That would be a skateboard shot, under women's legs right there.
Look at you! Look at you! Can you stay focused?
I'm focused.
Focused on all this ass around here.
Let's do what we came to do and go.
- Simple. - Fine.
Check around. Meet at the bar in 10 minutes.
- Fine. - Fine.
Holy shit, what is he doing?
Oh, man!
That's the cop! There he is!
That's him! I'm going.
This bathroom fight here...
...we shot very quickly with hand-held cameras.
We were just basically going to try to make it...
...more visceral and very violent.
See, my mom never let me watch SWAT when I was a kid...
...so maybe I do movies like this.
I am changing. I'm doing a love story next.
When we broke this fish tank...
...I was concerned with not hurting these fish.
I'm a major animal lover.
So I had people surrounding these huge carp.
I think it was carp.
Actually, they were gigantic goldfish.
I love trying to add comedy in the midst of action.
Fuck.
That was a scene my mom hated.
Next time, learn how to work the safety with your punk-ass.
It was Gatorade. It wasn't piss.
A little Gatorade and Coca-Cola inside that urinal.
Who whupped your ass now?
This really ain't the fucking time.
The funny thing about Bad Boys was it was written so white.
Martin and Will, I'd go to them every day, "How would you say this?
What do you do?"
They would comment, "This is stupid. This is what we should say."
It's the chick.
Look, the chick!
The bitch from the rooftop!
That line that Will just said, "Who whupped your ass now," was:
"What happened to you?"
Julie!
Let's go!
That was the guy who shot Max!
The truck!
Take the truck!
There! Go!
We're in a hurry.
Let's go!
You're cops! Why are we running away? He's in there!
Here! Go!
This is good.
Noah's chasing us!
What was that?
Now, when I watch this little van-car chase...
...compared to what I've done on The Rock...
I don't know.
It's a real amateur chase right now.
Why do I say that? There wasn't a lot of footage.
There wasn't a lot of time to shoot it.
It's so slow. That was part of the joke...
...this kind of ice-cream truck.
Oh, shit.
Goddamn.
You the man!
You the man tonight!
How you pick an ice-cream truck that's a bomb?!
That's a big action shot.
This is protective custody?
Yes.
Nowadays with my style, the types of car chases are much more intense.
But intensity takes time and shooting, and it takes a little more money.
You better do something. We're running out of road.
This actually was a van just sitting there.
We're dollying in front.
Come up with an idea, fast.
Why do I gotta come up with all the ideas?
It's kind of hard to comment on these action scenes.
We out of fucking road!
It's going to blow!
Get the fuck out!
When you rig a car to explode, you cable the doors, the hood, all that.
When you blow it, you don't want it to hurt crew.
It could fly hundreds of feet.
You'll notice a touch of a cable on that hood when it crashes down.
Nowadays when I do movies, because I would have a little more money...
...is to digitally erase those little safety cables...
...that keep the car together when it explodes.
The dope?!
What are you talking about?
How about, "There goes our only lead to Max's killer"? He's out there.
That's not important, it's not your job to protect people! Shit!
- She's crazy! - I'm crazy?!
Her rocker's gone!
Stop your barking! This is the witness!
When we screened the movie for the first time...
...we had several missing comedy scenes...
...and certain scenes...
...to help clarify some logic...
...that we needed to fill.
This scene where we created them going into this convenience store...
...we had some TV writers come up with an idea...
...then I sat down with Martin and Will.
We had food at my house and we sat around, literally thinking of words.
What can we say? What's a funny candy?
They're like, "I don't know what a funny candy is."
We'd go through all the candies, go through the gums.
We came up with Skittles and Bubblicious.
We argued about Bubblicious and we said, "That's funny.
Banana Bubblicious, strawberry Bubblicious."
Will was just adamant, "No, no, no. Bubblicious is funny."
What's up?
It don't take that long to get shampoo.
- Let's go. - Look at this.
"Animal tested. Animal tested."
You know how many chemicals are in this?
I don't care if you go bald. Let's go.
Jojo.
He's a chemist.
That was a line we needed to put in there.
Help solidify some of the stuff.
You know the barrels of ether that blew up on the truck?
It's used to process heroin.
They do that to cut it. It quadruples the value.
You can't stick it in the microwave.
See? We're explaining the movie right now.
How much?
$14.25.
I left my wallet somewhere.
Freeze, motherbitches!
I like that word "motherbitches."
He invented it right there on the set.
Take it easy.
We are cops.
You're not cops. I'm not stupid. I know.
- Wait. - I've seen police.
I'm reaching for my badge.
You want badges, motherbitch?!
I give you badges!
Here! 99 cents. I sell you some.
You got 8 badges. This cop thing don't work.
I blow you!
Then I blow you!
Blow me? No, hump me, that's all right.
I'm from the Middle East. I kill before. I kill again.
- Hold on! - I'll blow you!
- Hump me. - Hold on!
The emotion I'm going through means this is serious.
Me and this motherfucker is not vibing right now.
- Something on your chest? - I got something.
- Hello! The guy's got a cannon. - What do you want?
You want some? Then come get it.
- I'm gone! - Freeze, bitch!
You freeze, bitch!
Oh, shit. I'm fucked.
Now back up.
Put the gun down. Get me a pack of Bubblicious.
And some Skittles.
Hell of a night. I'm going to bed.
So make yourself at home.
It's your bed.
I'll sit down...
...for a minute.
Because I'm guarding shit. I'm watching out for the bad boys.
I can see things real well, you know...
...from my peripherals.
For such a stud, Mike Lowrey...
...you sure seem rigid about having a girl in your bed.
Who?
Me? Mike Lowrey? I'm not rigid.
Comfortable.
It's my bed. Why would I be uncomfortable?
I don't know. I think it's more than just wired.
Maybe it was all the guns and stuff.
I never really shot a gun before.
All that steel...
She knows now. She knows he's a phoney and she's just playing him.
I'm not a comedian, but...
I don't mean that kind of...
It was a scene that brought the house down and the audiences.
You don't want that.
You don't want that, because when I come...
...I come with thunder.
And that's...
You sound like you're saving yourself for marriage.
No, that ain't me there.
That's Marcus.
You know what I'm saying? He's the man.
I got some others...
I done seen it now. Turn the page.
I done already seen it.
Don't laugh.
I cannot believe he wore his Afro that big.
I forgot about that.
That was a fun shot to shoot of Martin.
What's Marcus' wife like?
She's like a wife.
I mean, she must be pretty amazing to keep a guy like Marcus.
Keep a guy like what?
You know, watching him tonight, he's very...
...sort of take-charge.
The way he was throwing guys this way and that.
There's something about him. I don't know what. He's so smooth.
Boy...
...I bet...
...his wife's enjoying the smoothness right this minute.
What I like about Martin, he says so much with his facial expressions.
They change so quickly.
He can give you so many different feelings in a few seconds.
Probably couldn't be around him...
...just like our situation.
- If two people were alone... - Not with a guy like that.
Excuse me.
What is wrong with him?
This one goes on the bulletin board at work.
Don't do that, no, come on.
Put it back in.
That was something I did in my commercials...
...where you accentuate the joke with those little camera moves.
Something that worked, it was effective on a movie like this.
Got some jewellery for you.
I'm sorry, but damn that.
We need to address the serious lack of trust in this relationship.
- Please. - Is this legal? I don't think it's legal.
I won't be long.
It's legal.
Out of sight.
Sanchez, Lowrey. Yeah, your mother. Listen.
These guys are about to make a move.
Blue convertible. Two occupants. Check it out.
Here we go.
- Is that our guy? - That's him.
Where's the girl?
I don't see any girl.
Fuck off, barking-ass dog. Shut up!
Sneak up on my own house.
What in the world?
Very strange.
His ass is upstairs. Supposed to be my boy!
You motherfucker!
Ducking and weaving, up and down.
Look at this shit. This is what you want?
Got me climbing like a fucking chimp.
No, I ain't going out like that.
Don't take nobody that long to get in bed.
Got my babies in the house.
The man can't get no quality time...
...but my partner gets quality time.
I don't play that shit.
- Somebody's out there! - Get the kids. Get the kids!
I knew it! I didn't need a psychic.
Freeze!
Move and you're dead.
They're going to shoot each other. This is unbelievable.
Miami Police! Freeze!
I am the police!
What are you doing?
- You're doing Theresa! - No, I'm not!
- You're doing my baby! - Shut up!
We could sneak up and snuff them both right now.
But we want the girl.
Never fuck with a cop's family, asshole.
- Doesn't that piss you off? - Yeah.
Don't get me started. Out of the car.
Motherfucker!
Shit is making you crazy!
You know it ain't going on between me and Theresa!
I've been your partner for six years...
...and your boy all my life.
For you to even think...!
To let dumb shit like that get in your mind!
This is me! What's your problem?
Fucking...
I'm just...
I'm fine!
Get out of here! Where's Julie?
She's in the car, handcuffed to the steering wheel.
Are you trying to blow this case?
My bad. I ain't had no quality time.
You know how it is. Sometimes you do dumb shit.
My bad.
It's cool.
Go, go. All right.
These phone calls were made to Club Hell from this precinct.
Explain.
One of the things you do when you're casting actors...
...and you've got a full cast...
...is you sit around a table before you shoot...
...and you do a read-through, where you read the script.
We took this script that was written...
...for Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz...
...and slowly we had white writers trying to write for Martin and Will.
They just didn't have the lingo down.
They didn't have the smooth way of talking.
So when you read it, you can see how obvious...
...that it was written for not these guys.
What's very important in these read-throughs is...
...to put their own voice to it, you know.
With actors, you try to...
They really can enhance and create their character...
...and embellish it.
You can get comic timing...
...you can work through jokes.
I really feel that comedy is...
...something you can't always work out on a read-through.
You don't want to burn it out...
...because there's something that happens when you keep it fresh...
...and you keep it new when you're shooting it.
I think if you do it too much, practise it too much...
...it can sometimes take out that magic.
This Jojo scene was the very first scene of the movie.
Now, Martin here is a little cooler than he is in the rest of the movie.
It was the bandanna and the glasses. We took some of the stuff off.
I'm straight like a board, like an arrow. I'm so straight, it's sick.
It's a lot of dope. Who could cut it real quick?
Cut it? You mean, cut it up?
I'm sick of this bullshit.
Now, this scene where they're playing good cop/bad cop...
...was actually taken...
...from real police officer stories...
...of how they get informants sometimes to speak.
- I got 15 bullets. - Mike!
If you don't start talking, I'll fill your lying ass with hot shit.
He's a former ganja-smoking fucker.
- He ain't worth it. - You want some?
I'll bust your ass too!
So sad.
You're on your own.
What's up?
I'll tell you...
So I kept the camera rolling right here and I let Martin go.
I said, "Just keep going, keep talking."
I don't want no brain fragments on me. It gets in your clothes and it stinks!
Fuck that!
I'll tell you what I know. I don't know everything about everything.
Tell him something!
Three guys. They got a laboratory.
No, no.
Two guys! One guy died in a plane crash last year.
Used to be more!
No, it's one guy, really. It's only one guy.
Don't fuck with me.
This guy's an Einstein, genius college boy...
...egghead motherfucker. He got glasses.
His rich parents live in Coconut Grove.
Where? Tell him again, Jojo!
I'll tell you where.
You'd do that?
It is a good scene to start a movie with because it set their vibe...
...how different these two characters were.
Thanks. Why don't you get it?
Cool.
- Go. - Now?
Now's good.
Working with Jerry and Don Simpson...
...Don wasn't very involved in the script in the beginning.
He came down to Florida...
...literally a week before I was gonna shoot.
He holed himself up in his hotel and he started to write notes.
He wrote about 85 pages of notes on what was wrong with Bad Boys.
He came in on a Saturday at 3:30 in the afternoon.
I was shooting my first movie Monday morning at 6 a.m.
And he slammed this document on the desk and he says:
"We're taking our name off this movie."
Then and there, I saw my feature career go down the tubes...
...thinking, "I'm fucked, what am I doing here?
This is terrible. My one chance to direct a movie...
...and it'll over before I even start."
Basically, part of the problems of Bad Boys...
...is that we had no money for a writer.
To do rewrites, believe it or not, we had $10,000...
...for a rewrite person for the entire movie.
On movies nowadays...
...some of these people are getting paid up to $100,000 a week.
I mean, you can see what $10,000 can buy you.
So, what that meant...
...was that there was a lot of improvisation...
...and there were many, many days...
...where I'd rip out pages, go to Martin and Will...
...and we'd all sit in my trailer and we'd come up...
...with something that was funny.
We gotta do that in person.
We were kind of on our own because Jerry and Don...
...were doing their movie, Crimson Tide...
...back at the comfort of Disney while we were out on our own.
Three guys out there trying to make a movie that no one believed in.
I guess that was our motto.
Can't hurt for her to take a peek.
It can't? If they fire a bullet over here, it'll hurt!
We have guests.
Have them followed. Call me with their location.
This high-speed chase, ending near River and 34th Streets...
...was captured 2 nights ago by our news team.
Mom!
You said Daddy was in Cleveland.
- Can't be in Cleveland. - The officers didn't like our cameras.
No. Your daddy just wishes he was in Cleveland.
I'm telling you, this Fouchet, he's slick.
FBI, DEA, they got nothing on him.
But he got to deal with us today.
What's that?
That's the last time they handcuff me.
That's what.
Good boy.
Excuse me, ma'am. Ma'am!
All visitors must be announced!
Pisses me off!
Lady! Lady!
When you get back, this'll be over, right?
You got that right.
Now, don't worry. You'll be set free.
Cut loose.
You'll be back to your own life.
No more handcuffs.
- I'm out of here. - That's Chet with my veggie burger.
- Move your ass. - You got it.
Hi, can I help you?
I'm here to kill my husband, Marcus Burnett.
The tall one, or the short one?
The short one.
Thought so.
Is Chet ringing...?
Oh, babe!
Theresa.
Let me get your husband.
Marcus, get over here.
I know what it looks like. Did you get my message?
Can you...
...leave me and...
This is where you really see the comic timing of these guys.
You see how quick-witted they are.
This scene is something that obviously was scripted...
...but it wasn't as funny as it is in the movie...
...because it really took these guys all working together...
...and creating this stuff. Like that look of Will was hysterical.
And right here, they're improv'ing everything.
No, no, I saw it on the news.
That shit's slanted.
That was a Will line. That just came out of nowhere.
He didn't tell you I was coming in early?
They keep going, they keep talking. It's not in the script.
- You'd bring me here... - Julie! Julie!
I ain't even going to...
We're not arguing.
I'm raising my...
This is all Martin.
We wanted to tell you.
It really doesn't matter, Marcus... Mike, Kojak, whatever your name is.
I'll tell you something else...
It took a while to cut this scene...
...because if you did too many joke beats, it just didn't work.
You see me, I run out, I got a shirt open.
So I tested this scene three times with different audiences.
It looks like we having an orgy, and ain't nobody humped.
Ain't nobody doing none of that.
It's not what it looks like, okay?
Baby, she's a material witness.
That's real!
Baby, Theresa, listen.
It was orders. Listen, it was orders.
Can I talk to you? Can you stop, please?
There wasn't a lot of money to do this scene...
...like all the scenes in this movie.
So I decided to do a style of creating it in total slow motion.
This was done before I ever saw a John Woo movie...
...so don't think I stole it from him.
Julie, get down! Now!
If I were to do this scene again in another movie...
...I'd rip the hell out of this.
With all these bullets, this was a real place...
...and we only had money to do squibs in certain places...
...so we had to make do.
But you live and learn.
911!
I guess we had to pay for that palm tree right there.
A lot of times you'll do comedy on the set...
...by putting a camera and doing something quick, such as this scene...
...something the actor wasn't even prepared for.
That's how I've gotten some of my funniest jokes.
This is Troy, the stunt man, and this is all real.
This car literally almost hit this guy. Look at this shot.
That is two feet away.
I was operating this camera and I ran away.
That got too close for comfort.
Many times, I will operate camera and take the dangerous positions...
...to show my crew I'm with them.
As I'm doing this foot chase, I wanted aggressive and hand-held.
Look at that Gremlin. You can tell it's a low-budget movie.
And that Monte Carlo.
Two sweet cars out in Miami, huh?
This shot coming up with Will Smith...
...where he jumps on this hood...
...right here is where I thought, "This guy is a movie star."
Take a look. Right there, look at that.
He has "movie star" written all over him.
We did this foot chase, basically this whole thing...
...from that car crash to running through here, all in a day.
Just hand-held, just kept going around Miami.
I got banged up. I was running with my camera.
I'd use different types of Pogo Cams.
It's a teeny, cheapo camera, and I'd run with it.
It seems like this was copied from Tony Scott's Enemy of the State.
He has a foot chase, runs through a beauty parlour as well.
But at least I was there first, huh?
And here are my wheelchair friends.
They're doing their own stunts there. They were a basketball team.
You notice I put some wheelchair guys in The Rock as well.
This whole scene was literally shot in a day.
A lot of shooting, very fast...
...to do this huge thing.
What I liked about it... In the theatre, it worked because...
...it had a real visceral feeling to it.
Will Smith says that running with his shirt off...
...is one of the things that made him a movie star.
That scene where the guy was grabbing him...
...if those guys missed, they'd be hurt pretty bad.
Now this shot, where they stand up...
...was a signature shot for Bad Boys.
I told my line producer, "We gotta shoot this shot.
There's a shot in my head." He said, "It's not in the script."
I said, "We'll dolly around these guys and have them rise up...
...and this shot will be a trailer shot."
It was the signature trailer shot they used.
Sometimes it was such a fight to get shots going.
When you're a director, you sometimes gotta think of it on the set.
That's what makes movies better...
...by sometimes creating as you go.
I'm a director that can shoot very quickly...
...and I plan most everything, but I do allow time...
...for me to come up with new jokes, new shots.
A movie takes a life of its own.
I'm on the verge of solving this!
I've finally got the authority to shut you down.
You're all reassigned.
This guy is painting me into a corner.
We won't let the girl die.
We're not walking away. I don't care what she says.
The deal goes down in 4 hours.
You got 2 hours to find them.
It's time to get lucky.
Go do what you got to do.
This computer nerd that we had...
...I chose John Salley, the basketball player.
I worked with him on a Nike commercial...
...and I just knew he was quite funny.
He actually came to visit Martin while we were shooting.
We were looking for a hacker and I said, "Let's use John Salley."
Jerry goes, "No, we need, like, a geeky white guy."
I said, "But that's so normal.
Look at this guy. It's gonna be hysterical when this guy stands up."
And I wasn't lying.
Of course, this scene did bring the audience down.
Remember, you promised to get me out.
Eddie Dominguez.
There it is.
Girlfriend?
You know, this movie...
...the studio didn't believe in it.
They saw dailies and slowly it started to get a groundswell...
...where they really liked it.
But they still didn't give me money to shoot missing scenes...
...and they didn't give me money for a writer to rewrite.
So we cut together the movie...
...we screened it with the missing scenes left out of the movie...
...and the screening went very well.
But it's what encouraged the studio to give us an extra $2 million...
...to shoot some of these missing scenes and missing parts.
Mark Canton, who was the head of the studio...
...I actually snuck him into the editing room.
I said, "You gotta look at this."
And he became a huge supporter of this movie.
The movie, actually, at the time it came out...
...it became the most profitable movie of the studio that year.
Watch the map until he stops.
The signal's still strong.
Come on.
Thank you.
Lucy was the queen, baby. Think about it.
Lucille Ball was a bimbo.
- Desi was the brains behind it. - How can you say that?
What do you mean?
Take the bongos away, he's nothing.
It's conga!
Yo, fellas, what's up?
The fucking pencil squad.
Are we on traffic duty?
No, this is real. We got something for you.
You could get killed.
Let's go.
It's Conrad.
I'm calling in a favour.
Eastbound towards 135th Street.
Northeast, go northeast.
If I'm wrong, you can fire me.
This is what I need:
I need a SWAT team, helicopters.
We're calling all cars. Only I don't know where I need them.
Nice car.
Oh, yeah.
That's my toy.
I'm taking it with me for my collection.
And how about the wire transfers?
Two wire transfers to your banks...
...totalling 180 million dollars.
And 20 in cash.
Damn.
This has been a shitty week.
Getting full integration on that signal.
We're on the airfield now.
I bet it's up in the old hangar section.
Pick it up! Pick it up!
Deposit confirmation requested.
$90 million, Geldersbank of Zurich.
No easy approach.
No time. Fuck the backup!
We gotta go now.
We basically shot this scene in the end, in order.
It was just easier to work out the blocking.
I'll scratch whatever you want, blue-eyed bitch.
Did you go to college?
That was a scene actually that...
...I said, "I want you guys to talk.
Let's talk about this, let's come up with some jokes."
Thank you.
- You sure you want to do this? - Let's go.
Tuck in your skirt. Come on.
We didn't have Martin that day.
This was like a... We shot that part in L.A.
This is the best you can buy. Nice doing business with you.
We shot the scene in order from here as it broke in.
One thing we do to make sparks is we shoot these little pellet guns...
...that have little spark capsules...
...and when you get hit by it, it hurts.
Goddamn it, go.
It's funny, on one of the takes, Martin is running...
...and you hear, "Ow, ow, ow!" because he was getting hit by these things.
You gotta be careful using the guns...
...because these loads are strong enough...
...if you're close enough, to kill you.
You want to be careful where you point it and how far away.
I actually was shooting this shot right behind this car...
...and the bomb was quite scary and very hot after it blew up.
I was covered under a bunch of furnie pads.
It feels stunty, the whole blocking of this...
...but at the time, I had not done a lot of stunts.
What I mean by stunty, it just seems like stunt men trying to act.
Here, this is where Martin was getting shot...
...in the feet when he runs here.
Actually, Téa.
Doing a scene like this with Will basically took about 15 minutes.
Shooting it fast and not using a lot of angles.
This is where I paid for this scene here.
Courtesy of Michael Bay. Right there.
Now, why would a studio not want that shot in the movie?
The audience clapped here.
It was worth every cent that I paid for.
I got my money back finally after six months, which was all right.
You motherfuckers!
What's up?
Shit!
What happened when we were doing this scene...
...was the Cobra came out of the plane right here...
...and it crashed. And it trashed this Cobra.
You're gonna notice all these shots are done very tight because...
...we had damaged the entire frame of it.
Look how tight everything is. We were pulling it on a tow truck.
When you're a director, it's a war and you're a general...
...and if you don't have an extra Cobra...
...you've gotta figure out another way.
It took us awhile to get a new one...
...and we continued on with the scene.
Get in, Mike! Come on!
Get in!
Get in the car!
This shit's going to blow!
Get up!
Shit! Please, catch that motherfucker, he shot me.
- He shot me! - You all right?
A lot of the stuff of them driving...
...is all with the car just sitting still and us shaking the camera.
It's a good way to get into the actor's face.
I actually did this all on The Rock as well.
And I love cutting to aggressive shots like this.
How can you leave me at a gunfight...?
Things where you're strobing in front of the lens give a sense of speed...
...such as these pylons.
This car right here was actually going 135 miles an hour past that plane.
I thought the car would go off the runway.
You got the right to remain silent.
Anything you say will be used against you in a court of law.
- What you doing? - Getting it out the way.
Those are extremely long lenses, like 1000mm lenses...
...where I'm strobing and whipping across the ground.
It gives a sense of speed.
What if his car's faster?
It's not!
It'll be one or the other! It'll be him or it'll be us!
You better win!
That shot was a camera mounted seven feet away from the car...
...and we just spun this car at 90 miles an hour.
We have a problem with credibility, the audience thinking we killed a guy.
We gave this car to the Hard Rock in Vegas.
It was in the warehouse there where it was ready to be shipped to Vegas...
...and I had to shoot this shot, with him grabbing his head...
...and that shot right there, shot it with seven people in the warehouse.
It was raining obviously. Notice the wet ground.
My assistant did the makeup. The studio gave me $1000 to do this...
...and you needed it to tell the movie.
Freeze!
He ain't worth killing.
Freeze!
We had a little money to get police cars.
You saw it, now it's gone.
When we're doing the stunts with the cars...
Bet when your punk-ass woke up this morning...
...the stunt men, not to knock them...
...but they weren't getting it.
So I kept telling Kenny Bates...
Kenny Bates is an awesome stunt driver and he was the stunt coordinator.
He didn't want to embarrass them and he didn't want to do the stunts.
I said, "This is not a stunt training school.
On my first movie, we are not training stunt men.
It's three strikes, you're out.
So get in the car and drive and skid it at 120 miles an hour."
So reluctantly, he would do it.
We had the same problem on The Rock.
Kenny would have to do that too.
You need to be crazy to be a stunt car driver.
It's over.
There's a core group in Los Angeles that are awesome...
...but it's a very, very small group of guys.
I ever tell you I love you, man?
You always be getting emotional after a gunfight.
Because I'm glad we survived.
Shit.
What you talking about?
I love you too.
Don't be looking at me.
After all that arguing, look at that. Will said, "I love you."
That took two hours of arguing to get that line.
- Oh, man. - Julie, sweetie, you...
There's not a lot of angles here since we had 15 minutes to shoot this.
But you're cool.
You're down.
So, what's next?
See...
...there won't be no next.
You wanted Mike Lowrey...
...you got him.
That's Mike.
Old Mike Lowrey.
I'm going home to my wife to get my quality time.
Stop playing, man.
I've been beat three times out here.
I'm cool, I don't need no help. Back up.
Why you going home? You got shot in your leg, your dick don't work.
Do you have the keys?
Mike wanted me to go to this gunfight, then...
Well, then there was this witness...
My man! Oh, I'm sorry.
- Let me out of here. - I don't got the keys.
You don't have no keys? Why wouldn't you have keys?
Marcus, I thought you said you love me.
Well, the studio wants me to do Bad Boys II.
I would do it with Martin and Will. It would be a lot of fun...
...with us coming back together again.
So who knows?
This is Michael Bay. Thanks.