Michael Bay Has Responded To His Pigeon Controversy
Director Michael Bay denied that his production killed a homing pigeon during the making of 6 Underground.
Just a few days ago, Michael Bay was reportedly facing charges in Italy as a result of killing a pigeon on the set of his 2018 action flick 6 Underground. He allegedly made several attempts to clear his name, but none of them were successful. Now, according to Variety, the director is on the defensive, calling the report “false, reckless and defamatory.”
The outlet managed to obtain a legal letter in which the filmmaker’s attorney called for the report to be retracted or corrected. The Wrap was the first publication to publish the report, and both Michael Bay and his attorney, Matthew Rosengart, insist that the information is “simply wrong.” In a statement to the site, the director declared his love for animals and asserted that not a single animal has been harmed in any of his productions.
In The Wrap’s report, an insider on the production of 6 Underground alleged that a homing pigeon was killed by a dolly during a take. In the United States, such an incident wouldn’t likely cause much of a stir, however, pigeons are a protected species in Italy. Since Michael Bay was the director of the film, he was ultimately held responsible, according to the insider.
Michael Bay refused to go into specifics about the incident with The Wrap, but he said he wouldn’t be pleading guilty to causing harm to an animal. In the legal letter obtained by Variety, Rosengart stated that the director was not only never charged for harming an animal, but he was never even accused. He even said the publication had knowledge of a video disproving the allegations against the filmmaker ahead the publishing of the report.
According to Rosengart, the only “charge” that Michael Bay faces in Italy is whether he failed to properly supervise crew members tasked with handling animals on the set of 6 Underground. He went on to say that the report has painted the filmmaker as an animal murderer, which is extremely harmful to his reputation. He wrapped up the letter by echoing the director’s remarks about his love for animals.
Considering Michal Bay is one of the busiest individuals in Hollywood, it’s a wonder he’s able to find the time to battle reports accusing him of animal cruelty. He currently serves as an executive producer on the hit Amazon Prime series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. The third season of the acclaimed show dropped last month, and the streamer recently ordered a fourth season.
The filmmaker is also attached to a slew of other projects as a producer including Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, A Quiet Place: Day One, Armored, and The Raid. The latter is an American adaptation of Gareth Evan’s 2011 action flick The Raid: Redemption, which will center on a small Special Operations force trapped inside a building by an international criminal and his thugs. Patrick Hughes has been tapped to direct the film from a screenplay by James Beaufort and Patrick Hughes.
Further out, Michael Bay will serve as director for the forthcoming sci-fi movie Robopocalypse, which is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Daniel H. Wilson. The project is currently in development and no release date has been set at this time. The story takes place in the aftermath of a robot uprising.
