PROFILES

Michael Bay is the producer of “The Hitcher.” Bays six movies as a director have grossed nearly $2 billion in worldwide ticket sales. He is currently in post-production on his seventh feature, Transformers, set for release July 4th, 2007.

His company Bay Films continues as one of the top production entities in Hollywood. In 2001, Bay inaugurated Platinum Dunes as another arm of his company, to help new talent hone their skills on smaller projects before being working on larger-scale, higher-budgeted movies. The Hitcher is the fourth Platinum Dunes production.

Bay's first project with his Platinum Dunes producing partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a remake of the 1974 cult classic. The new film, directed by Marcus Nispel, grossed over $110 million worldwide.

The companys second movie, The Amityville Horror, directed by Andrew Douglas, earned over $108 million worldwide. Last fall, Platinum Dunes third feature, the prequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, directed by Jonathan Liebesman, earned nearly $40 million domestically and is continuing its international run. Extending their collaboration on The Hitcher, Platinum Dunes has signed a first-look production deal with Rogue Pictures.

Bay as Director

Bays first feature film as director was Bad Boys, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence; it grossed over $140 million worldwide. His second film, The Rock, starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage, took in more than $300 million globally. His third directing effort, Armageddon, which he produced with Jerry Bruckheimer, starred Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, and Liv Tyler; it took in over $550 million around the globe.

Bay reteamed with Affleck and Bruckheimer on Pearl Harbor, on which he shared producer credit, and which grossed over $450 million worldwide. Bad Boys II marked his fifth collaboration with Jerry Bruckheimer and reunited him with original stars Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, and grossed over $260 million globally.

His fifth film as director, The Island, starring Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, and Sean Bean of The Hitcher, earned over $160 million around the globe.

The Los Angeles native and Wesleyan University graduate began his career directing commercials and music videos for Propaganda Films. At age 24, following film school, he made his first foray into the music video business. His works for such artists as Meat Loaf, Aerosmith, Tina Turner, Donny Osmond, and the Divinyls brought him industry recognition and led to a number of MTV Video Music Award nominations, including the coveted Best Video of the Year prize in 1992 (for Van Halens Right Now).

Mr. Bays first television spot, for the American Red Cross, was a Clio Award winner. Within three years, he had helmed some of the best-known and acclaimed advertising campaigns in the world. Nike, Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Reebok, and Miller Lite were among his clients.

He is the youngest director to have won the top awards bestowed by the advertising industry. He won the Grand Prix Clio Award for Commercial of the Year, for the Got Milk/Aaron Burr commercial; this famed spot, along with two others in the irreverent Got Milk campaign that were created by him, was cited as Best Campaign of the Year by New Yorks Museum of Modern Art. In Cannes, the worlds largest competition for commercials, he won the Gold Lion for the Miller The Best Beer campaign and the Silver Lion for the Got Milk/Aaron Burr spot.

In 1995, Mr. Bay was honored with a Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials.