"A lot of directors don't want the pressure of a movie the size of Pearl Harbor. But I love it. I thrive on it." I love it when people get really mean and call you a 'hack'. It's like, don't they see how well these movies are doing? They make an impression around the world. I met this guy in Bali who lives in a hut with a TV, and he loved The Rock. That means something, doesn't it? "Directing is not a job. Is more like a career. Which is great!" "I make movies for teenage boys. Oh, dear, what a crime." "I know [critics] have [been tough on my movies]. And that's why I've taken Jerry Bruckheimer's advice: I don't read them, I really don't." "Quentin Tarantino called me once. Someone had written "Is Michael Bay the Devil?" Quentin said, "Don't worry, last year they called me the Antichrist." " "Lots of sci-fi movies are much ado about nothing. What I liked about [The Island] is that it's a universal thing: we all want to live longer. But how selfish would you be to achieve that? You could get a liver, a heart, kidneys, essential things. But I wanted to show people going for things that were just so crass, like fresh skin for a face-lift. For some woman who doesn't want to go through the pain of childbirth and have stretch marks, why not have your clone birth for you? How disgusting is that? " About the kissing scene in _The Island (2005)_ : "I should re-shoot that scene right now. Two characters, who have never even heard of sex, are now trying it for the first time - you could have actually made it really funny and touching. I kept saying to Scarlet and Evan I want you to feel like you're kissing for the first time. I don't know if you heard it, but when they're bouncing lips, they go "Wow!"..." "I write my own action. There's a scene in _Island, the (2005)_ - w highway chase where a pile of train wheels fall of a truck and smash into the oncoming cars. That thought came to me as I was driving next to a truck carrying rail wheels. My mind is very fertile, so I'm like "That's very dangerous!" I sent someone out to do research and found out those train wheels weigh a TON each..." His most offensive criticism: "Roger Ebert on Pearl Harbor. He commented on TV that bombs don't fall like that. Does he actually think we didn't research every nook and cranny of how armor-piercing bombs fell? He's watched too many movies. He thinks they all fall flat - armor-piercing bombs fall straight down, that's the way it was designed! But HE's on the air pontificating and giving the wrong information. That's insulting!"