Hugo Weaving Disses Megatron Gig, Michael Bay Gets Pissed

By Rudie Obias | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

Talk about classless. Actor Hugo Weaving recently sounded off on voicing the role of Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons in the Transformers films. He wasn’t happy taking the role, so he expressed his distaste for the job and the film series, and how he considers this kind of work as “meaningless.” This angered the director of the film series, Michael Bay, who sounded off against the Australian actor.

In an interview with Collider.com, Weaving talked about his upcoming role in the Wachowskis’ & Tom Tykwer’s Cloud Atlas. While discussing the project with Christina Radish, Weaving talked about his work on all three of the Transformers films.

That’s a weird job for me because it honestly was a two-hour voice job, initially. I was doing a play and I actually didn’t have time, anyway. It was one of the only things I’ve ever done where I had no knowledge of it, I didn’t care about it, I didn’t think about it. They wanted me to do it. In one way, I regret that bit. I don’t regret doing it, but I very rarely do something if it’s meaningless. It was meaningless to me, honestly. I don’t mean that in any nasty way. I did it. It was a two-hour voice job, while I was doing other things. Of course, it’s a massive film that’s made masses of money. I just happened to be the voice of one of the iconic villainous characters. But, my link to that and to Michael Bay is so minimal. I have never met him. I was never on set. I’ve seen his face on Skype. I know nothing about him, really. I just went in and did it. I never read the script. I just have my lines, and I don’t know what they mean. That sounds absolutely pathetic! I’ve never done anything like that, in my life. It’s hard to say any more about it than that, really.

Whether you agree or disagree with the statement, Weaving really doesn’t have the ground to voice it in public and during a recorded interview. Of course, this enraged director Michael Bay (via CinemaBlend.com), who had his own words for the Award-winning actor. Here’s Bay throwing gasoline on the fire:

Do you ever get sick of actors that make $15 million a picture, or even $200,000 for voiceover work that took a brisk one hour and 43 minutes to complete, and then complain about their jobs? With all the problems facing our world today, do these grumbling thespians really think people reading the news actually care about trivial complaints that their job wasn’t ‘artistic enough’ or ‘fulfilling enough’? I guess The Hollywood Reporter thinks so.

What happened to people who had integrity, who did a job, got paid for their hard work, and just smiled afterward? Be happy you even have a job – let alone a job that pays you more than 98% of the people in America.

I have a wonderful idea for all those whiners: They can give their ‘unhappy job money’ to a wonderful Elephant Rescue. It’s the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Africa. I will match the funds they donate.

Before just rambling, Michael Bay did have a point about doing a job. Maybe this is my way of thinking about work, but if you are getting paid to do a job then you better shut up and do it! No matter what the job is, you should be grateful for having it (even if you think it’s beneath you) especially if you did the job three times and Paramount — the studio behind the Transformers films — paid you thousands of dollars to do it.

Well, since Megatron died at the end of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, maybe Hugo Weaving and Michael Bay will never work with each other again. Hugo Weaving did the impossible; he made Michael Bay look classy.