Michael Bay's name is synonymous with big, brash blockbusters full of explosions and over-the-top special effects. But costing just $25 million to produce, his latest, Pain & Gain, was practically low budget by Bay standards. This comedic retelling of the heinous crimes of the Sun Gym gang, who kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in their insane extortion schemes, isn't short on Bay's trademark bravado, but it did force Bay to pay close attention to costs. Which is how he discovered there were thieves in his midst.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Bay revealed some of the film's more shocking setting dressing went missing as shooting progressed. In the movie, Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, and Anthony Mackie's pumped-up protagonists hold their wealthy hostage in a warehouse stuffed with sex toys. And Bay admits the most outrageous thing that happened on the Pain & Gain set was that the cast and crew proved to have sticky fingers, walking off with these salacious props.
"We bought $75,000 worth of sex toys to stock the sex-toy warehouse. I could have filmed the crew coming in that day because they’d stop and see these things—anatomically correct vajayjays and this butt (everyone would touch the butt because it felt real)—and it was hysterical. We were going to return all the sex toys to get three-quarters of our money back, but they started disappearing. We were like, “Who is taking the sex toys?”
First off, of course Bay uses the word "vajayjays." Secondly, I wish he had filmed the crew's reactions so it could be included on the film's eventual Blu-ray release. Third, I'm assuming the butt that everyone couldn't stop groping because of its realistic feel is the same on the Rock memorably spanks in the warehouse's introduction. And finally, we're sad that Bay won't reveal just how many sex toys went missing, or how much they wound up costing the production.
The whole interview is definitely worth a read, as Bay discusses his notoriety among film critics as well as his life-changing experience interning on Raiders of the Lost Ark. But Transformer fans might be especially interested about why Shia LaBeouf won't be in Transformers 4. As his recent casting of Megan Fox on Ninja Turtles suggests, Bay is not one to hold a grudge, even if you talk trash on his movies that made you a star:
"If you look at Shia, he’s trashed every movie he’s ever been in, so ... There’s a specific reason why there’s a new cast; it’s just a way to freshen up the franchise. Shia and I are definitely going to work [together] again. But I had a great time working with Mark."
Mark Wahlberg accepted the lead in Transformers 4 after his Pain & Gain co-star Johnson passed over scheduling conflicts.
