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.

It`s great that I get accused of not being politically correct. People need to take themselves less seriously. This world is so screwed up as it is, we`ve all got to relax a bit more.

We don`t make movies for critics. I`ve done four movies; there`s millions upon millions upon millions of people who`ve paid to see them. Somebody likes them. My greatest joy is to sit anonymously in a dark theater and watch it with an audience, a paying audience.

[on "Transformers"] Well, it`s just, you know, listen, it`s like...I didn`t want to make the boxy characters, you know? Think about it, 30 feet in the air in the real world, just boxes, you know and it`d just look more fake, you know? And by adding more doo-dads, you know, stuff on the...stuff. Stuff on the robots, more car parts, and...you know you can just make it look more real.

A lot of directors don`t want the pressure of a movie the size of `Pearl Harbor (2001)`. But I love it. I thrive on it.

Lots of sci-fi movies are much ado about nothing. What I liked about [The Island (2005)] 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?

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.

His most offensive criticism: Roger Ebert on Pearl Harbor (2001). 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!

I love doing big movies. It`s awesome! You have all these toys. The thing I like about this movie is, like they always say, directors have the biggest train sets! Don`t tell anyone, but I`d do this for free.

Everybody knows about Pearl Harbor. The thing that really fascinated me is that through this tragedy there was this amazing American heroism.

It is really cool to have created a movie that has turned out to become the biggest movie of the year.

I can be very reserved about things. My business side isn`t shy. I can be like a general. But I`ve got a shy side. I`m also a lot deeper than people think, and a lot more sensitive. But I don`t let people in too much.`

I make movies for teenage boys. Oh, dear, what a crime.

What I look for in a script is something that challenges me, something that breaks new ground, something that allows me to flex my director muscle. You have got to think fast in this business, you`ve got to keep reinventing yourself to stay on top.

I`m at that point in my life where I definitely want to get married soon. I`ve got my dogs as surrogates, but I`m ready for kids.`

[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 [Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor], `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 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 (1996). That means something, doesn`t it?

Maybe I have just a younger voice than many other directors.

There are tons of people who hate me. They hate my movies and whatnot. But you know, hey, my films have made a lot of money around the world. 2-something billion dollars, that`s a lot of tickets. They said that I wrecked cinema. They said that my, uh...cutting style. They say I cut too fast. And yet now you see it in movies everywhere. Do I take pride in people knowing my style? I think it`s nice people know a director has a style. And you can reinvent yourself too.

For me, the great joy is to watch an audience watching what I`ve made. To hear not a peep from the audience at the right moment, and then to hear the laughs and the cheers.

It`s... a hard thing for a director, to think you came up with a shot, something from your mind, and someone died while doing it. It`s the worst thing you`ll ever have to live with. It was very hard for me to get back on the horse again.

Directing is not a job. It`s more like a career. Which is great!

I`m one of the few directors - it seems like a dying art - that actually shoot a lot in the camera.

I allow a lot of room for improvisation and funny stuff. I always feel planned.

I write my own action. There`s a scene in The Island (2005) - a highway chase where a pile of train wheels fall off a truck and smashes 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 . . .

I go out there to win. People don`t care if you die in this business. The only way I get back is with success.

Fast cars are my only vice.

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.`

The press don`t like to say nice things because nice is boring. It`s much better to label me the devil. What we do is not brain surgery. We are entertainers, plain and simple, and we`re responsible to bring that money back, to make a profit.

Do you know what directors go through? It`s just hell. Like, why do I work so hard - to think I`m only going to see this movie five times and then never see it again `cause I`m so sick of it? What is it worth, honestly?