A Bit About Michael Bay's PEARL HARBOR aka TENNESSEE

Hey folks, Harry here. On my last trip out to Los Angeles, Moriarty decided to scope out the PLAYBOY office next to Bay Pictures on account of the fact that he really loves their articles.

While there, he was nearly mauled by this vicious prehistoric behemoth named Mason, Michael Bay's dog/bear. Mason picked up the fragile old man and drug him into Bay's conference room kicking and whining like the old lady with that squeeky walker at the grocery store that's always in front of you.

Michael was sitting behind his desk smiling as Mason continued to gnaw on Moriarty and said something to the affect, "I will release your friend for your soul, Mr Knowles!" Flames licked from his fingertips and there was an air of sulphur about the room.

Heh. Actually he just had Mason drop Moriarty and invited us in for a look at what he has a going on with this PEARL HARBOR/TENNESSEE project of his and Randall Wallace.

Some of you have probably seen some of the animatics that he aired on ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT, when the story broke that 'BAY IS SPENDING MORE MONEY THAN GOD!' hit the trades.

Folks... A little heads up on Moriarty in the case of Michael Bay. Moriarty hates Bay's filmmaking. Loathes it with a passion. It's the reason Mason was gnawing on him so. Moriarty lines up with David Poland and J. Wells in that category. And when he saw who's office he was being drug into... I thought he might want to spend his time in the belly of that beast, Mason.

A great deal of the 'Pearl Harbor' sequence in the film has been done in animatics. We saw all of them, cut together at the pacing they are going to be used in the film. This wasn't THE ROCK flash editing. Bay seems to be wanting to use alot of masters and beauty shots. These longer shots are at one level, much more expensive... and two... much more resonant emotionally.

But the main thing is... the movie is not about PEARL HARBOR. That's just where some of the intensity is framed. Part of the story takes place above Germany and England. Some of it takes place in the continental United States. And it doesn't end with Pearl Harbor.

It seems that Randall "BRAVEHEART" Wallace has constructed a complex romance set in and around the trappings at the beginning of the American involvement in World War II. From the sound of things, this is going to be quite a bit different from the 'typical' Bay film.... whatever that may be.

As usual, the industry magazines are focusing on the money. How much the movie costs. Blowing up the budget and talking about the risk. Personally I'm much more fascinated by how Bay is attempting to do more than a testosterone dick flick. He's quite passionate about this film, having conducted hours of interviews with survivors of PEARL HARBOR... of airmen from the battle of Britain. How he's trying to capture a snapshot of the world at the time surrounding PEARL HARBOR...

Make no bones about it, this is a big film, but he's not trying to go with a Liv Tyler this time out, he's trying to get people more in the vein of Gwyneth Paltrow.

Now, I happen to be a fan of Bay's work in the past. I'm working on getting a script, when they finish the latest draft, but Wallace does great work. It was so funny... Moriarty was so... cautiously optimistic after seeing the footage that it was funny. He really wanted to shake hands with Satan and tell everyone who he was. Poor Moriarty, he had to learn that Bay is actually a pretty sharp fella that just likes to do the spectacle. Next report on this project will probably center around the quality of the script... If I get it.

Take care,

Harry