The exciting action heist movie, Ambulance, has just hit theatres, and the stars of the film have just wrapped up promoting it. The film comes from the mind of Michael Bay, who is best known for his huge action sequences and explosions. And because of the director's frenetic cinematic energy, it has been well documented how intense shooting with him can be; Ambulance is no different.
While promoting the movie, tons of unbelievable stories about the production have naturally come to light. Between actors visiting Bay's villain's lair-like home, actors arguing with the director, and changing shooting locations last minute, the production sounds just as intense as the movie itself.
Jake Gyllenhaal Visited Michael Bay's Transformers-Filled Home
Jake Gyllenhaal visited Bay's home early in the development process of the movie to discuss his role, and according to the actor, Bay has some very fascinating memorabilia. Gyllenhaal first traveled through what he described as "Jurassic Park" to get to Bay's mansion, and once he finally arrived, he saw Bumblebee before he even saw the director.
Bay is known for directing most of the Transformers movies, and he's clearly very proud, as his house is filled with Transformers-related figures. Gyllenhaal said there was a yellow car right in the middle of his living room.
Eiza González Thinks Michael Bay Acted Like A Child On Set
Eiza Gonzalez has a hilarious description of her director, as she called him "such a mischievous child in this daunting, terrifying body named Michael Bay." She explained that she found it surprising that he often acted like a big kid.
This is a filmmaker who directed five huge blockbuster movies based on a toy franchise and is best known for shooting the biggest explosions he possibly can, so his "mischievous" on-set behavior makes total sense. And it's even less surprising given that his home is like the very Transformers movies he directed and his garden is like Jurassic Park.
Michael Bay's Tensest Day On Set Involved His Dog
There's a lot that can go wrong on a movie set, especially when working with explosives and shooting sequences where helicopters fly under bridges. And though Bay has always been so cavalier and off-the-cuff in the way he shoots action, he doesn't seem to worry all that much.
But Bay's tensest day of filming on the set of Ambulance involved his dog. Bay's Dog, Nitro, is 217 pounds, and he can be seen in a tiny Fiat in the movie — but the shot almost didn't happen. The director explained that there were only 19 minutes of sunlight left for the day and that it wasn't easy pushing a 200-pound dog into a small car.
Eiza González And Michael Bay Butted Heads A Lot
The character-driven approach is one of the ways Ambulance is Bay's best movie, and that can be seen best with Cam Thomson, a medical emergency technician. Gonzalez played the character realistically, but it was way more grounded than Bay wanted it to be.
According to the actor, she and Bay had on-set arguments about the direction of the character, and that Bay was trying to make the character more cartoonish. With this in mind, it seems like Gonzalez's description of Bay acting like a child might not have been all that playful, and it might have actually been more critical of the director than anything.
Michael Bay Had Never Heard Of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Before Casting Him
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II has quickly become an A-list actor, almost overnight, as he played Morpheus in The Matrix Resurrections and gave the best portrayal of Candyman, and that was all in 2021. And even before that, he played the antagonist in Aquaman, a billion-dollar-grossing movie, and delivered an award-nominated performance in The Trial of the Chicago 7.
Despite that impressive résumé, Bay had never heard of Mateen before he was cast. After reading his name, the director even jokingly asked, "What's a Yahya?" But after binge-watching the actor's work, Bay quickly realized that the actor is going to be a star.
Jake Gyllenhaal Took Over Filming From Michael Bay
In the newly released movie, Gyllenhaal and Abdul-Mateen II play two brothers who plan a bank robbery, but it goes horribly wrong when they carjack an ambulance. The bulk of the movie sees the two of them evading police in the ambulance, with Mateen behind the wheel.
However, there isn't much space in the front of an ambulance, and certainly not enough room for an entire camera crew. Because of this, on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Gyllenhaal explained that Bay handed the camera to him and forced him to shoot footage of Abdul-Mateen II driving. This isn't the first time that an actor has shot footage for the director, as Idris Elba shot Suicide Squad footage too.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's Driving Scared Jake Gyllenhaal
In the same interview with Kimmel, Abdul-Mateen II claimed he's a great driver, and he believes he could handle the ambulance due to driving a U-Haul so many times after moving between 13 homes. But Gyllenhaal begged to differ.
The actor was scared stiff when he was in the passenger seat of the ambulance. And holding a huge movie camera couldn't have made the ride any easier. Abdul-Mateen's driving skills in the movie make Nicolas Cage's erratic driving in the similarly ambulance-based Bringing Out the Dead tame by comparison.
Jake Gyllenhaal Had Always Wanted To Be In A Michael Bay Movie
Gyllenhaal is one of the most celebrated actors working today, and he's one of the best actors who doesn't have an Academy Award. The actor has played incredible roles like the sociopath Lou Bloom in Nightcrawler and the iconic, angsty titular character in the cult movie Donnie Darko. So playing a straight-up action hero in a high-octane popcorn flick is a little outside the box for him.
But Gyllenhaal surprisingly admitted that he had always wanted to star in a Bay-directed movie. The actor explained that it had been a dream of his since he was young and that "it just allows for so much room for fun and joking and absurdity."
Michael Bay Thinks The Movie's CGI Is Bad
Though Bay's movies aren't for everyone, he is a self-assured director, and he isn't often critical of his own work. But the filmmaker has called to attention the bad digital effects in Ambulance, stating that "some of the CGI is s*** in this movie."
While most of the effects in the film are impressively practical, some scenes are touched up with some digital make-up. However, the director has since back-peddled and revoked his previous comments, stating that there are only two shots in the movie that feature CGI that he doesn't like.
Jake Gyllenhaal Does A Great Impression Of Michael Bay
When Gyllenhaal was asked about what it's like working with Bay, the actor recalled a time when the director spontaneously changed a whole action sequence location to the L.A. River and added helicopters. There's absolutely nothing more on-brand for Bay than that.
Gyllenhaal hilariously told the story by impersonating the director. If the impression is accurate, working with Bay would be terrifying, as Gyllenhaal plays Bay with such intensity. But that isn't too hard to believe as actors like Megan Fox have made similar comments about the director.