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Transformers director Michael Bay, whose current net worth is an estimated $500 million, has recently been charged with killing a pigeon during a movie shoot.
According to reports, Bay was charged by Italian authorities in connection with a homing pigeon’s death in 2018 on the set of 6 Underground in Rome. Although he has denied the allegations that the pigeon was killed. Bay confirmed that there were some charges against him, but the exact cause of them was not disclosed.
Michael Bay has earned his major earnings through his contribution as a director and producer in several Hollywood movies
Michael Bay has directed several hit movies that helped him earn a firm and established fortune as well as prominence in the industry. Though most of his movies are box office successes, film critics generally consider his works to be low in esteem. His most popular films include The Rock (1996), Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), and the Transformers film franchise.
From the Transformers movies alone, Bay has earned over $300 million. Eleven of Bay’s films have earned over $5 billion internationally. It’s the fourth-highest gross profit for any director in Hollywood.
Though he is widely known as a director, it’s not his only source of income. Michael Bay has produced and co-produced over 50 films alongside the movies he directed. He was a creative stakeholder for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies, the Purge movies, Bumblebee, and A Quiet Place movies among others.
He was also the executive producer for TV shows such as Black Sails, Jack Ryan, and The Last Ship.
Bay's legal team tried to clear the case in 2022 on three different occasions
In Italy, pigeons, along with other birds, are a protected species, and they have a national law against capturing, harming, or killing them. A production source reportedly claimed that a bird was killed during a dolly shot, and a picture was taken by a witness, who reported the incident to Italian authorities.
However, Michael Bay asserted that his team has clear evidence in video form to disprove the claims. Bay said:
“We have clear video evidence, a multitude of witnesses, and safety officers that exonerates us from these claims and disproves their one paparazzi photo — which gives a false story."
The 57-year-old director claimed to be a prominent animal lover and an animal activist. He insisted that no animal involved in the film's production was ever injured or harmed, nor has any animal ever been harmed in any other production he has worked on in his 30 years of career.
Bay added:
"There is an ongoing court case so I cannot get into the specifics, but I am confident we will prevail when I have my day in court."
The legal team working for Michael Bay previously refused to accept the charges three times in 2022. The Italian authorities even offered the director the option to settle the case by paying a fine. But the director declined to do so as well.
Bay addressed the offer and said that he declined it because he would not plead guilty to having harmed a bird or an animal.
The 6 Underground movie’s shoot began in 2018 and was shot in four locations - Rome, Florence, Taranto, and Sienna. The Netflix blockbuster features Ryan Reynolds, French actress Mélanie Laurent, Dave Franco, Ben Hardy, Adria Arjona, Corey Hawkins, Lior Raz, and Paymaan Maadi, among others.
