Nothing beats a Michael Bay movie in terms of delivering popcorn entertainment with just the right amount of car chases, light comedic banter, impressive stunt work, and a generous serving of Bayhem. Explosions. We’re talking about explosions.
Director, writer and producer (and occasional actor) Michael Bay has made a name for himself for his typical approach to filmmaking, widely known today as Bayhem. Bayhem is a combination of all of the above (explosions, car action, stunt work, comedy, and usually an easy-to-follow storyline), and it’s on full display in the latest flick, Ambulance, now out in theaters.
Ambulancestars Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as the leading men, a couple of crooks who hijack an ambulance as a means to score an easy payday. Unsurprisingly, it’s not as easy as they had anticipated, and this means they get to drive around Los Angeles in said ambulance, with a hostage in the back, and Gyllenhaal waving a gun and looking intense during police chases.
The duo made a stop on the Jimmy Kimmel show the other day to discuss the movie, and if you’re a movie buff with a soft spot for Michael Bay or behind-the-scenes details in general, it’s a must-see. For one, Yahya reveals that he did some 70% of the driving on the set, even though Jake urged him to let the stuntmen do the stunt work and he stick to acting alone. It’s not standard practice for actors to actually drive a vehicle when shooting a scene: either the car is being towed or they film against a greenscreen, and this is all the more true in the case of action scenes. But Bay likes to do things differently.
Speaking of which, the two actors also talk about how Bay was able to close down large sections of the city and secured not one but two helicopters for an unplanned shoot that saw both birds fly under a bridge, while chasing the ambulance. Footage from that scene is included in the full trailer, available below.
Other takeaways from the interview, aside from the fact that shooting for this Bay movie was a lot of fun, include the fact that the director has a Bumblebee car inside his house, and more Transformers memorabilia than either Jake or Yahya could count when they first visited. He also butt-dials a lot and, apparently, is in the habit of talking to himself when he does it.
No word whether this is part of the Bayhem creation process.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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