Klein: There's this scene where Will Smith runs down a street, and at the first test screening in Lakewood, California, women were screaming because Smith's shirt is flying open. That was it. He was a star.
Bay: We had an argument about that shot.
Smith: He was like, "Oh, take your shirt off and run with the gun!" And I was like, "Come on, man. That's just on the edge of corny." But he can take things that you'd think of as corny, and make it supergalactic iconic.
Bay: I was like, "Look at this! You look like a movie star!" And he's like, "Shit, I do!"
Smith: That was the moment for me where I learned how important single images are. That single image took me from a comedic television actor to a potential movie star. The scripts that I started to get offered changed dramatically. It was the first time that I heard women react to me with an audible gasp. There was a transformation from the cute guy next door who could make you laugh to a guy who might be able to handle himself in a bar fight and a bedroom.
And Armageddon:
Klein: Ben [Affleck] was new on the scene. We put him through the Bruckheimer-Bay machine—like, You're no longer chasing Amy. You're going to have to go to the gym, get a tan, get a haircut.
Bay: Jerry had a problem with his teeth. "He's got baby teeth. I fixed Cruise's teeth. We're going to fix his teeth." So Ben got a beautiful set of teeth out of it.
Relatedly, here's a great recut Transformers 3 trailer by Monocular honoring Bay's special brand of movie-making. "Shut up and eat your awesome":
Finally, speaking of Transformers, here's color photos of the Revoltech Optimus Prime available for preorder at the BBTS:
Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon posters by Jesse Philips for Mondo. /Film says, "Three thousand copies of the original will be handed out exclusively to attendees of special Tuesday June 28 screenings at Arclight Hollywood in Los Angeles, CA and a variant edition will be sold on @MondoNews Wednesday June 29."
I took the liberty of cropping a few widescreen wallpapers:
