By Jeff Baumgartner, technology editor, Multichannel News
Las Vegas – International CES – Based on his performance here on Monday, Michael Bay could use a few improv lessons.
As a surprise guest here at the Samsung press conference to help the TV maker pump its new curved 4K/Ultra TV sets, Bay got rattled when faced with an apparent teleprompter snafu that forced him to go off-script.
Bay did just fine for a short bit, explaining that “My job as a director is I get to dream for a living…I create visual worlds that are so beyond everyone’s normal life experiences…” And then the teleprompter went down and the wheels came off.
“The type is all off. Sorry, but I’ll just wing this,” Bay said. “I try to take people on an emotional ride and, umm….”
Samsung exec Joe Stinziano then stepped in to help Bay recover, asking the director how he thought curved 4K sets would impact how viewers experience his movies.
“Excuse me. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Bay responded, and promptly exited the stage, apparently not in the mood to wing it.
If you missed it, here’s a clip of Bay’s awkward CES moment:
Bay later posted a statement about it, writing: “Wow! I just embarrassed myself at CES – I was about to speak for Samsung for this awesome Curved 105-inch UHD TV. I rarely lend my name to any products, but this one is just stellar. I got so excited to talk, that I skipped over the Exec VP’s intro line and then the teleprompter got lost. Then the prompter went up and down – then I walked off. I guess live shows aren’t my thing. But I’m doing a special curved screen experience with Samsung and Transformers 4 footage that will be traveling around the world.”
The mix-up probably ended up giving Bay, Samsung and the CE giant’s curved UHD products more media attention than they likely would’ve received if the presser went flub-free. So maybe this all had a weird way of working out.
But it did give us a reason to dig up a clip that reminds us that Bay typically demands things to be awesome…and on-script:
