Escaping the wrath of Mega Bay

SINGAPORE- The boss of Transformers: Age of Extinction blew up quickly whenever he was disobeyed.

No, we are not talking about Autobot supremo Optimus Prime or Decepticon chief Megatron.

Step onto the Hong Kong set of the fourth Transformers blockbuster and one name reigns: Michael Bay.

Cast and crew members scurried to do his bidding that sunny October afternoon, but the regional media was slightly slow on the uptake.

A voice shouted: "Who's that? Get out of the way!"

Bay, 48, was fuming. Everyone turned to the nine reporters at the scene.

Oops!

We backed 20m away from the Chevrolet Camaro, better known as Bumblebee.

Bay's entourage, clustered around fresh-faced 18-year-old franchise newbie and resident babe Nicola Peltz (best known for playing Katara in 2010's The Last Airbender), shot us the evil eye.

He yelled again as we were still visible on camera.

He raged on the dolly cart and someone flapped at the press pack. So we trotted over to the green C7 Corvette Stingray, eager to meet an unidentified robot in disguise.

Big mistake.

A by-now familiar voice hollered: "Oi, get away from there!"

But there was nowhere to hide on this open field somewhere in west Kowloon. The location was so secret that even the local minder had no idea where the chartered minibus dropped us off earlier.

To appease "MegaBay", we lurked beside the toilets. The shouting stopped.

Was this why former Transformers leading lady Megan Fox had likened the US film-maker to German dictator Adolf Hitler?

She told British magazine Wonderland in 2009 that he was a nightmare to work for.

After that, executive producer Steven Spielberg's decree to "fire her right now" prompted Fox's exit from the third Transformers film, Bay told GQ magazine in 2011.

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