Kate Beckinsale told a rather amusing story on The Graham Norton Show, but one person did not find it funny.
Director Michael Bay defended himself on June 1st against story after story that pegged him as a misogynist, having allegedly told Kate Beckinsale to keep it right and tight for 2001’s Pearl Harbor.
“I think he was baffled by me because my boobs weren’t bigger than my head and I wasn’t blonde,” Beckinsale joked on the May 27th episode, alluding to rumors that Bay is somewhat of a sexist.
“I’d just had my daughter and had lost weight, but I was told that if I got the part, I’d have to work out. And I just didn’t understand why a 1940s nurse would do that.”
Not so, Bay pointed out, blaming reporters for allegedly twisting the story to make him look like the bad guy.
“Really?” he wrote on his blog. “This poster [below] has hung proudly over my desk for 15 years.”
“Yesterday I read in the press that I don’t think Kate Beckinsale is ‘a stunning beauty,’ huh? And they went on to suggest that Kate and I don’t like each other?
“Well, totally untrue,” he wrote.
“Kate and I are friendly. She is a fantastic actress, very funny, witty lady, sassy, speaks her mind, and I truly respect her. That’s why she has come to so many of my Christmas parties and Birthday parties.
“This so called ‘problem of us not liking each other’ was reported by a tabloid-esque reporter after Kate appeared on an edgy English talk show, speaking about our meeting 16 years ago while casting Pearl Harbor.
“The reporter made her story into some scandalous confrontation, when it was nothing of the sort,” the blockbuster director claimed.
“Spoke to Kate today and she felt she told a funny story. “
FYI, Bay said, most leads in action movies require a trainer for stunts, etc.
“So I guess I was the ‘bad guy’ 16 years ago for suggesting a trainer because she just had her new beautiful baby girl—and she was about to enter into an intensive action movie.
“Note to reporters: 95 % of leads in movies have trainers and drink green juice!”
Is Bay misunderstood? Or is Beckinsale’s example of his treatment of women pretty spot-on?
