«He threw 40 pigeons at a car» to shoot the film in Florence. Director Michael Bay to trial
Director Michael Bay ended up at the center of a legal case over his film for Netflix filmed in Florence: 6 Underground. According to the indictment, the director of Transformers he would hurl for numerous different times you decide to pigeons against a car of scene to shoot a sequence in which the driver is blinded by animals. Bay is accused of animal abuse and to have caused the death of one of them, albeit in a different context. Together with that of the director, the role played by some of his collaborators must be clearly established: Edward Martinpartner of the zoo that supplied the birds; Costei PadurariuBay employee; And Giancarlo Alpini, pigeon fan. Everyone could have jeopardized the safety and well-being of the birds, which in Italy are one protected species. It all started with the complaint of a municipal police officer, who from his office window had a privileged view of the set of 6 Undergroundset between Tuscany and Lazio with numerous scenes in the center of Florence.
The scenes and the pigeons
The facts date back to August 2018. The scene involved a sports car speeding through the streets of Florence at full speed. At one point, to hinder the driving of the protagonist played by Ryan Raynolds, about 40 pigeons fly in front of the windshield creating one of those frenetic action scenes that are the director’s signature. It would be enough to let them fly free, but according to the accusation of the Florentine prosecutor Christine Fumia Von Borries the birds, which unlike human actors cannot rely on stuntmen were «thrown with violence» against the car. The defendants “thus submitted for cruelty and without need about 40 pigeons to torture and unbearable behavior due to their ethological characteristics”. An event that would not have occurred just once, but “at each passage of the car since the scene was repeated 6/7 times” reads the prosecution papers.
The dead pigeon?
Then there is another event to clarify. During filming, in fact, a pigeon would have died, it is not clear whether it was used for the scenes or not. The animal was flying when it was hit by a dollythe dolly used to move cameras in film productions, and – claims a source on the set a The casing – died on impact.
The director: “Never hurt an animal in my thirty-year career”
It remains to be clarified whether and what traumas the birds suffered. All animals provided by Grunwald Zoo in Anguillara Sabazia (Rome) I am alive. However, according to the indictment, reported by the Corriere della Serathe birds “suffered a very strong impact against their own bodies, they rotated on themselves, they lost many feathers». In addition, it is noted, there was no vet on set. The allegations are categorically denied by the director’s lawyer, Fabricius Siggia. «An important production, I would say monumental, takes all the necessary precautions in these cases. As a staunch animal rights defender, Bay complied with all the rules of the case,” says the lawyer.
Bay, in an interview with The casing reiterates the concept: “In thirty years of career I have never hurt an animal». The director also denies that the pigeon hit by the dolly is dead. Specifically, the prosecution offered Bay the option to close the case by paying a fine. The director, however, refused, claiming that he did not intend to plead his guilt by paying for it.