director Michael Bay ended up at the center of a lawsuit over his film for Netflix Filmed in Florence: 6 Underground. According to the indictment, the director of Transformers did it fling for numerous times several dozen of Pigeons against a car of the scene to shoot a sequence in which the driver is blinded by animals. Bay is accused Animal cruelty and causing the death of one of them, albeit in a different context. Along with that of the director, the role of some of his collaborators must be clearly defined: Edward Martinpartner of the zoo who supplied the birds; Costei Padurariubook clerk; and Giancarlo Alpini, pigeon fan. Anyone could have endangered the safety and welfare of the birds, which are one in Italy Protected Species. It all started with a complaint from a municipal police officer who, from his office window, had a privileged view of the set of 6 Underground, set between Tuscany and Lazio with numerous scenes in central Florence.
Scenes and Pigeons
The facts are from August 2018. The scene involved a sports car speeding through the streets of Florence at full speed. At one point, to stop the protagonist, played by Ryan Raynolds, from driving, about 40 pigeons fly in front of the windshield, creating one of those frenetic action scenes that are the director’s trademark. It would be enough to let them fly freely, according to the Florentine prosecutor’s office Christine Fumia von Borries the birds who, unlike human actors, cannot rely on stuntmen were «thrown violently» against the car. The defendants “demanded that cruelty and without need about 40 pigeons to torture and intolerable behavior due to their ethological characteristics”. An incident that would not have happened just once, but “with every passage of the car, since the scene was repeated 6/7 times,” says the indictment files. Then there are one more event to be clarified, a pigeon would have died during the shooting, it is not clear if it was used for the scenes or not. The animal flew when hit by a dollythe dolly used to move cameras in film productions and – claims a source on the set of The Wrap – died on impact.
The director: “In my thirty-year career I have never hurt an animal”
Whether and what kind of trauma the birds suffered remains to be clarified. All animals provided by Zoo Grunwald in Anguillara Sabazia (Rome) I am alive. However, according to the Corriere della Sera, the birds “suffered a very strong impact on their bodies, they turned on themselves, You lost a lot of feathers». It is also noted that there was no veterinarian 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 activist, Bay adhered to all the rules of the case,” says the lawyer. Bay reiterates the concept in an interview with The Wrap: “In thirty years of work I have never hurt an animal». The director also denies that the pigeon hit by the dolly is dead. In particular, the prosecutor’s office offered Bay an opportunity to close the case by paying a fine. However, the director refused, claiming he had no intention of admitting his guilt by paying for it.
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