Director Michael Bay responded to Kate Beckinsale‘s negative comments about his directing style on Wednesday, claiming the two are longtime friends and that they have spoken about the issue.
“The reporter made her story into some scandalous confrontation, when it was nothing of the sort,” Bay wrote on his personal site. “Spoke to Kate today and she felt she told a funny story.”
During a recent taping of the U.K.’s “Graham Norton Show” in a segment that never made it to air, Beckinsale said that Bay fussed over her looks for the film “Pearl Harbor.” “I think he was baffled by me because my boobs weren’t bigger than my head and I wasn’t blonde,” she said on the BBC One talk show.
Part of Beckinsale’s apparent criticism of Bay was that he suggested she get in shape, after just having a baby, for the 2001 blockbuster starring Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett.
To that, Bay said: “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!”
Read Bay’s note in full below.
“Really?
This poster 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. 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. Spoke to Kate today and she felt she told a funny story.
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!”