"Transformers 5" is reportedly moving forward despite reports claiming that director Michael Bay is dropping out from the project.
While, Venture Capital Post claimed that the fifth sequel to the highly anticipated alien robot-themed movie will be delayed until 2017 without Bay on board, executive producer Lorenzo di Bonaventure says otherwise.
In his interview with Screen Rant, Bonaventura debunked rumors involving Bay's exit from the franchise.
"I think it's one of those classic things where somebody reported that and suddenly it became our plan," he said of Bay allegedly handing over the directorial responsibilities to someone else.
"We have never discussed the idea of how to hand it off, honestly. It's not like we don't think, well what happens if Michael doesn't do it, of course you do. But we want to keep Michael on this, so we're not spending any time worrying about who could come in. We're trying to figure out how to keep him going and keep him excited."
Rumors of Michael Bay leaving "Transformers 5" sparked when the acclaimed director started talking about exploring the part of his career which has yet to be explored.
"There's a lot that's unexplored, but that's for the next director to figure out," he reportedly told Indie Wire. "They're hard movies to do and it takes every day for two years. They're fun, but they're hard."
And in a previous interview with USA Today, Bay was even quoted as saying that he's looking forward to doing other films.
"There's kind of a new chapter, a new direction in movies I want to make," Bay admitted, "I have a lot of stories to tell. And it's about flexing new muscles."
While everything is settled with the Michael Bay issue, Bonaventura is being bombarded with a "Transformers 5" - "G.I. Joe" crossover.
The executive director however was quick to dismiss the rumors claiming that it's not going to happen anytime soon.
"I don't think they run out of stories yet," Bonaventura told Games Radar. "I think later on that's a possibility but I don't think in the near future at all. It's not something we talked about either. You know, there's a lot more story to be told in both cases."
"I think if in some moment we all think, 'You know what, it's time to bring the two of them together' then we'll do that, but I think they're strong enough to exist on their own," he added.
He also discussed the rumors claiming that "Transformers 5" has already a release date.
"No, that's not accurate," he revealed.
"Somehow that gets reported, it's made up by somebody and then everybody thinks it's true. No, I think we've been doing these on different cycles. I think the same thing is going to happen this time. It's an exhausting process to make these movies. The scale of them is so enormous. It really does tax everybody and our tendency is to finish one at a time, recover, and then begin talking. And we'll do the same thing this time."
