Michael Bay announces his next film; Shia Labeouf won't return for Transformers 4

After two Transformers flicks that have earned more than the annual GDP of many small countries and another one just hitting theaters today, Michael Bay could spend the rest of his life being served fresh cut strawberries by women fanning him with giant leaves. But he's not going to be kicking back for too long, because now that he's free from giant robots he can go back to working on a small film he first talked about nearly two years ago.

In 2009 when we were all still wondering if Bay would even return for Dark of the Moon, he mentioned a desire to do a small, indie film instead. He confirmed that it will indeed be his next film, a crime yarn based on a 1998 newspaper article titled "Pain and Gain", about a gang of bodybuilding criminals committing extortion and abductions in Florida. He told MTV that the budget would be roughly $20M, which probably wouldn't cover the lunch services on the Transformers set. Bay also says all that stuff about him and Taylor Lautner doing a bunch of movies together ain't exactly set in stone. 

Bay appears more than ready to move on, and frankly so does Shia Labeouf. I'm actually surprised he spent so many years dedicated to the Transformers because his career was on a totally different trajectory before. He told the LA Times...

Labeouf: "...I’ve been running for a team of people for a long time and I don’t take any of it back. ... I’ve learned a great deal about a certain type of filmmaking. But I have ambitions toward another type of filmmaking that I haven’t been allowed to engage in yet.”

For awhile there I was considering Labeouf one of the best young actors working, with solid performances in The Greatest Game Ever Played, Bobby, and A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. He even made Disturbia, a modern remake of Rear Window, more than just another hatchet job. Last year he all but vanished against the might of Michael Douglas and Carey Mulligan in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. He'll get another shot at flexing his acting muscles in John Hillcoat's bootlegging flick, The Wettest County.

Labeouf does sorta leave the door open in a statement made to MTV, saying...

Labeouf: "I’ve learned a great deal from Michael, as a person, as an actor, as a person on set. And it’s not that I don’t enjoy working with Michael. I love working with Michael. I would do any movie Michael wants to do. I just don’t think there’s anywhere to take it with Sam.”
Honestly, I'm not truly convinced Bay or Labeouf are gone from Transformers forever. If Paramount forks over enough cash, why would either of them refuse a chance to hang out with the Autobots for a fourth time?