Michael Bay’s ’13 Hours’ Inaccurate? The Director Has Something To Say About That

Some directors just can’t catch a break. After years of making film after film the critics knocked, Michael Bay’s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi was expected to be a break from the explosions and juvenile humor.

Yes, when most people hear the name Michael Bay, it often invokes mental images of racist robots and one of the most controversial designs ever put to film for Eastman and Laird’s mutant characters. Critics and people who believe they’re critics usually always agree that his films are generally popcorn action fodder. Some are so violently opposed to Bay seeing any success in theaters that they actively boycott anything he touches.

Of course, that didn’t stop China from helping make Transformers: Age of Extinction one of Bay’s most successful films to date. However, one might not realize that Michael Bay, the 13 Hours director, actually tried to get out of directing Transformers 5. He may simply be tired of the negative attention.

What you might not be aware of is that Bay has his own blog site. It was here that the director took on a news writer from Deadline who he points out put very little research into his fact checking. The article was about the alleged lack of accuracy in the film, and Michael had some rather biting words in response to it.

Ali Jafaar has allegedly changed the title of his article twice since the Transformers director saw it, meaning that the news site itself may have done some heavy editing upon seeing Bay’s response. The initial title change had turned the word “filmmaker” to plural, reading “Libyan Filmmakers Question Authenticity Of Michael Bay’s 13 Hours.” Bay started out by saying this was “shoddy and irresponsible journalism.”

Bay responds to @Deadline article regarding #13hours https://t.co/xR2OLhPKVN pic.twitter.com/crNlSMeMwK

— Michael Bay (@michaelbay) January 26, 2016

The title now says something very different, as does the general message. Ali had allegedly taken words from a Libyan filmmaker and used them against Michael Bay as an attack on the Benghazi film’s accuracy and authenticity. The article was re-written to reflect Bay’s response.

The quote from Libyan filmmaker Osama Rezg had revealed he may not have even seen the movie before bashing Michael Bay’s 13 Hours.

“Just from the trailer, you can see it’s not Libya, the actors aren’t Libyan, even what the characters are wearing is not authentic to what a Libyan would wear. I wish Michael Bay and the production had come and spoken to us. We could have helped him. We were all saddened by the death of Ambassador Stevens. He was loved by the Libyan people. That action did not help Libya. We all mourned for him. I hope this is not another example of the Arab world being portrayed in a negative way and the wrong image being spread.”

Bay replied to Osama Rezg’s words by saying that his facts might not have been as accurate as he’d liked because Libya is becoming an ISIS stronghold. However, he pointed out that his staff, including Oscar winning costume designer Deborah Scott, went to great lengths to ensure the accuracy of the film’s outfits. He referred to surveillance photos released by the FBI on September 11, 2012.

Michael Bay’s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is apparently as authentic as he and his staff could afford to make it.

Bay continued by saying that after Rezg slammed him as a filmmaker, he went on to promote his own film. Basically he’s saying that it’s like the time Batman V Superman‘s Zack Snyder had slammed Marvel just to promote his own film.

Deadline has since changed the article to reflect the facts at hand. We also know from the director’s own words that Michael Bay’s 13 Hours is as accurate as he could make it, and he will fight back.

[Feature image via Francois Durand/Getty Images]