The "Transformers" franchise has been one of the most successful movie series in recent Hollywood history. The multi-billion dollar films have been praised for their epic action sequences and explosive stunts.
The franchise's success can be attributed to action filmmaker Michael Bay who has always been daring in producing films. His audacity comes to fore in a recent issue related to his latest and probably last "Transformers" film -- "Transformers: The Last Knight."
It can be recalled that British newspaper The Sun released images of Bay's "Transformers 5: The Last Knight" set last week. The photographs revealed Winston Churchill's house scandalously covered in Nazi flags and littered with people wearing Nazi uniforms.
Reports say that Bay's movie will have a time traveling element where the Autobots would have to go back in time, apparently World War II, to deal with the threat they are facing. It seems that the Autobots are going to fight the Nazi's and Bay used Churchill's house as a set in relation to this.
However, British war veterans of World War II expressed their indignation when they saw Britain's most beloved war hero vandalized and disrespected.
American audiences might see the set merely as a regular film shoot, but for British audiences, apparently this is a form of unspeakable affront to national figures like Churchill who practically inspired the entire Western world to defeat Hitler and his Nazis.
Bay made attempts to mitigate some of the backlash his film is taking even before it hits theaters by explaining the story behind the Nazi flag.
"There's a thing I saw in the paper today about Blenheim and I just want to say people were not fortunate enough to read the script and they don't know that Churchill in this movie is a big hero. And Churchill would be smiling about last night," the director said.
Bay assured audiences that there is nothing to worry about, saying: "Well, when you see the movie you'll understand and I'm for one, probably more than any director in the world, shot more veterans and more active military men and women in my movies. And you can actually look it up. OK? I would do nothing to disrespect veterans."
"Transformers: The Last Knight" is the fifth installment in the "Transformer's" series and would serve as a direct sequel to 2014's "Transformers: Age of Extinction."
The film is once again helmed by Bay, with Mark Wahlberg and Stanley Tucci returning for the roles they played in "Age of Extinction," along with Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson who both appeared in the first three films.
The film is scheduled to arrive in theaters on June 23, 2017.
