When you think of a Michael Bay film, what comes to mind is a lot of different things – explosions, cars, slow-mos, and more explosions. And in his upcoming Netflix film 6 Underground, he gives us exactly those, only more amped out so you can expect it to be the action-packed spectacle it is.
Check out the trailer for the film below:
6 Underground tells the story of 6 people – all from different parts of the world with different backgrounds – who fake their own deaths as a way to delete their pasts and create their own futures. Led by the billionaire and leader One, these people form a vigilante squad whose mission is to take down evil.
During the press conference and fan event held in Seoul, South Korea just this week, director Michael Bay summarized the film in a sentence, saying that “[the film] is basically about reluctant heroes who were underdogs who face a sort of evil to redeem themselves.”
On the 6 ghosts of the film
The group of “ghosts” in 6 Underground is led by the billionaire mastermind One (played by Ryan Reynolds) who has had enough of all the evil things going on in the world “He’s a guy who sort of lost his way, and became somewhat disenfranchised with geopolitical issues and life, in general,” he explained. “My character’s a guy who takes [these issues] into his own hands, and uses all this insane amount of money he happens to have, and decides to put it into use”.
Joining One in the team are 5 other ghosts who fell off the radar: Two (Melanie Laurent) is a former CIA agent who Laurent describes as “cold” and “tough”; Three (Manuel Garcia Rulfo) is a hitman haunted by the people he had killed; Four (Ben Hardy), a former thief working for a Ukrainian gang; Five (Adria Arjona) is a doctor who “has a deep desire at saving people”; and Seven, a former Delta Force Operator who has lost his colleagues in action.
Arjona also spoke about how her character is different from the female characters in other films, something that makes her feel more connected to Five. “What drew me specifically is having a strong female character that still has a heart,” she said. “I think a lot of films that I see are female characters that are made tough, as opposed to made strong. And I think this character had that element of strength which I really loved.”
 |
 |
While each of these ghosts has different skills and roles in the team, what binds them all together is the sole desire to change and make the world just a little bit better.
On what it’s like filming the movie
Michael Bay isn’t one to shy away from doing grand things for his films, and he made sure that the audience knows it’s his film they’re watching from the get-go.
From the trailer alone, the audience is already taken to the beautiful and historic city of Florence, Italy, where they shot a car chase scene that’s unlike any other car chase you’ve seen in action films. This and another scene teased on the trailer (“Welcome to the world’s biggest magnet!”) is something that people should look forward to the most in the film, according to Reynolds.
“The movie’s sort of bookended by two enormous action sequences. One is a car chase I’ve never seen before. At the end of the film, there’s a sequence [with] magnets, [and] that’s really insane and amazing,” he said.
Reynolds said that he was floored at how grand and muscular the film was, that he felt like he was a student all over again, learning as he watched the Michael Bay and his team work around him. What sets this film apart from the other action film is the use of analog-type visual effects instead of computer-generated ones.
“So much of what we see in this movie are stunts that are being performed by incredible talented stunt people who are some of the most overlooked crew members in the entire industry,” he added.
 |
 |
On working with Netflix for this 6 Underground
6 Underground is the first film that Michael Bay and Ian Bryce have done in partnership with Netflix – a result of their ever-changing industry. “We feel like we have to roll with that,” Bryce said. “For Mike and I, it’s a big privilege and honor to star working with Netflix and to start applying what we know from the older film business into the new streaming business.”
And so for those who are still wondering how they can best experience 6 Underground, action scenes and explosions and all, Bay has one tip – “Get a big TV.”
—
6 Underground launches globally on Netflix this December 13.
