Right after the heels of the announcement that Mark Wahlberg will be starring in ‘Transformers 4’ comes the news that the newest film in the franchise will be jumping forward in time – 4 years’ worth! In an interview with ‘TMZ Live,’ director Michael Bay called in and spoke to the hosts about his sequel and you can read some of that interview below.

With ‘Transformers 4’ being such a hot topic the last couple days, Bay was asked if he’d be able to give some early details about the film:

“The movie will continue four years from the attack on Chicago; which is in the last movie. So it’s going to still have the same lineage. But it’s going a full new direction and it actually feels very natural how it’s going in that direction, there is no way you’re going to ever find out what the story because you’ll have to dig through my trash but I shred my trash…Pentagon level  encryption on our computer so good luck to you!”  (he laughingly says)

As for the hullabaloo and rumors about Wahlberg’s involvement of the film, TMZ asked the director how he was able to get the actor to come on board:

photo credit: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com

“I don’t know… just something we thought about a bit. You saw the whole internet rumor that he was on. And that wasn’t really true. And we were in the inception part of the story and just talking with Stephen Spielberg. This was a great way to really take this franchise in a different direction. We’re doing a lot of things that are going to really make it feel fresh and feel new… He’s accomplished, he’s an Academy Award Nominee and I love working with him and he’s got a great sense of comedy. He’s got great pathos. He’s a guy who can handle great action and he never had a huge franchise. So this is something that really appealed to him. He said “I really want to show a movie to my kids”. You know? So that’s how it happened.”

Walhberg won’t be taking over Shia LeBeouf’s role in ‘Transformers 4,’ but will be playing an entirely new character. Of course, a TMZ interview wouldn’t be the same without them asking Bay about his thoughts on Shia LeBeouf dissing the franchise:

“Listen guys, you got to understand, fame is very hard on young people. It’s… I kind of helped raise Shia for three movies. And it’s… it’s really tough. Fame is a very rough thing. And you know Shia is a great, great guy. He’s a great actor. And I have nothing but respect for him.”

Gotta give Bay a hand for taking the high road on this one! To hear the complete interview, you can head over to TMZ Live. Bay’s portion of the show occurs around the 18:00 mark.

So how do you feel about the movie jumping 4 years into the future? Would you rather have seen a reboot or are you happy that the ‘Transformers’ story is moving forward?