Just a couple days ago, it was reported that Paramount was in discussions with producer Steven Spielberg and director Michael Bay to return for Transformers 4 and 5 which they are considering shooting back-to-back. The news was a little strange, as Bay had previously declared that Transformers: Dark of the Moon would be his last outing with the robot franchise (Shia LaBeouf said he was done as well). Now Bay is setting the record straight, as he confirms on the Shoot for the Edit message boards (via Tformers) that he’s not involved with the next two Transformers films at all:

“I am currently not talking to Paramount on T4 and T5 despite reports. I'm looking at a lot of possibilities coming my way right now weighing options. Most likely going to be doing the low budget Pain and Gain, a true story crime thriller. It's a very quick shoot and quite funny. Also just finishing the 3 disc set of the Transformer trilogy.”

Pain and Gain is, of course, the low budget passion project that Bay has been itching to take on for quite some time now. So folks can rest easy that another director will be given the keys to the billion-dollar toy franchise, and we’ll be seeing a new iteration of Transformers within the next few years (possibly starring Jason Statham?).