Director Michael Bay appeared on Starz’ “In the House” program last night to talk about the new Transformers movie, shooting in 3-D, and keeping Hollywood’s ass out of the unemployment line. Read on for the skinny:

On Transformers 3, Bay said:

You can’t just rehash the old. We’re adding a lot of new elements. We’re adding new characters. We’re adding a lot of twists.

Could one of those twists be 3-D? Paramount Pictures has reportedly been pushing Bay to shoot the film in 3-D despite the director’s dismissal of the technique as “time consuming” and a “fad.” But, judging from what Bay told Starz, it looks like the studio may get its way:

It’s a process we’re testing with some ‘Transformers’ scenes. How successful it is with my movie in terms of a lot of real stuff coming out of the frame, real dirt, real complicated little particles coming towards the lens, because hopefully that process will work. I’ve seen some tests that look great on other movies. I just want to see how it looks on my footage.

Bay was also asked about passing on a smaller project he was scheduled to work on before Transformers 3.

Bay explained:

I’ve become friends with these guys that run Paramount and they told me, ‘We’re going to get fired if we don’t have a 2011 franchise,’ so I’m like you can’t let these guys down. The economy’s been so rough, it’s kind of important. When you say yes to movie like this you automatically give 3000 people jobs. 1000 for the toys. 2000 for the filmmaking. I’m going to put [the small film] on hold and do it right after.

Transformers 3 begins production in May. Plans to shoot major action sequences in Chicago and Moscow were announced yesterday on Bay’s website.

Chemistry is what makes this franchise work.

Shia Labeouf, model-turned-actor Tyrese Gibson, and—most importantly—Megan Fox are all confirmed to return. Transformers 3 is slated to be in theaters on July 1, 2011.