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Michael Bay defends turning Churchill's home into Nazi base for Transformers 5: 'Churchill would be smiling'

'When you see the movie you'll understand'

Jack Shepherd
Monday 26 September 2016 05:38 EDT
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Transformers director Michael Bay
Transformers director Michael Bay (AP)

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Michael Bay managed to outrage half the UK earlier this month after laying swastika drapes over Winston Churchill’s former home of Blenheim Palace, repurposing the Grade II listed building as a Nazi base for Transformers: The Last Knight.

The Sun ran with the front-page headline “Goose-stepping on Churchill’s grave,” while Col. Richard Kemp, an ex-commander of British forces in Afghanistan, told the tabloid: “[Churchill] will be turning in his grave.”

Bay has defended his decision to film at the iconic location, telling the BBC: "I would do nothing to disrespect veterans. People have not been fortunate enough to read the script and they don't know that Churchill in this movie is a big hero.

He added: ”Churchill would be smiling. When you see the movie you'll understand.”

The Last Knight - the fifth film in the Transformers series - star the likes of Mark Walberg and Anthony Hopkins, filming for which is set to take place at Oxford's Radcliffe Square.

Last year, Amazon Prime caused controversy by covering the New York subway in Nazi insignia to promote its series The Man in the High Castle.

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