It’s a story complete with a sleek F1 car, a desert background, a John F. Kennedy speech, the Super Bowl, and an alleged betrayal. While it involves a lawsuit seeking millions in damages, there’s not a single massive explosion to be found. Are we sure this involves filmmaker Michael Bay?
We are, and it does. Bay, one of the most commercially successful directors in history, filed suit in Los Angeles against the Cadillac Formula 1 auto racing team and its CEO/principal owner, Dan Towriss, on February 10, 2026. His lawsuit alleges that Towriss and Cadillac reneged on a deal for Bay to direct a Super Bowl ad and used his stolen ideas to make the commercial with an ad agency. Claiming fraud and breach of contract, Bay is seeking a minimum of $1.5 million, plus punitive damages.
Towriss, speaking on behalf of Cadillac F1, denied the claims while praising Bay and predicting that the matter would be resolved. Given the tone of Bay’s claims in the newly filed fraud lawsuit, the director may be looking to give the grand prix team an Armageddon of their own.
My Baby Drove Up in a Brand New Cadillac
The National Football League’s (NFL) Super Bowl is consistently the most-watched broadcast in the U.S., with viewership in recent years exceeding 120 million annually. With so many people watching, commercial spots are both coveted and expensive. Ad space for the 2026 Super Bowl averaged $8 million per spot, with some highly desired spots going for as much as $10 million.
When paying that much to have the viewers’ attention for a mere 30 seconds, companies pull out all the stops to make their ads as memorable as possible. It’s not unusual to see some of the biggest acting and sports heroes headlining pitches for everything from insurance to beer to Pringles. If you’re going to spend all that money on the slot and the talent, it behooves you to make sure the directing is in capable hands as well.
Michael Bay’s directing career makes for an odd juxtaposition — commercially successful on a massive scale, but critically savaged and derided. Best known for the Transformers movies and other box office smashes like “The Rock,” “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor,” and “Bad Boys,” Bay has also had a long and successful career directing commercials.
Thus, it wasn’t much of a surprise when Bay, who already had a history of making Super Bowl ads for Cadillac’s parent company General Motors, was approached in November of last year by Towriss. The Cadillac F1 racing team wanted to use the game to make a splash about their entry into F1 racing and reveal their new car’s livery, and Bay looked like a perfect fit. However, it didn’t take long for the arrangement to crash and burn.
The Halftime Show Wasn’t the Only Controversy
In his lawsuit, Bay claims that in a November 28, 2025, meeting, Towriss “vaguely” mentioned ideas using a JFK speech and shots of the Cadillac F1 car in the desert. Bay had done similar things in his previous work and showed them to Towriss, who, Bay states, was “thrilled” and told him he got the job, with one caveat: Towriss wanted him to work with Translation, an ad agency. Bay alleges he was reluctant, believing that ad agencies just wanted to “pick his brain” and “steal his ideas,” but was convinced by Towriss that it wouldn’t happen. Bay, cognizant of a short deadline, says he got his team to work immediately, including taking steps to acquire the only F1 vehicle currently in the U.S. for shooting in the Mojave Desert.
According to the lawsuit, Bay was notified by a freelance producer on December 6 that the production was “going in a different direction” and indicated that someone else would be making the commercial. The complaint alleges that when Bay reached out to Towriss for an explanation, the CEO responded that he was “not at all happy with how this played out.”
Bay’s lawsuit, which was filed two days before the commercial debuted, charges Towriss and Cadillac F1 with fraud, breach of verbal contract, and breach of implied-in-fact contract. It seeks the director’s and producer’s fees he claims he was promised, along with payment for the hundreds of manhours his team put in, believing they were under a contract. In addition to $1.5 million in compensatory damages, the suit also requests punitive damages.
While Towriss’s response praised Bay and said he looked forward to working with him in the future, he also argued that the creative process had been completed before their initial meeting and that Bay was intended only to be the spot’s director. Despite there apparently not being a written contract, Towriss indicated he expects the matter to be settled “amicably.” So at least the Autobots and Decepticons can stand down.
Related Resources
- Contracts Basics (FindLaw’s Small Business Law)
- 7 Thoughts After Watching That Amazing Super Bowl Law Commercial (FindLaw’s Practice of Law)
- What Are Punitive Damages? (FindLaw’s Accident and Injury Law)
