Michael Bay Sues Cadillac F1 Team for $1.5 Million, Alleging Super Bowl Ad Stole His Creative Concepts

Michael Bay has filed a $1.5 million lawsuit accusing Cadillac and the leadership behind its new Formula 1 racing team of using his creative ideas for a Super Bowl commercial after abruptly cutting him out of the project. The action director alleges he was brought on to develop and direct the high-profile ad, only to be discarded once his concepts had been extracted.

The 19-page complaint, filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, asserts claims for breach of contract, breach of implied-in-fact contract, and fraud. At the center of the dispute is Dan Towriss, the owner and CEO of the Cadillac F1 team, who Bay says personally recruited him for the job in late November 2025.

According to the lawsuit, Towriss contacted Bay on Nov. 28, 2025, saying he wanted “the most American director [he] could find” to help launch Cadillac’s Formula 1 team with a Super Bowl commercial timed for Super Bowl LX, airing Feb. 8, 2026. Bay alleges he agreed to take on the project under extreme time pressure, putting other film commitments on hold to meet the accelerated schedule.

Bay claims he and his team immediately began working “nearly nonstop,” developing visual concepts, tone, and thematic elements for the commercial. The lawsuit alleges Bay shared specific creative references drawn from his own films, including Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Armageddon, as well as broader cinematic inspirations like The Right Stuff. Among the proposed elements, Bay says, were gold and chrome color palettes, sun flares, desert imagery, heat ripples, and grand, patriotic visual motifs.

The complaint further alleges that Towriss reacted enthusiastically to Bay’s ideas, particularly after Bay showed clips featuring John F. Kennedy speeches layered over sweeping visuals, a technique Bay had previously used in Transformers 3. Bay says he also pulled multiple all-nighters preparing presentations and treatments, and began hiring staff based on an estimated production budget of roughly $3 million.

Despite those assurances, Bay alleges he was suddenly informed on Dec. 6, 2025, less than two weeks after being hired, that the agency overseeing the commercial had decided to “go in a different direction.” Bay says he was not paid for his work and later discovered promotional materials for Cadillac’s F1 Super Bowl spot that allegedly incorporated key visual ideas he had proposed.

“They planned all along to rip him off,” the lawsuit claims, alleging the defendants wanted the look and feel of a “Michael Bay commercial” without paying his standard fees. Bay argues the alleged betrayal was particularly galling given his long-standing relationship with General Motors, including his work helping shape the vehicle design used for Bumblebee in the Transformers franchise.

In text messages cited in the complaint, Towriss allegedly acknowledged Bay’s frustration and suggested the two might work together in the future “with no agency in the middle.” Bay contends that the promise never materialized.

The lawsuit seeks at least $1.5 million in compensatory damages, representing Bay’s customary director and producer fees, as well as punitive damages. Representatives for Cadillac and Towriss did not immediately respond to requests for comment.