'Bad Boys for Life' directors on Michael Bay's instructions: 'Don't f*** up my baby' (exclusive)

If you're a true action fan, you surely noticed a cameo from a certain Master of Bayhem in the opening of January's hit sequel Bad Boys for Life.

At the wedding reception for the daughter of Martin Lawrence's Marcus, that is none other than original Bad Boys director and Arbiter of All That Is Awesome Michael Bay emceeing the festivities.

"We absolutely wanted Michael Bay in the movie, we wanted [him] to have a cameo," explains Bilall Fallah, who co-directed the film with Adil El Arbi, in a clip from the film (watch exclusively above). "So we were like, 'Yo, Michael Bay, you want to play a little small part in the movie?' And he said, 'Yes.'"

The pair, collectively billed as Adil & Bilall, proceeded to film a "super-meta" "Michael Bay shot" around Michael Bay, with the camera dizzyingly circling the filmmaker-turned-actor. "It's like he directed the shot himself," says Bilall.

For the Belgian filmmaking tandem, the moment marked a nice callback to Bay's 2003 Bad Boys II, in which the director also appeared as a Hawaiian shirt-clad civilian who gets his car seized by Marcus. (Though of course has the internet has pointed out, it also creates "a funny plot hole" in the series.)

Bay (The Rock, Armageddon, Transformers) left an indelible impression on Adil & Bilall, clearly.

"I was stressed out for that day," admits Adil. He turns to his partner: "What was the lesson that he gave to you?"

"He said, 'Don't f*** up my baby,'" Bilall says.

Bad Boys for Life will be available on digital 11 May and out on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD in the future.