By Michael Bay has paid tribute to Michael Clarke Duncan.
The director worked with the late actor on 1998's Armageddon, which proved to be Duncan's breakout role.
The Green Mile actor passed away yesterday (September 3) after failing to recover from a heart attack he suffered in July.
Bay recalled how he gave Duncan a big role in the action blockbuster after a moving audition.
"We found him in a gym. He cried at the first audition because he was so proud to audition for a 'Michael and Jerry [Bruckheimer] movie', he just wanted to make his mom proud. We gave him the role in the room," Bay said in a statement.
"His first day on Armageddon he sucked. I remember looking to Ben Affleck and thinking we might need to fire him. But I told him, 'Mike, I hired you for you, I want the sweet Mr Clarke Duncan I met in that room'. I said, 'The audience is going to fall in love with you'.
"He looked and smiled with deep voice and said, 'OK'. From then on out he became the most improved actor on the set."
Bay continued: "When he said in the movie he 'wanted to stay in the White House for the summer', he killed it. In his NASA evaluation I told him to cry like a baby. He looked at me with his macho Duncan eyes and said 'Mike I can't do that', I said, 'Yes you can', and it became the biggest laugh in the movie."
The director concluded: "I'm really sad to lose him. Rest in peace buddy."
Tom Hanks has said that he is "deeply saddened" over the loss of his Green Mile co-star, while director Frank Darabont described him as the "gentlest soul".
Photo gallery - Michael Clarke Duncan's career in pictures:
Movies: Michael Clarke Duncan: Career in pictures
