Let me state for the record that, until recently, I hadn’t taken Megan Fox’s side on, well, any issue whatsoever; and I will continue to think she was pretty injudicious to badmouth director Michael Bay in public and expect that she was such an indispensible asset to the Transformers franchise that she’d be able to keep her job. Still, I do feel a rather significant amount of pity for her — which began when Shia LeBeouf starting talking about Megan’s supposed “Spice Girl” brand of feminism — for the way she’s been treated during the promotional tour for Transformers: Dark of the Moon. In just the past couple of days, Bay has made things even worse by using Fox’s name (not just once but
twice) to promote the new movie even though she’s not even in it, which is pretty wrong no matter how you look at it. At the moment (or at least until Bay gives his next interview), however, Fox can look away from her troubles of the recent past, for she’s been signed to the latest Sacha Baron Cohen film:
Megan Fox and John C. Reilly are making cameos in Paramount’s The Dictator, the latest Sacha Baron Cohen comedy currently in production in New York with Borat director Larry Charles at the helm.
The movie has been described as “the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.” Cohen is said to play dual roles of a goat herder and a deposed foreign ruler who gets lost in the U.S.
Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley and Jason Mantzoukas are also in the movie, set for release May 11, 2012.
The Fox and Reilly roles are being kept under wraps.
For Fox, the part continues her entry into the comedy world. The Transformers star, who is the only actress in the top 20 of Facebook fan pages with more than 26 million followers, has made a shift away from the action world, recently shooting the ensemble comedic drama Friends With Kids, directed by Jennifer Westfelt and starring Kristen Wiig and Adam Scott, and booking a role in Judd Apatow’s latest project, This Is Forty, which shoots this summer.
[From Hollywood Reporter]
In other words, let’s not count Megan Fox out of the Hollywood spectrum just yet. Is it likely that she’ll be around for more than another year or two? Nope, but at the same time, it’s just gotta irritate Bay (and, presumably, Steven Spielberg as well) that Fox is still kicking around town. For that pleasure, it’s worth the price of admission to at least one of Fox’s upcoming movies, right? Maybe.
In related news, here’s a photo of Cohen (looking slightly hot, no?) on the New York City set of The Dictator.
And here’s the movie’s first official promo photo of Cohen in full regalia.
In conclusion, Megan Fox will always be the girl who foolishly got herself fired from Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but at least Megan can take comfort in the fact that Michael Bay always looks like a damn fool every time he smiles.
Photos courtesy of WENN; The Dictator promo photo courtesy of HuffPo
As long as it’s not the Freddie Mercury biopic thing he’s in. I can’t see her being able to steal any scene that Cohen or Faris is in, but she could be good in a cameo.
Am I the only person that does not find any appeal to Sasha Baron Cohen. I do not see how everyone thinks he’s some comic genius.
I keep on seeing Dark SIDE of the Moon, every time i read the new Transformers title! Needless to say, I am disappointed when i realise this every time..
@Vapid – me too!!!!
I had no worries for Megan. The fact that Megan has been living her life. Married the man she loves and just been doing her, showed me that she would be ok. Megan has been focusing on her life and really those Transformers are shite once they are done people will forget they even existed, no is gonna define her by those terrible movies.
She should bill the Transformers 3 production for being used as promotional material. I’m pretty sure her previous contracts don’t cover it.
I’m feel bad for Megan Fox. She is young and said dumb things. I did the same at that age but never made an enemy as powerful as Steven Spielberg.
I am sure she was treated as just a body and the fact that she wasn’t willing to accept that make me root for her even more.
I tell you…this situation REALLY rubs me the wrong way…
I haven’t seen this much d–k slinging and male posturing since I watched a documentary about male lions on the Discovery Channel…(yeah, we GET IT Hollywood…IT’S A MAN’S WORLD…)
What it’s done is made a Megan Fox fan out of me…for ALL THE WRONG REASONS…Heavens forbid!!!
Me too, with the Dark Side of the Moon. Dunno, too much time at the Lazerium as a teen after a joint? Ahh, Griffith Observatory, used to be stoner’s heaven back in the day.
She can last in Hollywood as a solidly B-list actress as long as she is involved with films that rake in the dough at the box office. At least she’s smart enough to know that she’s not Oscar material, so if she finds her niche in raunchy comedy, that might be her thing for the next decade. I am not a Megan Fox fan, but I too was annoyed by Michael Bay’s comments this week.
I am not feeling bad for Megan.
She got fired for being unprofessional like anyone of us would have been, back, has her lingerie model assignement, and could still find somehow, someway some work to do in Holywood as former it girl to starlets still cashing in lots of money.
Well I don’t hate her but I doubt she’ll go far. As for doing a SBC movie uhm there is only one star of his films. Borat did nothing for Pamela Anderson, and I doubt anyone could name another person in that movie. I have more hope for the thing with Jon Hamm or did that come out yet?
She’s got to get acting classes and stop with the botox and maybe do some work on television??? I guess we’ll see.
I watched his show a few years ago and it was rather amusing but his movies are terrible. I’m sorry Ben Kingsley is in that shit ….
@ 6 kaboom – ‘She should bill the Transformers 3 production for being used as promotional material.’
So true! I couldn’t care less about Megan Fox before all of this ridiculous press, but now I actually do.
She played a great parody of herself in Hot Fuzz (Simon Peg movie). I can’t hate on her too much, for some reason. I think she’ll wise up as she ages; she has a good, fairly drama-free husband and she loves her stepson. No rumors of Linnocent-type activity. There are so many more “actresses” deserving of hate.
Sacha is Jewish, obviously he doesn’t have a knee-jerk reaction to her Hitler comments.
“Transformers […] no-one is gonna define her by those terrible movies.”
So she’s going to be defined by the smash-hit, Oscar-winning Jonah Hex, Jennifer’s Body & Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen then?
Props to Megan for sticking by her D-list fiance during the height of her fame, but the girl isn’t a great actress and if she keeps messing with the beautiful face God gave her she’s not going to be doing those movie cameos and Armani grundies ads for long either.
Armani ads for which she’s allowed herself to be sexually objectified in return for cold hard cash. Girl power!!
Megan’s career will be fine.
As well as this movie, she has been cast in the new Judd Apatow movie with Paul Rudd, and the new Jennifer Westfeldt movie with Kristen Wiig.
While i don’t like AT all her plastic surgery ( she was soooo beautiful before ) i can’t share the dislike many have toward Fox. I like her, i think she might surprise a lot of people, in the furure.
Anyway, Kaiser, did you read this?
http://www.repubblica.it/persone/2011/06/22/news/clooney_canalis-18065313/?ref=HRERO-1
Seems that it’s thrue, they did split, the did a note together
( Lainey was sure it was otherwise, but i think she didn’t understand that much about their ” romance” and especially about Elisabetta)
Now that Megan Fox is trying her hand at comedy, maybe I’ll like her more. I’m curious about that “Friends with Kids” movie, that sounds interesting. It’s really no big loss for her to not be in another stupid Michael Bay movie.
@ Sarah: You are definitely not the only one!! I don’t get SBC’s appeal at ALL. He’s not that funny and seems like a pompous ass, IMO.
@tapioca Megan is young and every starling has done a few duds. You have to get into the game some how, Transformers gave her an in but they don’t have to be the definition for the career she could have. So don’t count out her out so soon love.
Oh wow, Megan. You managed to land yourself a Sacha Baron Cohen film. You’d better start writing your acceptance speech for Best Actress at the Oscars now…
She showed some comic flair when she was on SNL.
I feel the same, I was never much of a fan but I’m really starting to like her even more. One thing Michael Bay’s talking has done was keep Megan relevant and make people really think he’s a petty petty man. I mean, this was all ages ago, why are they still talking about her? Leave her alone. I like that she hasn’t even responded to his dumb comments.
@kaboom: Totally agree. Was going to write a post that she should charge them for promoting their film.
Megan Fox is making a *cameo*. Oh what Sasha must have in store for her. Look to see her wrestling a naked Armenian. This is probably going to be good.
@Tiffany – OMG! Laserium How could I forget. As a former goth/metal/punk/alt girl I do wonder if Bay will use it in the movie but I don’t think he’s hip enough. I can’t picture him ever being cool not even in the late 70s through the 80s.
Which brings me to a nice segue… yes, world – remembering laserium makes me almost as old as Michael Bay. I don’t look like that – he’s got me beat from the neck down but dude the skin! I’m tempted to put a picture of myself up so I can back this up…
Dear Mr. Bay, I can’t get past your skin to even notice if you look like a douche when you smile. GET THEE TO A DERMATOLOGIST STAT! There are peels and lasers for that! That sun damage can turn to cancer. I tanned as much as you did (all of the “laserium” generation did) but I have semi-olive skin. You don’t, your face looks like my back (2nd degree sunburns more than once) and it looks painful. Freckles can be hot but sun damage is not.
–That last rant was brought to you by the American Cancer Society and Vain Gen X Southern Californians.
@ Sarah – Right behind you on that one. I don’t find him funny and think he is pretty offensive.
Agree tapioca – she was and is an untalented ingrate that screwed herself; this she was young is bs – we have young men and women her age in Iraq and Afghanistan making life and death decisions daily – what was it that she was asked to do for much cash and little difficulty – mutter a few stupid lines and bend over in her daisy dukes – just about everyone on this site could do that. Man, lady in the lake, i saw that opening season ep. of snl, and just about every blog ripped her for a terrible wooden performance, one of the worst guest host in years – only outdone by the awful January Jones guest host later that season. You need a personality to even be a mediocre comedianne, and she lacks that.
Okay, well michael bay and shia are using megan’s name for publicity for the new transformers, which she is famously not in!!!! I mean, she is now famous for getting fired; it has only made her more known/reknowned….And the cast and director are using someone they fired, to get attention for their film!
Exactly HOW does this mean megan ‘screwed up’?
I’d say it’s the opposite.
Genius.
She’s got luck on her side, me thinks….
It seems like even when she screws up, it works in her favor somehow….
Also, I think at this point she does have staying power. I am not sure why-i know she cannot really act.
But she’s a bit iconic and could be around for awhile, if not indefinitely, IMO.
Yep, I said it. Megan Fox will be around indefinitely. that is my prediction.
@Lala11_7: your post made me laugh and I totally agree with it.
First I thought she was just a big Diva, but when it became clear how (cry)Ba(b)y directed her and then Shia being pissy because she did not like that, I began to rethink the situation.
That he’s still talking about it, makes it clear he still can’t get over that she didn’t worship him.
Bully-bay and his lackeys should just take a trip to the moon and continue their whining there.
While I’m not a huge Fox fan, it peeves me off that Spielberg and Bay (but I”m thinking that Bay name dropped here, and he’ll probably cop it from Spielberg) make out like they’re all that in film making.
They’ve made their fare share of duds. So what? Personally, I won’t believe that Spielberg demanded she be fired until Spielberg actually corroborates Bay’s statement -and he hasn’t so far.
And somehow, I doubt that Spielberg would have overlooked a film’s profitability and acted emotionally (to fire Fox). More like Bay was rejected by Fox or Fox told Bay that she wasn’t going to put out anymore and he got nasty.
I mean, how else do you really explain the female casting for the latest Transformer’s film? I saw the trailer and I laughed. The Victoria’s Secret model is even worse that Megan Fox.
@ Tiffany
I too saw the laser show at the Griffith Park Observatory to see Dark Side of the Moon in the late 80’s. Not a Pink Floyd fan but all the other stoners/friends (never was into pot) went, so I did too. Good Times!
The best part of the “cry BAY-b” comments are when he says that he wasn’t offended by what she said and it essentially didn’t hurt his feelings. THEN WHY IS HE STILL GOING ON AND ON ABOUT IT????
She must have gotten under his skin BIG TIME for him to continually take jabs at her.
I work with a pr*ck like him. This a**hole said something quite rude in front of junior staff and I was livid. I saw him alone later and he was all breezy and confident that he got away with his behavior, but I told that I thoroughly documented the situation and threatened to go over his head and file a gender discrimination complaint because of his comments. This was in 2004 and he still is holding a grudge over something HE did.
People say that women hold grudges, but men can be just as spiteful, especially towards women who stand up for themselves.
Megan was young and, from what I’ve observed, at about 25-ish a lot of women have their AH-HA moments where they recognize how they are treated because of their youth and youthful beauty, inexperience and gender.
As for her doing the Armani ads, it’s one thing to perform work on your terms and it’s quite another to be treated like a piece of female meat by a bully. When your in control of the situation, are in collaboration and the work is done with your comfort in mind, it’s not exploitative.
She’s hot & she’s funny. I don’t care how stupid she sounds.. she’s really young and everyone’s been in a situation where they don’t like their boss.. she just had the nerve to say something about it..
I’m with Love Angelina. I’ve Always been TEAM Megan!
I can’t help it, I’m rooting for Meagan in a weird way. What she said was idiotically stupid (like everything ELSE she says) but I truly think her words were not meant to insult the Jews. Had she said something like, “Hitler rocks!” then I’d totally get that she should be through in Hollyweird. But having a stupid and annoying opinion, said in a stupid and annoying way, shouldn’t ruin a person’s career, IMHO.
LOL!! I never noticed it was Dark of the Moon, I was always reading “Dark Side of the Moon”! I had to scroll up and reread it to make sure!
Yeah I often go see movies soley based on the world views of the actors…gimme a break!
I’m tired of this “HITLER” BS….
Wasn’t she voted the WORST actress in 2009 or 2010 for her acting in “Transformers 2?” She tried to compare herself to Angelina Jolie. Angie was not having that sh!t.
She takes nice picture; but as far as her acting goes … Meh!
Lala11_7-Ha Ha Ha. My sentiments exactly.Before this happened I was pretty much in the anti-Fox camp, now I feel like running for president of her fan club:)
As other commentors already said, the fact that Bay, (supposedly a grown ass man) is still talking about this till NOW, makes him look like a narcissistic whiny child who’s pissed that she didnt worship him like the rest of his cast & crew do. He’s obviously NOT over it.
Its really a low blow for him to use her name during the movie’s promotion. Obviously, he doesnt have faith in his tired robots’ marketability! boohoo.
PS: he may behave like ‘Hitler’ on set, but he LOOKS like George Bush! haha 😛 (see pic #2)
Team MEGAN! 🙂
Seriously I’ve read Transformers: Dark of the moRon.
Megan Fox is a godawful actress with no comedic timing. I hope for her sake that her part in this film will be a very, very small one.
She should go back to bit parts on TV.
@nnn: I don’t feel sorry for her either. They are all idiots.
Fox is a terrible actress, I can’t watch her acting without laughing.
You can be a great actress and say any crap you want.
You can be a good actress and snipe at your director, and all is forgiven.
But, you can’t be a bad recently discovered actress/actor and say crap/snipe at Directors, if you do you’ll quickly find yourself only getting cameos and bit parts IF any.
Spielberg doesn’t care that she’s still bumming around Hollywood. He’s Steven Spielberg! He could ruin her with a couple of calls if he wanted to.
Another flop girl can’t act that why her last movie went start to DVD and any other movie she been in booms.
Yeah, some men are raised without any adversity in their lives and expect the whole world to evolve around them.
Then, when a woman has the audacity to not take his rude behavior, they get extremely spiteful.
Good for you, Turtle Dove, for documenting the case.
Getting a cameo in a Sacha Baron Cohen movie isn’t exactly the game winning shot. Frankly if Steven Spielberg wanted to destroy her career he probably could do it. He just fired her from a movie.
@k, do you mean How to Lose Friends and Alienate People? Because I’ve seen Hot Fuzz about 20 times and she’s definitely not in that, thank the gods.
Ramona Q, I hope you’re not happy that one man can destroy careers like that.
Bay is a douche and Laboeuf’s follow-the-leader crap makes him look rather dumb.
Whoa, @louise, I think you’re completely inarguably right. I was gonna talk about how if anyone can make her into a marketable hot joke, it is SBC, and this is serendipitous for her and she is pretty hawt so I would like her around at least a bit despite her lack of talent. But… yeah. She’s still probably done.
But still I must say: yes! I always forget how delicious Sascha is.
I know she is dumb and can’t act, but I still hope she’ll become a somewhat actress and yell at Bay “IN YOUR FACE CREEP!”.
I liked the ballsy interviews that she used to give. They were very straight up, no B.S., and kind of funny. Too bad the men in Hollywood have no sense of humor. Megan is a beautiful young woman who doesn’t take any shit. My hat is off to the girl.
Yep, men still want her… women still want to be her..
She definitely has a big future.
She could be Pol Pot or Mother Teresa, but none of these chuckleheads are going to get a penny out of me. I’m not going to pretend that social protestations and/or hissy fits mean much of anything if a project–any project bombs and I contributed. Maybe they should all apologize to me for being such preening and semi-literate swamp donkeys. Start being entertaining, kids. Worry about who fucked what when we’re not in the room.
He DOES look hot. wow.