Whoever wrote the open letter slamming Megan Fox that appeared on Michael Bay's blog last night, it's probably safe to say they hadn't yet heard Fox's latest dig at her Transformers director from yesterday's Jennifer's Body press conference at TIFF. It's also probably safe to assume that when Bay gives the implicit OK to call the actress an "unfriendly bitch," "dumb-as-a-rock" and suggest a future in porn, the duo is probably not going to be working together again any time soon. The latest war of words follows after the jump.
By now we all know that Fox teed off on Bay as wanting "to be like Hitler" while also behaving like Napoleon; even if her tirades clumsily mix metaphors, at least she's got the basic historical context of dictatorship down. But on Friday in Toronto, when asked about the benefits of being directed by a woman (Karyn Kusama) for the first time in Jennifer's Body, Fox seemed to have adapted her candor to a much more constructive girl power -- mostly.
"It's different working for a woman," Fox told the gathering, which Movieline covered. "She obviously understands... She's much more sensitive to how I might be feeling on a moment-to-moment basis, which is a very bizarre feeling. I'm not used to that. But I feel like it was encouraged that the character [and] for us to be beautiful. Not in the sense that we have our hair extensions in, or that I have my [spray] tan on and need to be glowing all the time. We were real people in a real town, and we showed the beauty in that: Real is beautiful. You don't have to look like an airbrushed Cosmopolitan cover all the time to be attractive. [Pause] And I didn't have to bend over a bike, which was nice."
Megan, Megan, Megan. You know the media love a sniper, but come on. When you have the gracious-exit option, why not take it? After all, it may have been her last chance to claim the public upper hand before the bloodied Bay came back swinging -- or at least before a few anonymous "crew members" from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen came back swinging on Bay's blog, which to me implies nothing less than the director's full knowledge and support:
We are in different departments; we can't give our names because sadly doing so in Hollywood could lead to being banished from future Paramount work. One of us touches Megan's panties, the other has the often shitty job of pulling Ms. Sour pants out of her trailer, while another is near the Panaflex camera that helps to memorialize the valley girl on film. [...]
Say what you want about Michael - yes at times he can be hard, but he's also fun, and he challenges everyone for a reason - he simply wants people to bring their 'A' game. He comes very prepared, knows exactly what he wants, involves the crew and expects everyone to follow through with his or her best, and that includes the actors. He's one of the hardest working directors out there. [...]
[W]ho is the real Megan Fox? She is very different than the academy nominee and winning actors we've all worked around. She's as about ungracious a person as you can ever fathom. She shows little interest in the crew members around her. We work to make her look good in every way, but she's absolutely never appreciative of anyone's hard work. Never a thank you. All the crewmembers have stopped saying hi to Ms. Princess because she never says hello back. It gets tiring. Many think she just really hates the process of being an actress. [...]
The press certainly doesn't know her most famous line. On our first day in Egypt, the Egyptian government wouldn't let us shoot because of a permit problem as the actors got ready in make up at the Four Seasons Hotel. Michael tried to make the best of it; he wanted to take the cast and crew on a private tour of the famous Giza pyramids. God hold us witness, Megan said, "I can't believe Michael is fucking forcing us to go to the fucking pyramids!" I guess this is the "Hitler guy" she is referring to. [...] Hopefully Michael will have Megatron squish her character in the first ten minutes of Transformers 3. We can tell you that will make the crew happy!
Whoa. If she comes back for Transformers 3, to which I'm sure she's contractually obligated (or at least agent-obligated) but on which she'll also wield the mandate to make Bay's life even greater hell -- especially if she knows she's going to come out of the whole thing with hair extensions and a spray tan, bending over another bike. What this really needs is a firm, final, Christian Bale-esque, "Seriously, man, you and me are done professionally" -- hopefully something someone can spin into a hit remix, but for now we'll just take a merciful end to hostilities. If only for Fox's sake: You simply can't beat a guy powerful enough to have his own brand of M&M's.
ยท Crew Members Respond to Megan Fox's Insults [MichaelBay.com]