Friday
03Jul2009
Michael Bay and Megan Fox in Ridiculous Verbal War
Friday, July 3, 2009 at 2:13AM
In the red corner: Megan Fox. In the blue corner: Michael Bay. The Transformers hottie and her director are currently engaged in a public spat stemming from Fox's comments that Bay spent more time working on effects than he did collaborating with his actors. As if that's a shock.
"Nic Cage wasn't a big actor when I cast him, nor was Ben Affleck before I put him in Armageddon. Shia LaBeouf wasn't a big movie star before he did Transformers -- and then he exploded. Not to mention Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, from Bad Boys."If you were paying attention, you realized that Bay was wrong in each of his examples. Of course, since this is the director who chose to focus on a fictional story in Pearl Harbor and gloss over the real hero who briefly appeared in that mess, it's not surprising that his sense of history may be off. Nic Cage had been in movies for 15 years when he appeared in The Rock, including starring roles in Moonstruck, Honeymoon in Vegas, and Raising Arizona. He also won an Academy Award months before the Michael Bay movie was released. So there's that. Ben Affleck, while not a major star when Armageddon was released, had also just won an Academy Award for co-writing Good Will Hunting. Bay should not take any credit for "putting" an already rising star in his movie, but Kevin Smith sure could. Shia LaBeouf - again, months before Transformers - proved his mettle as a box office option when Disturbia quadrupled its budget. LaBeouf had also been working in Hollywood for years and was clearly about to break through with or without Michael Bay. And as for Will Smith and Martin Lawrence...um...didn't they both have their own TV shows before Bad Boys? And hadn't Smith been a pop star for nearly a decade? And hadn't he received critical acclaim for his performance in Six Degrees of Separation? If anything, Bay can say he was there at the right time in all of these careers, but there's hardly a Lana Turner discovery among them. He did have a more active hand in the creation of the Megan Fox machine, and it's obvious that she's beginning to resent being confined as the hot girl from Transformers. She's going to have to prove she's worth the trouble, though, and she hasn't done it yet. In her defense, she didn't have anything to do in Revenge of the Fallen. It's one of the more wasted Obligatory Girl characters in quite a while. I would suspect it's likely that Fox wants to break out from the Transformers franchise and walk her own path. She does seem a little less interested in marching in lockstep with the rest of the industry, anyway.
Reader Comments (13)
bravo
A bimbo and a himbo fighting it out... the important question really is who cares about either one of them. They shared one decent movie in the first transformers, Bay has maybe two or three other decent flicks in his whole career, which Fox will soon tie with a hopefully good Jonah Hex. As far as egomaniacs go she may be a bad actress but at least she's hot, he's just a bad filmmaker.
great article Colin
I dunno.
I think Michael Bay would actually be right to say that his films were vehicles that did catapult some actors from the "promising" category to the "superstar" category.
Not saying that Michael Bay is a genius but he certainly knows how to create commercial success.
Modesty is a virtue, though.
"Following the protocol of his action-filled movies, Bay kept the onslaught going long after it ceased being interesting, and made some mistakes along the way:"
You seem to have missed the part where he both patted himself on the back while pounding his fist to his chest.
the thing is? michael bay will still be making blow'em up action movies in 20 years. megan fox will be doing "erotic thrillers" to try to shock hollywood into casting her again.
I'm sorry, but your counterpoints to his "big actor" comments really aren't that strong, especially WIll and Martin. You might as well say David Schwimmer was a big (movie) actor because he was on Friends for so long.
You can hate Bay's movies if you want, but he deserves some credit in every one of those cases actually. There's a definite line between the types of movies those people were able to make before and after their Bay blockbusters.
Cheers, Colin, cheers.
Leslie -
All I'm saying is Bay is taking credit for people who already had successful careers. When they made Bad Boys, he was the rookie, not Smith and Martin. Well, unless you count some Meat Loaf and Great White videos, a milk commercial, and the Playboy video centerfold for Kerri Kendall.
My counterargument that Nic Cage can't be categorized as an actor of little reputation even though he had already won the Best Actor Oscar and had starred as the lead in a dozen movies or so isn't very strong? I don't know what else you need, frankly.
And if anyone deserves the credit for the "discoveries," it would be Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced all of Bay's films until The Island and has a long history of unveiling talent without Bay taking credit for it.
Megan Fox better start acting her ass off in movies right now to prove that she's not just a loudmouth. Work work work.
Megan needs so shut up and be eye candy cause that's all she is there for. Her role and her acting 'skill' can be replaced in about .5 secs. Last time i checked i see transformers for cgi robots killing each other, i want her i got playboy and the internet for porn.
Also bay made VERY valid points. Ok so will smith was on fresh prince. He took time off to make bad boys and left that show after he did and also which it did a boat load of money so didn't the sequel much like transformer 2 got bad reviews.. Dare i name the list of actors who left tv to do movies and have not done squat? Bottom line his first movie was bad boys, look at him now, he didnt become a household name from wild west
Martin lawrence is funny as hell, how much stand up has he done or cd's released since bad boys? He plays a cop in bad boys 1 and 2, list each movie since then he has played a cop, almost every one. Again martin lawrence was not a household name from house party.
Also as far as nic cage, people i guess forget the term big actor for good actor. Johnny depp is awesome and one of my favs of all time. Before pirates name the 200 million block buster he was in. Ya. As soon as he did Pirates his money per film went through the roof and he has done alot more movies now, then before the success of captain jack.
So yes nic cage was good, but i dam sure knew more of him since the rock. Shia , did holes and i only found that out 6 months after i seen transformers lol. I only watched disturbia after seeing transformers and i only went to see eagle eye because i seen him in transformers. Last time i checked he got paid about 5 million for transformers 2. Doubt he got that for the other films.
Ben did good will hunting. Great film that again i would not probably have watched until i seen him in Armageddon and was like wow who is this? Also another big name i never knew until that film was Micheal clark duncan and the first time i seen owen wilson on screen
So bottom line bay makes blockbusters, lots of people and studios see these films and every actor in them does well. Tobey was a 'serious' actor and in some films, when spiderman was being filmed im like who the hell is tobey maguire? Thanks to those 3 films look at this payout and popularity now.
Seriously if megan is not in transformers 3 see how much i will care lol and watch how many of her 'serious' acting films i spend my 10 bucks on
I would agree with Lengthy Cobra.
Let's remember that it's not easy for individuals from different areas of entertainment jto be great in everything. You can't always make the transition from music to movies.
Or tv to movies...or movies to tv...or music to tv.
Look at Madonna or Beyonce. Madonna has unleashed some bombs on us. She did well in League of Their Own but her saucy character was arguably not so far removed from her stage persona...so....go figure. How hard is it to play yourself?
Beyonce? I've given her chance after chance after chance. The Beyonce movie boycott is in full effect. Ppl say Keanu Reeves is wooden. For some reason, Keanu's emotionless wooden-ness has become a 'style' that actually works for him.
But no -- Beyonce is wooden. Flat and one-dimensional. She's Foxxy Cleopatra in every film.
The only way Beyonce can get 'acting' roles (as opposed to big-screen musicals) is if she creates a company and gets the script/financing and pushes the project through herself.
...and that appears to be EXACTLY what she's doing.
Which makes me feel better. At least she isn't stealing roles from better qualified but no-name actresses.
Let's also remember that it just takes that one role to make or break you. I think that's what the director was getting at.
At least in the case of Wil and Lawrence...yeah -- they were stars of course -- but they hadn't conquered the big screen.
BadBoys was good. It put them on the map. BadBoys II was great.
Independence Day dropped and Will has been saving the world or inspiring us very 4th of July weekend! LOL
Martin Lawrence could've been big in movies too but I think his personal issues got in the way.
Nic Cage? Not sure who is responsible for the film that made his career.
The last good movie I saw him in was Face-Off. Although I did like the National Treasure installments. I just like movies like that. LOL
He was a good actor...but now everything is so forced. Even in Nat'l Treasure...the exchange with the little boy should've been funny. But it was just not...believable.
I'm not sure what happened or what's going on with Nic. Is it the directors? I figure he's going through something personal, too.
Honestly, I haven't been able to look at him straight since 'Wicker Man'.
That movie was just....strange. LOL
Was it supposed to be a comedy?
It was okay but then he just started running around the town looking crazy and knocking out every women he saw!
It was hilarious!
Shia? I knew who he was. He always played supporting sidekick roles but he did well in them. He wasnt a big name star until Transformers, though.
Megan? I didn't even know who she was UNTIL Transformers. Fortunately, I'm not a man so her beauty doesn't distract me from her acting ability and personality...therefore I have no incentive to watch her movies. But I'll say it like this: How many credits does she have to her name?
That girl needs to hush up her mouth and be HUMBLE...and thank GOD that 'someone' believed in her enough to cast her in their film.
She should've declined to comment. This is a private matter and the public didn't need to know all of this. Just b/c someone give you a soapbox doesn't mean that you have to stand on it and talk out of your a***.
I mean, she doesn't have to sh*t on the film --she's sh*tting on her director!
How does she think this looks to OTHER directors? If they do something that she has an issue with, will she throw them under the bus too?
Outstanding comments from both LengthyCobra and Stephanie!!! Im not going to reiterate what those two have just said but they are spot on. Everyone forgets about the films or shows those actors were in. They might have been popular but only too a certain, maybe even small fan base. Every one of the actors after being cast in one of Bay's movies has had huge amounts of success, except for a few, nonetheless it was Bay's films that may have been a catalyst for their huge blockbuster stardom. Bay didnt make them stars but he sure did give them the transport to get them there. Megan Fox is rapidly killing her career. It seems like she may have a more personal problem with Bay than a working problem. Out of all the actors and actresses that have starred in a bay film why now is there only one saying something about him. Shia hasnt said anything bad about Bay, neither has Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Nic Cage, Ben Affleck, Owen Wilson, Mike C Duncan, Bruce Willis, Billy Bob, Will Patton, Steve Buscemi, Etc the list goes on and on. And those are some big time actors that I just listed. If he was such a tyrant wouldnt those guys have had a rough time along with her. I mean even the people in the movie with her havent dogged it or him out, I mean Tyrese and Josh Duhamel were in it and they said they loved making the Transformer movies, would do it again if given the oppurtunity. I think it is obviously clear that she hasnt been in the film business very long and critics' words rattle her self esteem very quickly. Bay does what he does and he does it well, she on the other hand hasnt found her niche and it seems to me that if acting is where she wants be she really needs to just shut her mouth.