From an interview with "Transformers: ROTFL" director Michael Bay at Wall Street Journal Online:
Megan Fox, one of the leads in "Transformers" has criticized your films for being special-effects-driven and not offering so many acting opportunities. Do you agree?
Well, that's Megan Fox for you. She says some very ridiculous things because she's 23 years old and she still has a lot of growing to do. You roll your eyes when you see statements like that and think, "Okay Megan, you can do whatever you want. I got it." But I 100% disagree with her. Nick 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." Nobody in the world knew about Megan Fox until I found her and put her in "Transformers." I like to think that I've had some luck in building actors' careers with my films.
So there! But what did Fox actually say about being in "Transformers"? Here are some excerpts from her cover interview in Entertainment Weekly:
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Transformers turned you into an overnight star. Looking back, how do you feel about the movie?
MEGAN FOX: I'm terrible in it. It's my first real movie and it's not honest and not realistic. The movie wasn't bad, I just wasn't proud about what I did.
What percentage of your range have people seen so far?
Seven percent. On the new one, I tried. But unless you're a seasoned veteran, working with Michael Bay is not about an acting experience. [...]
You're a bigger star now than when you did the first Transformers. Did they beef up your role in the sequel?
The humans are still secondary to the robots because it's a movie about robots. I feel like the part is adequate. I feel like we do something that's watchable on our end and then ILM makes it phenomenal.
You don't sound convinced that this is the greatest movie on earth.
It's not trying to be the greatest movie on earth. It's going to be the best action movie of the summer. Hands down, it will win that. But it's not trying to be a Golden Globe-nominated film. It's a badass popcorn summer movie.
You up for a third Transformers?
Sure. I mean, I can't s--- on this movie because it did give me a career and open all these doors for me. But I don't want to blow smoke up people's ass. People are well aware that this is not a movie about acting. And once you realize that, it becomes almost fun because you can be in the moment and go, ''All right, I know that when he calls Action! I'm either going to be running or screaming, or both.''
Are you happy with the kinds of roles you're getting offered now?
I get offered some outrageous s---, like "Bikini Summer Camp Island," or whatever.
Do you think you're a good actress?
I think I could be. If I really buckle down, I think one day I could be a very good actress. But so far, I haven't done anything yet.
So, Fox is saying she hasn't yet had a chance to show off her acting chops in Michael Bay movies, and Bay's response is to claim that she makes ridiculous remarks because she has a lot of growing to do -- and that, as proof, he has made box office stars out of other actors, including Nicolas Cage who won an Oscar for Best Actor ("Leaving Las Vegas") the year before Bay cast him in his first blockbuster, "The Rock." In the previous 15 years, Cage's career had only included several films by Francis Ford Coppola ("Rumble Fish," "The Cotton Club," "Peggy Sue Got Married"), the Coens ("Raising Arizona"), Norman Jewison ("Moonstruck"), David Lynch ("Wild at Heart") -- stuff like that. (But wasn't it Simon West who really propelled Cage to mega-stardom in "Con Air" the next year, when he also co-starred with John Travolta in John Woo's "Face/Off"?)
I guess I missed the part where Fox said Bay's movies weren't popular -- to which Bay could respond by saying his prestigious productions provided showcases for actors to do some of their greatest work in memorable roles.
My favorite part of the Fox interview is this, about a brief appearance in an earlier Bay film: "I was actually an extra on "Bad Boys II" [in 2003]. There's a club scene, and I was one of the club kids. I was in a stars-and-stripes bikini and a cowboy hat, dancing under a waterfall.... I was still in ninth grade. I liked it at the time, because I was getting out of school. So I was like, F--- yeah, I don't care! And I got paid extra because if you allow them to put water on you, you get paid extra. I got probably $600."
And it wouldn't be the last time Bay put water on her. Turns out she auditioned for "Transformers" by washing Bay's Ferrari while he shot video of her. Who says she hasn't have an opportunity to stretch under Bay's direction?
Well, that's Michael Bay for you. He says and directs some ridiculous things because he's 44 years old and he still has a lot of growing up to do. You roll your eyes when you see statements and movies like his and think, "Okay Michael, you can do whatever you want. I got it."
Seriously, Megan Fox is probably more mature than him.
Dude, that's the New York Post, they publish anything.
JE: So does the Wall Street Journal.
Another Michael Bay audition story:
Actor Ramon Rodriguez previously revealed the bizarre audition with Michael Bay that he went through for "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." "For 90 minutes, he had me jumping, running, diving over the furniture in his office -- that was the audition," said Rodriguez. "I was drenched in sweat. He told me, 'OK, hide behind the desk!' 'Now, run over here!' And man, I was looking in his eyes, and he was enjoying it."
And what's with dragging Ben Affleck in to this? The year before Armageddon, Ben co-wrote an Oscar-winning screenplay and gave a strong performance in "Chasing Amy". I don't get why he went back to Bay for Pearl Harbor, though I suppose the big fees gave him room to take on smaller films like "Jersey Girl" (Kevin Smith again). 8)
Reading this, my respect for Megan Fox shot up while any I might have for Bay is quickly disintigrating. At least she's not in denial about anything.
Still, I think most of the blame for Transformers 2 rests on the writing duo of Kurtzman and Orci, who are responsible for the brutal plot exposition in the latest Star Trek along with the first Transformers (which I liked), M:I3 and The Legend of Zorro. They admitted that Bay brought them in simply to string together the action scenes - and paid them eight million dollars for it.
Ben Affleck may have started filming Armageddon before he hit the big time, but by the premiere, he and Billy Bob Thornton could clink their screenwriting Oscars together.
Come to think of it, Bay deserves a share of Peter Jackson's Oscars, since he cast that elf chick in Armageddon before she was famous, Liv whats-her-name.
And Bay gets credit for everything Owen Wilson has done, too.
Michael Bay must have a bigger ego than I thought. Not an unusual thing in Hollywood, but please Michael, have some sense of proportion.
I remember seeing Will Smith in Fresh Prince Of Bel Air and thinking he's going to be a star and then having that feeling confirmed when I saw Smith in Where The Day Takes You and Six Degrees Of Separation. All before he met Michael Bay.
Ben Affleck had already won an Oscar for Good Will Hunting and had appeared in several films that are going to be remembered long after the ludicrous Armageddon has been forgotten like Chasing Amy or Dazed And Confused.
Shia LaBeouf has been on my radar since The Battle Of Shaker Heights, I,Robot, Bobby, Surf's Up and A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints. In fact, when I saw he was going to be in Transformers to be made by Michael Bay, I thought smart move Shia, show Hollywood that someone as genuinely talented as you can work with a horses ass like Michael Bay and make a truly nothing film that does big box office.
Bay shot some of Transformers II in Philadelphia and the word I heard from virtually all of the people who worked for him was he was an intolerable nit wit. So you see, sometimes the Hollywood press gets things right.
By the way I happened to like Pearl Harbor and I included The Island on my Best of the Year list. Probably the only critic to do so, but I did like the film.
I clearly remember listening to DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, and their song "Summertime", around 6th grade. That's about 1991 or 1992. I also clearly remember watching "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". The funny thing is that I don't recall going to see "Bad Boyz".
Who's this Will Smith that Michael Bay speaks of?
Yeah. The elf chick. Liv whats-her-name. It's not like she was Steven Tyler's daughter or anything.
Jesus, Bay is full of himself.
A case could be made that Nicolas Cage's movie career after appearing in a Michael Bay film took a rather sad drop in quality. There are the occasional high points like Adaptation and...okay, just Adaptation. Don't get me wrong. I did enjoy Con Air and Face/Off, but I don't consider them really good films like Raising Arizona, Wild At Heart, or Moonstruck.
My favorite part of her interview, by far(!), is when in defending Transformers as not trying to be anything more than a fun summer movie she says, "But it's not trying to be a Golden Globe-nominated film."
Golden Globe. That's what she used to signify heady quality. Boy, talk about unintentionally revealing your intellectual shortcomings.
Maybe Fox knew how absurd it would be to mention the Academy Awards when talking about this movie.
So, for me it is rather showing a good understanding about what the quality of the movie is, than showing her intellectual shortcomings.
Greg F: Or maybe she meant that even the Golden Globes are far outside the reach of a movie like Transformers 2.
Most likely though, she was just thinking "award winning" and mentioned the first award that came to mind. Hardly fair to judge her on a single comment like that in a quick interview.
What I love is that aside from the questions of whether or not Bay made big stars out of Cage, Affleck, LaBeouf, Fox, etc, is that he's apparently incapable of separating the concepts of "big star" from "good actor." Fox says Transformers wasn't an acting film - which has essentially NOTHING to do with the size of its stars. Launching careers and making people household names is not the same as giving them an acting challenge.
FFS, people. It's pretty clear that Bay meant that he turned guys like Cage, Affleck, Will Smith, and Shia LaBouf into "action" stars, not movie stars. None of those guys were thought of as action hero material until Bay threw them in one of his movies.
I agree completely, John L. Yes, he made Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Nic Cage, and Ben Affleck into believable "action stars." He didn't make them great actors. But what do you expect from a guy who had Megan Fox audition for a role in his movie by washing his Ferrari in a bikini. Classy guy all the way.
On the commentary for Transformers, Bay says this of the Megan Fox character, and I paraphrase "We weren't sure who we wanted for this role, but I knew that she had to have a really great looking stomach"
Oh, please.
Hollywood is infested with name-dropping douchebags.
Why complain about them?
Bay likes to blow things up.
Fox likes to look hot.
Do you expect something else from them? Seriously?
She probably said "Golden Globe" instead of "Oscar" because there are no Golden Globes for special effects and sound. "Transformers 2" will almost certainly get Oscar nominations for visual effects, sound mixing, and sound editing (although for my money the sound in "Public Enemies," especially in the wilderness shoot-out, is superior).
>>>>>Seriously, Megan Fox is probably more mature than him.
Nah.
With all the backlash towards Michael Bay, it's easy to forget the real source of this mess: Misquotation, and the real intention of the interviewer.
As we all know, in the original interview, Megan Fox did not criticize the film for being what it is. In fact, she even openly admitted about being a part of it. But, the Wall Street Journal reporter somehow read it as a criticism on Michael Bay's film, and posed the question to Michael Bay to show he is a misogynist. Reading the entire interview with Michael Bay, it shows a validation of the interviewer's assertion (and somehow, some of the replies here) of Michael Bay being egoistic. True, Michael Bay could have answered the question with more humility, but, reading the questions from the interviewer, and seeing how she (the interviewer) jumps on him at every chance of belittling him, you can sense the interviewer's intention. That could have spark his rather hasty response to the interviewer.
It's not as if I am defending Michael Bay for his comments, but, looking at the bigger picture, we have to know what the interviewer's true intentions are during the interview before we make any comments on the one being interviewed.
Fox was talking about acting in the movie, not if the movie made her famous or gave her other opportunities.
What did I miss?
JE: I think it was Bay who missed ("... the mark, when he made Pearl Harbor...", as the song goes, too).
"The humans are still secondary to the robots because it's a movie about robots."
Did Fox not actually watch the first film in the series? Problem #1 with it was that the focus is way too much on the humans and not nearly enough on the Transformers (which is what we're paying to see), who are all an undifferentiated mess thanks to poor production design anyway.
It's really sad but the original Transformers film, made in '86 was miles better than than the $150million behemoth that Bay made.