Michael Bay's first Transformers movie turned Megan Fox into an instant star.
Men's magazines couldn't get enough of her, and her future in Hollywood seemed all but
bulletproof.
Who knew that a mere decade later, Fox would still be playing second fiddle to CGI creations?
Outside of the running-on-fumes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, her box office prospects
have been pretty dire of late.
"I am still socially relevant."
Here's why Hollywood won't cast Megan Fox anymore.
Transformer trouble
You'd think an actress would stay faithful to the franchise that launched her stardom,
but there's been some bad blood between Megan Fox and the crew of Transformers.
When Michael Bay cast Megan Fox in 2007's toy-centric blockbuster, she was still mostly
unknown outside of a few small TV roles.
By the time Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen rolled out in 2009, Fox was a mega-star...who
had a few mega problems with her starring vehicle.
Fox took shots at the effects-heavy Revenge, telling Entertainment Weekly, "People are
well aware that this is not a movie about acting."
But even that comment was tame compared to the way she described Michael Bay: "He wants
to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is."
Whoops!
Comparing your boss to history's most infamous genocidal dictator isn't going to fly in most
workplaces.
Bay told GQ that while Fox was part of the rehearsal process for Transformers: Dark of
the Moon early on, she was dropped before filming began.
Bay recalled, "[Fox] was in a different world, on her BlackBerry.
You gotta stay focused.
And you know, the Hitler thing.
Steven [Spielberg] said, 'Fire her right now.'"
Dark of the Moon screenwriter Ehren Kruger echoed that sentiment, saying that Fox "seemed
like an actress who didn't want to be a part of it.
She was saying she wanted to, but she wasn't acting like it."
Flop fest
Transformers may have raked in truckloads of cash, but Megan Fox's three follow-up films
crashed and burned spectacularly.
First was 2009's Jennifer's Body, a low budget horror thriller that attempted to build off
Fox's growing star power by putting her front and center in the marketing campaign.
But reviews were mixed, and the R-rated film earned a mere $6.8 million on its opening
weekend.
Then, Fox appeared in 2010's Jonah Hex, a critical and box office disaster.
She now openly admits that Jonah Hex was a turkey, saying in 2016 that "no one should
ever see that movie."
The same year, Fox made a stab for indie cred with Passion Play, a 2010 drama starring Mickey
Rourke, Bill Murray, and Rhys Ifans.
Despite the all-star cast, the film was critically reviled and only played in a handful of theaters
before being dumped to DVD.
Even Mickey Rourke slammed it, dubbing it "another terrible movie" on his resume.
And Mickey Rourke knows a few things about terrible movies.
Overexposed
Around the time of the one-two career sucker punch of Revenge of the Fallen and Jennifer's
Body, the Megan Fox backlash began.
The combination of the massive marketing for her movies and her appearance on every late
night talk show, magazine, and online photo gallery caused serious Fox fatigue.
"Megan Fox Media Oversaturation syndrome is a neurobiological disorder stemming from oversaturation
of Megan Fox related media"
It got so bad, several men's websites actually called for "A Day Without Megan Fox" boycott.
When even AskMen.com is tired of seeing Fox in various states of undress, something is
definitely off.
"This would be a perfect moment, except you landed on my testicles."
False starts
Fox has been linked to a number of would-be franchises over the years, including a film
version of the '90s "bad girl" comic Fathom, which revolves around aquatic heroine Aspen.
But the project stalled, with Fox admitting in 2014 that she may be getting too old to
play the twenty-something character.
And with so much of the film set underwater, "unless James Cameron is going to direct it
I don't know how we're going to make it happen."
And seriously, if you're looking to get past your sex icon typecasting, this probably isn't
the role to make it happen.
Jane Eyre, maybe.
Or Lady Wolfman.
But...not Aspen.
Fox did return to blockbuster filmmaking as April O'Neil in the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles reboot.
But after the sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, grossed half
of what its predecessor made, the third installment may never make it out of its shell, marking
yet another failed franchise in the Fox filmography.
A comedic return
Fox has found success in recent years by taking supporting roles in comedies where she can
tweak her aloof, glamorous image.
She showed off her comedic side with turns in This Is 40 and The Dictator, and joined
New Girl as a regular cast member in 2016 while star Zooey Deschanel was on maternity
leave.
Meanwhile, her role in the James Franco period comedy Zeroville proves that there's life
after Bay for Megan Fox.
If she keeps working in roles like these, Megan Fox may still have a long career in
Hollywood ahead of her.
And hey!
If acting jobs dry up, Fox can always try working as a studio executive:
"I am going to eat your soul."
See?
She's a natural!
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