Actress Megan Fox made headlines when she
officially filed to dismiss her divorce from
actor Brian Austin Green in April 2019, per
court docs obtained by The Blast.
But the Transformers alum was regularly making
the rounds in the press a decade ago, when
she compared series director Michael Bay to
some of history's most notorious dictators,
in an interview that nearly destroyed her
career.
"Megan, I dunno.
I just liked her look, I liked that no one
really knew about her."
Fox told Wonderland magazine back in 2009,
"He's like Napoleon and he wants to create
this insane, infamous mad-man reputation.
He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and
he is.
So he's a nightmare to work for but when you
get him away from set, and he's not in director
mode, I kind of really enjoy his personality
because he's so awkward, so hopelessly awkward."
The actress, who was in her early twenties
at the time, then added,
"He has no social skills at all.
And it's endearing to watch him."
"This is crazy."
The highly-publicized trash talk naturally
had nearly everyone grabbing for the proverbial
popcorn.
Except, maybe, Steven Spielberg, who not only
executive produced the Transformers movies,
but also allegedly urged Bay to fire Fox from
reprising her role in the franchise's third
installment, 2011's Transformers: Dark of
the Moon.
That is, according to Bay himself, who told
GQ in 2011,
"You know the Hitler thing.
Steven [Spielberg] said, fire her right now.
I wasn't hurt, because I know that's just
Megan.
Megan loves to get a response.
And she does it in kind of the wrong way.
I'm sorry, Megan.
I'm sorry I made you work twelve hours.
I'm sorry that I'm making you show up on time.
Movies are not always warm and fuzzy."
For his part, Spielberg later denied the allegation,
telling Entertainment Weekly that December,
quote, "That's not true."
Meanwhile, Fox's rep had previously shared
another version of the events, telling People
in 2010,
"It was her decision not to return.
She wishes the franchise the best."
"I had not seen Megan for about eight months
since Transformers 2, and when I saw her,
she just didn't look like Mikaela."
Either way, Fox's high-profile on-screen prospects
soon appeared to come to a screeching halt.
The Transformers crew had already retaliated
by posting an open letter on Bay's website,
which called the actress, quote, "dumb as
a rock," "Ms. Sourpants," "classless," and
an "unfriendly b----," according to Deadline.
Just like that Fox went from fan-favorite
movie star, to total box office pariah.
In 2017, Fox admitted to Cosmo UK that the
whole ordeal was quote, "absolutely the low
point of my career."
The actress continued to find work, though,
landing roles in indies like Friends With
Kids, and a recurring gig on New Girl.
And after reportedly apologizing to Bay, she
even reuniting with him for 2014's Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles.
As for where Bay and Fox stand these days,
it sounds like they're letting bygones be
bygones.
Fox claimed on Watch What Happens Live in
2018,
"I was young when a lot of that was happening,
and I always, I was really self-righteous
in my anger."
But she said things changed for her, as she
got older.
"I understood regardless of whatever my issues
were, they should always have remained private.
It's not, you should never blast someone like
that in public."
Perhaps in the age of Time's Up and the Me
Too movement, the world might have been a
bit more sympathetic to what Fox originally
had to say about her harsh work environment.
She admits the same, telling the New York
Times in December 2018,
"I was ahead of my time and so people weren't
able to understand.
Instead, I was rejected because of qualities
that are now being praised in other women
coming forward.
My words were taken and used against me in
a way that was, at that time in my life, at
that age and dealing with that level of fame,
really painful."
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