Newcomer Megan Fox adds a twist to director Michael Bay’s Transformers, as she not only plays the tough girl, but Sam Witwicky’s (Shia LaBeouf) love interest as well. ComingSoon.net/Superhero Hype! hung out with the hot young actress on the set of her biggest project to date.
CS/SHH!: Tell us about your character?
Megan Fox: My character’s name is Mikaela. I’m essentially the Carly character from the cartoon. I’m Sam’s love interest throughout the film and I sort of get sucked into all of the action and become a little bit of an action hero myself.
CS/SHH!: You were a fan?
Fox: I did watch the cartoon. I was a bigger “Ninja Turtles” fan if I’m going to be honest. With Vanilla Ice in the second one. But I did watch the cartoon and I did like the cartoon. It was really entertaining. I remember when they would always come back from commercial break, they had the one animatic. I don’t remember which Autobot it was but he was like a motorcycle and he would transform in midair into a robot.
CS/SHH!: It’s kind of unusual for girls to be so into “Transformers” or “TMNT” isn’t it?
Fox: I don’t think so. I don’t think you can generalize girls as saying they all like to play with Barbies or whatever but I was a tomboy so I liked all of that kind of stuff. I found it very interesting.
CS/SHH!: Are you disappointed there’s no female Transformers?
Fox: Not really. Can’t say that I am. I think that would be lame. Kind of like I don’t think women should be rock stars.
CS/SHH!: Any pressure walking into a franchise?
Fox: Sure. Not so much on my character because she was hardly ever in the animated series, so it’s not like I’m taking on something people are attached to and expect me to perform in a specific way. But for me, just the realization of how huge this movie is and how many people are going to see it. Because the script was on lockdown and you couldn’t really read it the whole time I was auditioning for it, I wasn’t aware how large my part actually is and how much I’m in this film and how much people are going to see of me. So that’s what’s nerve racking.
CS/SHH!: Craziest thing you’ve done?
Fox: We’ve done a lot of crazy stuff like that. For me personally, I had to break a window, an actual car window with safety glass and all of that. Mike, who likes everything very realistic, so I had to break it with a sledge hammer and then he wanted me to reach inside and open the car door so I’m scraping my arm across the glass to get in. and it wasn’t high action, it was just actually like I had shards of glass sticking in my arm afterwards. It’ real. So for me, that was probably the hairiest thing.
CS/SHH!: What are you shooting today?
Fox: I don’t know what I’m doing today. I think I’m a glorified background today. We’re doing a lot of crane shots and reactionary shots of there’s a big battle that happens on this set. We’re just getting coverage, reaction, inserts, things like that.
CS/SHH!: Why will girls want to see this?
Fox: I’m not the person to ask because I don’t really relate to women that well but the CG in this movie is incredible. Just that alone, I think is reason for anybody to go see it. But the love story. There’s a really great kiss at the end. All girls like the kiss in “Spider-Man” and all that s**t, so that’ll be in here also. It’s just a sick movie. Everybody’s going to want to be a part of it because it’s so big.
CS/SHH!: Are you damsel in distress?
Fox: No, I’m not that girl. Luckily, my character is a tough girl. She gets into some situations where Shia’s character, Sam, has to help her. He doesn’t really necessarily come to her aid and rescue her. She doesn’t need to be rescued. She actually kicks a lot of ass.
CS/SHH!: Why don’t you relate to women well?
Fox: I just never have. I grew up, all my friends were boys growing up and I liked playing in the dirt and all of that. I liked sports and windsurfing, surfing. I’m just not very girlie.
CS/SHH!: What’s going on with you and Shia before the robots come?
Fox: He’s not the nerd in school but he’s that offbeat guy that everybody kind of knew. He’s cool but he’s just very strange and my character is dating the jock, as things go. There’s the fight between the two of them because I’m stuck in the middle. Each has an interest in me. He ends up helping me out in a specific situation and in his personality, I sort of fall for him. I start to at least. I don’t know how much I can give away. Anyway, there’s something specific that happens. He’s selling the glasses on eBay and that whole deal. I get sort of caught in the middle of this chase and that’s how I get dragged along and become a part of the rest of the film with the interaction with the robots and all of that.
CS/SHH!: Does your jock boyfriend get stepped on?
Fox: Not that I know of. I think he just sort of fades away. I don’t think there’s really a resolution to him at all.
CS/SHH!: Is it hard to play a story with explosions going on around?
Fox: Yeah. You sit and you think, “You know, this isn’t realistic and people are going to hate this and I feel like such a douchebag and I can’t do it.” But then you think nobody’s even going to give a s**t. There’s going to be so much happening around it, they have to tie you into the story somehow because there are a lot of people that would just watch a movie that was nothing but robots fight. Sure, but the majority of people, I heard Shia say, they want it to be some sort of human interaction and human involvement. I don’t mean unfortunately but they have to be thrown in there and we’re trying to steer away from, we know the fans, they don’t want any sappy bulls**t. We’re trying to stay away from that and keep it as realistic as possible and as much to do with the Autobots and Decepticons as we can.
CS/SHH!: Do you and Shia get into swearing contests?
Fox: Does he curse a lot also? No, we don’t get into swearing contests but we have ongoing battles like the other day I told him he wouldn’t… I don’t remember what it was over, but I said, “You won’t do that for sure. You’re a little girl.” And he s**t in my trailer. So definitely that happens all the time.
CS/SHH!: In the toilet?
Fox: That time in the toilet but I’m afraid he’s going to do it in my purse.
CS/SHH!: Did Michael ask you to improvise?
Fox: Yeah, Shia really excels in that. He’s a comedian, he’s so funny. They brought me into the audition and it was like the sixth time I had been in so I had been going off script, rehearsing. They put me in there with him and he was going off on all these tangents. Mike wanted me to follow along with it which is difficult for me because that’s not my area of expertise. Shia, the most difficult thing working with him is that he’s so funny, it’s really hard to play it straight, to play the straight man in the scenes with him. Mike actually gives me, he writes my lines for me moreso than he does for Shia because like I said, Shia’s a comedian and I’m not. So I sort of have to stick to some sort of scripted material.
CS/SHH!: What got you the job?
Fox: I’m pretty sure they wanted to cast an unknown. A lot of girls were blonde actually and I think the fact that I was dark haired played a part in it, the aesthetic of it. The other female lead is blonde and they had already cast her I think, so they wanted me to be opposite. And I just think Shia and I do have some sort of chemistry that worked well.
CS/SHH!: Do you have nightmares about Shia making you laugh in the middle of an important scene?
Fox: No but I have, not nightmares, but I do have dreams, like I never leave the set. I have dreams and I’m always dreaming about this movie. Sometimes it’s me on set making this movie and sometimes it’s me in the movie and I wake up and I feel ridiculous that I’ve had that dream, that I’m like all this stuff, the Energon Cube, I dreamed about that the other day. Because we spent all day filming where we’re supposed to see the reveal of it, like 16 hours and then I went home and of course I dreamed about that all night, of the actual Energon Cube and how it did transform and all that stuff, I just feel totally retarded. I probably shouldn’t say that word. That’s going to be a big deal.
CS/SHH!: Did Michael start off with the most intense action scene?
Fox: No, not really. There’s so much action in this film, the majority of what we’ve done is all action, but it would be hard to pick that scene and make it the first. I actually was working by myself my first day. Shia was working on some other movie he was doing and I had to film some stuff during a chase scene. It was high action. It was really difficult and I wish I could go back now and redo it because I’m so much more comfortable doing this stuff, it’s going to kill me now to watch it. But I was made uncomfortable the first day, to answer your question.
CS/SHH!: How big of a break has this been?
Fox: Well, I try not to pay attention to that at all. But this movie, it’s going to be big for all of us. It’s just impossible to actually avoid if you want to because there is such a huge fan base for the series already and then just the trailers and things that are coming out, they’re like ominous, the things they’re putting out. It just makes you need to see this film so people are going to see me in it and they’re going to like it or they’re going to hate it or they’re going to be indifferent. I guess there’s a lot of things they feel but I am going to be seen, so I’m sure my profile will be raised on some level.
CS/SHH!: Have you received anymore offers yet?
Fox: I am but not necessarily the things that I’m interested in doing. It’s really hard to pick what your next project is going to be after this movie because of the size of what this is.
CS/SHH!: What would you like to do next?
Fox: I actually would like to do a very small film that’s character driven that I can really work on that way, sort of prove my ability as an actress.
CS/SHH!: How intense is Michael Bay as a director?
Fox: Michael’s great with me. I got really lucky. I don’t know what I did in the beginning or what happened but he is really great with me. He’s great with Shia and he yells. People always talk about oh, he yells but he’s not like malicious or scary when he yells. He’s always half joking. He says things that if you don’t have thick skin might hurt your feelings but if you don’t have thick skin, you should get out of this business anyway.
CS/SHH!: Have you finished shooting with Jon Voight?
Fox: I don’t know from day to day what we’re filming and I have no idea. Really I have no idea what I’m doing here today. So I don’t think Jon Voight’s been wrapped for picture so I’m sure we will work with him again soon. We have approximately 16 days left in the shooting schedule and he by the way is the nicest man I’ve ever met in my life. He’s really great. I feel really honored to even be in the same room with him.
CS/SHH!: What’s your favorite Transformer?
Fox: From this film? I liked Starscream in the animated series. From this film, I would have to see Bumblebee. I know that’s such a given but he’s so heroic. I really like him. Megatron is really sick also, the artwork on this film is incredible and it’s hard to pick but personality wise, I’d go with Bumblebee for this.
Transformers hits theaters on July 4.
