While it’s true that I’ve been known to gush about the Transformers movies because of their amazing special effects, I’m fully aware that the movies themselves are stupid, occasionally obnoxious, and entirely unimpressive when it comes to everything besides the giant robots. But that doesn’t mean the films don’t come with their fair share of interesting news and gossip. I don’t write much about movie news on TBR, but some of this stuff is just too good not to post.
First off, there’s the whole drama about Megan Fox not returning for the third film in the franchise. When it was announced that she had left the project, she basically said that she had chosen to leave because she didn’t like the way she was being treated by Michael Bay. Here’s how she put it in an interview with Wonderland Magazine 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. He has no social skills at all. And it’s endearing to watch him.”
Well, apparently Steven Spielberg, producer of the Transformers movies, didn’t like that Hitler crack one little bit – perhaps not surprising, considering that this is the guy who made Schindler’s List. Now, years later and much closer to the film’s release, Michael Bay has stated the Spielberg demanded that he fire Fox.
“You know, the Hitler thing. Steven (Spielberg) said, fire her right now”
Just a little while ago, Lars Von Trier was banned from Cannes from making cracks about Nazis and Hitler as well. I find it fascinating that of all things, joking about Nazis and Hitler has become so taboo that it can cost you your job and reputation if you do it once. If anything, we should joke about them more!
But that’s not all that’s going on behind the scenes of Transformers: Dark of the Moon! Look for another news item under the cut!
If you’ve ever wanted some insight into how Bay casts his movies, here’s a quote from Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (Megan Fox’s replacement for Transformers 3) on how she got her role:
“I first met Michael back in 2009; it was on the set of the Christmas commercial for Victoria’s Secret. I remember the first thing Michael said to me— before he even introduced himself or asked me my name—was “Can you walk?” And I looked at him like, “What is this man talking about? Yeah, of course I can walk.” And then he proceeded to tell them to get me in the car, and then I was driven—I mean, honestly, I want to say it was about half a mile out in the desert. I kept thinking, “This is a joke, right?” And the car dumped me in the middle of the desert. All I was wearing was a bra and underwear and a big, billowing, black, floor-length cape and high heels. And he says, “OK, when we shout action, you’re going to walk!” and I assumed I would be doing this in several stages. They yelled action, and the car sped off back to set, and I just was like, “Well, what am I supposed to do?” So I walked all the way back to where the camera was standing, which took me—I would say a good 10, 12 minutes, and it was a proper runway stomp—on salt flats; it was like 100 degrees, felt like fire. I remember walking back and being not impressed by the whole thing. I was pretty pissed off afterwards; I just looked at Michael, and he goes, “I guess you can walk, then.”
Got that, everybody? All you need to do to get a part in a Michael Bay movie is look pretty and be able to walk.