On Set Interview: Megan Fox On Transformers

By Kellvin Chavez on May 14, 2007

Ever want to date a really hot chick who likes to get dirty, has a potty mouth and gets to fight along side robots? You did? Me too! Megan Fox just happens to be that girl, and she explains how her character in "Transformers" will be kicking ass and taking names. While still looking hot of course...

Latino Review: What character do you play in this?

Fox: My character's name is Mikaela. I'm essentially the car lead character from the car scene and I'm Stan'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.

Latino Review: I know that you were a huge 'Transformers' fan as a kid.

Fox: Who told you I was a huge 'Transformer' fan? I was actually – I did watch the cartoon, but I was a bigger 'Ninja Turtles' fan though, if I'm going to be honest. Vanilla Ice in the second one. But I did watch the cartoon and I did like the cartoon. It was really entertaining. I remember that 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. It was cool.

Latino Review: So you didn't play with Barbie Toys?

Fox: I don't think so. I don't think you can generalize girls saying that they all like to play with Barbies or whatever. I was a tomboy and so I liked all that kind of stuff. I found it very interesting.

Latino Review: Are you disappointed that there aren't any female transformers?

Fox: Not really. I can't say that I am. I think that I would be lame kind of like I don't think that women should be rock stars. I have this thing about that.

Latino Review: Did you feel any kind of pressure walking into a franchise that has such a preexisting fan base who are so passionate about this film?

Fox: Sure. Not so much with my character because she was hardly ever in the animated series and so it's not like I'm taking on something that people are attached to and expect me to perform in some specific way, but for me it's just the realization of just how huge this movie is and how many people are going to see it and because the script was on lock down the whole time you were 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 is nerve racking.

Latino Review: What's the hairiest thing that you've had to do in the film so far? Shia mentioned that they had a helicopter blow up over his head.

Fox: Yeah, 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 that and Michael [Bay] wanted it to be very realistic so I had to break it with a sledgehammer and then he wanted me to reach inside and open the car door. So I was scraping my arm across the glass to get in. It wasn't even high action. It was just actually like having shards of glass in my arm afterwards. It was real. So for me that was probably the hairiest thing so far.

Latino Review: Is this the costume that you wear for the movie?

Fox: This is my costume for most of the film. I have a few costumes.

Latino Review: What are you doing today on the film?

Fox: I don't know what I'm doing here. I think that I'm glorified background today. We're doing a lot of crane shots and reactionary shots. There is a big battle that sort of happens on this set and we're just getting coverage, reaction inserts, things like that.

Latino Review: Why are girls going to like 'Transformers?'

Fox: I'm not really the person to ask because I don't really relate to women that well, but the CG in this movie is incredible. I think that alone is reason for anyone to go and see it, but the love stories. There is a really great kiss at the end. All the girls liked the kiss in 'Spider-Man' and all of that shit so that'll be in here also. It's a sick movie and everyone is going to want to be a part of it because it's so big. No one is going to want to miss it.

Latino Review: Is your character going to be like Kirsten Dunst in 'Spider-Man,' always getting kidnapped and in trouble having to be saved?

Fox: I'm not that girl. No. Luckily my character is a tough girl and she gets into some situations where Shia's character, Sam, has to help her. He doesn't necessarily come to her aid and rescue her. She doesn't need to be rescued because she does actually kick a lot of ass.

Latino Review: Why don't you relate to women that well?

Fox: I just never have. I grew up with all guys. All my friends were boys growing up and I liked playing in the dirt and I like sports and those sorts of things, surfing. I'm just not very girlie.

Latino Review: Before all the robots come onto the scene what's going on with your character and Shia's character?

Fox: Before? Our story is basically that he's not quite the nerd in school, but he is that off beat guy that everyone kind of knew. He's cool, but very strange and my character is dating the jock as things go and there is the fight between the two of them and I'm stuck in the middle. Each of them has an interest in me. He ends up helping me out in this difficult situation and because of his personality I sort of fall for him. I start to at least and I don't know how much more I can give away.

Latino Review: You can tell us anything.

Fox: Really? Anyway, there's something specific that happens with him trying to sell 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 of the robots and all of that.

Latino Review: Does your jock boyfriend get stepped on by a robot?

Fox: Not that I know of. I think that he just sort of fades away and there's not really any sort of resolution to him.

Latino Review: Is it hard to play a love story when there is explosions going on behind you?

Fox: Yeah, it is. You sit and you think that this isn't realistic and people are going to hate this and I feel like a fucking douche bag and I can't do this, but then you think that no one is even going to give a shit. There is going to be so much happening around this. 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 fighting. Sure. But the majority of people say, I heard Shia say, they want to see some sort of human interaction and human involvement so those things have to be in there. I think unfortunately, but they have to be thrown in there and we're trying to steer away from – we understand that they don't want any sappy bullshit. We're trying to stay away from that and keep it as realistic as possible and keep it as much to the Autobot/Decepticons as we can.

Latino Review: Do you and Shia ever get into swearing contests?

Fox: Does he curse a lot also? No, we don't get into swearing contests, but we have ongoing battles. The other day, I can't remember what it was over, but I said to him, 'You won't do that because you're not a little girl.' And he shit in my trailer. Stuff like that happens all the time.

Latino Review: In the toilet?

Fox: That time in the toilet. I'm afraid he's going to do it in my purse.

Latino Review: Shia said that part of the way he got the role was that Michael (Bay) would ask him to improvise.

Fox: Which he is amazing at.

Latino Review: And you guys did a thing like that too?

Fox: Yeah. Shia really excels in that. He's a comedian and he's so funny. They brought me into the audition and it was like the sixth time that I had gone in and so I was going on the script and it's so easy when you've been rehearsing. So they put me in there with him and he was going off on all these tangents and Mike wanted me to follow along with it which is difficult for me because that's not my area of expertise. The most difficult thing in working with Shia is that he's really funny and it's hard to keep it straight and play the straight man in the scenes with him. Mike actually writes my lines for me more so than he does for Shia because like I said Shia is a comedian and I'm not. So I sort of have to stick to some sort of scripted material.

Latino Review: Why do you think you got the job? What was it that Michael liked about you?

Fox: I think that a lot of the girls that were coming out for it were – well, I'm pretty sure that they wanted to cast an unknown, obviously, but a lot of the girls were blonde actually and I think that the fact that I was dark haired played a part in the aesthetics of it. The other female lead is blonde and they had already cast her I think. So they wanted me to be an opposite and I think that Shia and I do have some sort of chemistry that works well.

Latino Review: Do you have nightmares about him making you laugh in the middle of an important take?

Fox: No, but I do have dreams that I never leave the set. I'm always dreaming about this movie and sometimes it's me on set making this movie or sometimes it's me in the movie and I wake up and I feel ridiculous that I just had that dream and all the stuff like the Energon Cube. I had a dream about that other day. We spent all day filming where we're supposed to see the reveal of it. We spent like sixteen hours doing that and of course I went home and of course I dreamed about that all night, the actual Energon Cube and how it would be if it transformed. So it's all this different stuff. I feel so retarded. I probably shouldn't say that word. It's going to be a big deal.

Latino Review: Was the first day of shooting for you and Shia something really difficult, a big action scene that was uncomfortable and scary to do?

Fox: No, not really. There is so much action in this film. The majority of what we've done has been all action. So it would be hard to pick that scene and make it the first one. I was actually working by myself the first day. Shia was working on some other movie that he was doing. I had to film some stuff during a chase scene which was high action. It was really difficult and I wish that I could go back now and redo it because I'm so much more comfortable doing this stuff that it's going to kill me to have to watch it. I was made uncomfortable on the first day of filming to answer your question though. Yes.

Latino Review: How big of a break is this film for you?

Fox: Well, I try not to pay attention to that at all. But I mean, this movie is going to be big for all of us. It's 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. The things that are coming out are like ominous and it makes you need to see this film and so people are going to see me in it and they're either going to like it or they're going to hate it or they're going to be indifferent. There's a lot of things that I feel, but I am going to be seen. So I'm sure my profile will be raised on some level.

Latino Review: Are you getting more offers now?

Fox: I am, but not necessarily for things that – it's really hard to choose what your next project is going to be after this movie because of the size of what this is.

Latino Review: What would you like to do next, another big movie or a smaller movie?

Fox: I would actually like to do a very small film that's really character driven that I could work on something different in that way, improve myself as an actor in that way.

Latino Review: How intense is Michael Bay as a director?

Fox: Michael is 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 great with Shia. I mean, he yells. People always talk about him yelling. He's not malicious or scary when he yells. He's always half joking. He says things that if you don't have a thick skin might hurt your feelings, but if you don't have a thick skin you should get out of this business anyway I think.

Latino Review: Did you finish all your stuff with Jon Voight?

Fox: I don't know from day to day what we're filming. I have no idea what I'm doing here today. So I don't think that Jon Voight has been wrapped for picture and so I'm sure we will work with him again soon. We have approximately sixteen days on the shooting schedule, and he by the way is the nicest man that I've ever met in my life. He is really great and I feel really honored to be in the same room with him.

Latino Review: Do you have a favorite Transformer?

Fox: From the film? Well, I like Starscream from the animated series. From the animated series I would have to say Bumblebee. I know that's such a given, but he is so heroic in this movie that I really like him. Megatron is really fickle. The art work on this film is incredible and it's hard to pick, but personality wise I would go for Bumblebee on this.

Transformers Opens July 7th

Source:Latino Review