Shia LaBeouf Once Called It a ‘Blessing’ That Megan Fox Left the ‘Transformers’ Franchise
As many know, Megan Fox was once let go from the Transformers franchise after a slight spat with the film’s director Michael Bay. LaBeouf would go on to be with a new love interest for the third Transformers movie.
Speaking on the issue, LaBeouf later felt that Fox not being a part of the Transformers: Dark of the Moon was actually a blessing.
Why Megan Fox was fired from the ‘Transformers’ franchise
Fox was let go of her role in Transformers shortly after expressing some of her thoughts about Michael Bay. In a highly publicized interview with Wonderland, Fox went on a brief rant against the Bad Boys director and his on set practices.
“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,” she said.
Afterward, Bay cleared up that her comments played a part in her being fired from Transformers. At the same time, however, the filmmaker alleged her behind the scenes antics also made her departure more likely. Eventually, Bay claimed it was the film’s producer Steven Spielberg who wanted Fox gone.
“She 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,'” Bay recalled to GQ.
Shia LaBeouf once felt it was a blessing Megan Fox didn’t return to ‘Transformers’
Although LaBeouf may have been disappointed to see Fox go, he felt he understood the reasoning behind her firing. In a 2011 interview with Hero Complex (via Playlist), the Even Stevens alum shared that Fox’s personality ultimately clashed with Bay’s directorial preferences. And more specifically, Fox may have taken issue with the way Bay shot women.
“It’s summer. It’s Michael [Bay]’s style. And I think [Megan Fox] never got comfortable with it,” LaBeouf theorized.
LaBeouf felt that Fox’s growing beliefs about women’s treatment in the industry may have created even further problems for Bay.
“Megan developed this Spice Girl strength, this woman-empowerment [stuff] that made her feel awkward about her involvement with Michael who some people think is a very lascivious filmmaker, the way he films women,” he added.
But at the end of the day, LaBeouf believed it was a good thing that Fox didn’t return to the third Transformers film. To LaBeouf, the film’s new love interest, played by Rosie-Huntington Whitely, was better for his character’s story. Mostly because his character and Fox’s didn’t have anywhere else to go in the Transformers movies storytelling-wise.
“I love Megan. She was great in the movies she was in… fun to work with, great energy, great personality. But it’s kind of a blessing that she wasn’t in this movie… selfishly,’ LaBeouf once told E Online (via Digital Spy). “In the second movie, [Sam and Mikaela] became one character. There was no arc. There was no room for Sam to be heroic. They were sharing the same experience.”
Megan Fox once called being fired from ‘Transformers’ a low point in her career
In later years, Fox opened up about how she truly felt being let go from Transformers. But she believed her firing was a turning point in her growth as a person, and helped open up many possibilities for the Jennifer’s Body actor.
“That was absolutely the low point of my career,” Fox once said in an interview with Cosmopolitan. “But without — ‘that thing,’ I wouldn’t have learned as quickly as I did. All I had to do was apologize — and I refused. I was so self-righteous at 23, I couldn’t see [that] it was for the greater good. I really thought I was Joan of Arc.”
