By Jason Apuzzo. Hollywood Reporter broke the news yesterday that Megan Fox – and also John C. Reilly – will be making cameo appearances in Sacha Baron Cohen’s Saddam Hussein-based satire, The Dictator. I’ve made the daring editorial decision of featuring a picture of Ms. Fox above, rather than of Reilly.
We posted on The Dictator recently, I will reiterate here my excitement over what Cohen may have in store for us. His film is officially described as telling “the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed,” and is otherwise based on the romance novel Zabibah and The King, written by Saddam Hussein – yes, that Saddam Hussein. Dictators do stuff like this.
Cohen himself is said to play dual roles of a goat herder and a deposed dictator who gets lost in America. I assume that Cohen in his usual manner will find ways to satirize backwoods Americans as rubes and bigots … but the comic potential of him playing a Saddam-style dictator (not to mention a goat-herder) is off-the-charts, and this film is slowly achieving the status of ‘must-see’ in my book. I just hope he keeps it under an X rating.
Megan Fox – the mega-babe and former Transformers star, whose Facebook fan page is apparently boasting around 26 million followers these days (how is that even possible?) – will also be joining cast members Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley and Jason Mantzoukas already in the film. Ms. Fox probably needs stuff like this happening for her now, what with Transformers: Dark of the Moon soon to debut without her. The Dictator is set for release on May 11th, 2012.
Footnote: MTV is currently covering the Transformers premiere in Moscow.
Posted on June 22nd, 2011 at 12:55pm.
I’m glad to hear that she’s still getting high-profile work after being sacked by Michael Bay. I know insulting your boss is not a good career move, but I kind of like Fox more for doing it – most actors are such well-trained ass kissers (with good reason – stroking powerful egos is good for your career) that I can appreciate what an unscripted loudmouth she can be in interviews. Also, Bay is an utterly obnoxious individual.
I disagree with you about Bay, as he strikes me as being simply an old-school, alpha-male/DeMille/Ford style director in an era of eunuchs. But with that said, I’m glad she’s getting work – and I think it’s a pity that Transformers will conclude without her. I think her sassy personality brought something to those films that Rosie H-W may not necessarily bring.
I agree with you Jason. As an employer there’s nothing I hate more than a ingrate. Megan has unfulfilled potential as an actress and/or movie star. I hope she turns it around because she’s running out of chances. Loyalty is a vastly underrated virtue and the ability to think what to say before you say it is even more valuable. Michael Bay made her a star and circumspection (or intelligent insight and someone to put a hand over her mouth) on her part would have served her well. Just ask Molly Ringwald.
Precisely. What we have here are two Type A personalities, both of whom are very hot commodities right now. The difference is that one has an established track record – while the other is still finding her way. I’m sure she regrets making the remarks … but I also assume Bay took no pleasure in firing her.
These things happen.
I’m not sure that an alpha-male/DeMille/Ford style personality and obnoxious behavior are mutually exclusive. The qualities that allowed some of those old-school guys to repeatedly get their projects made, the way they wanted them made, come hell or high water didn’t necessarily make for pleasant personalities. It’s just more forgivable because they produced high quality work.
I suppose that’s why I have a less charitable view of Bay. For me, much of his work fits into that soulless, Green Lantern, aimed at 18-yr-old dudes genre of movies you were discussing the other day (though I haven’t seen Pearl Harbor or The Island, perhaps those were better).
Ethan, I had a somewhat similar view of Bay until I made a point of watching Pearl Harbor, The Island and the first two Transformers movies – which taken together really changed my opinion of him. I came to regard him as quite a bit better than he generally gets credit for being, as a director with a distinctive personal style and themes (humanistic, pro-freedom), and an unusual comfort with large-scale storytelling. And unlike so many of his current competitors, I never find that Bay’s characters or themes get lost in a maelstrom of VFX.
What Bay’s like in person I can’t say, but I think you need to keep in mind that the pressures of directing huge scale films require a demanding, tough-as-nails type of personality. Hollywood used to be filled with guys with personalities like that – from Michael Curtiz, to Howard Hawks, Raoul Walsh, Vic Fleming and on and on …
I think there’re a couple of career trajectories here for Ms. Fox:
She chooses her words much better–both the ones that she comes up with and the ones that are presented to her in scripts–and she stays on top; or,
She keeps messing up and appears in a series of box office flops, doesn’t endear herself to co-workers or the public, decides to star in a bad cop/lawyer TV show, moves on to a bad sit-com, and then, quits the business and marries Tommy Lee.
You’ve left out only one step: the show on Lifetime, which would follow the Tommy Lee divorce.