Megan Fox, who’s most prolific role to date is playing Mikaela Banes; the love interest of Sam Witwicky (played by Shia LaBeouf); in the first two Transformers movies, has had her differences with the series director/producer. Michael Bay; with her not only saying that she wasn’t proud of her performances, and didn’t understand the second film, but comparing Bay to both Napoleon, and Adolf Hitler, with Bay hitting back and basically saying that without him she wouldn’t have a career (the whole affair has played out distinctly like a Human League song, minus the relationship angle); it appears that as a result, she has been dropped from the third installment of the franchise.
Paramount has apparently confirmed that they decided against working with Megan, but the truth may actually be something different, as she had appeared on the set to film pre-visualization footage (an odd thing to ask her to do if they, and Bay, were planning on letting her go; unless there was some more, on-set, hostility), and her P.R. team has since released a statement saying that it was Megan herself who decided to quit, which could either be the truth, pure propaganda attempting to salvage her reputation, or the most likely scenario; a bit of both.
A source close to the film has stated that giving Shia’s character a new love interest actually makes more sense for the story, which has been written by Ehren Kruger (the writer of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, and both Ring movies), and is currently shooting with Shia LaBeouf, Frances McDormand (Aeon Flux), John Malcovich (Johnny English), and Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy), among others.
At the moment, there’s no telling exactly who Bay will want to replace Ms. fox, although Gemma Arterton (who can currently be seen in Jerry Bruckheimer’s; Pirates of the Caribbean; Prince of Persia adaptation) is supposedly the front-runner, and has already had discussions with Michael Bay about the role (which is very sought after; being a key part in such a moneymaking, and potential career making, franchise).
However, it’s far from a done deal, and there are a large number of potential candidates lining up, and be considered, to play Shia LaBeouf’s on-screen lover; including Zoe Saldana (Avatar), Amber Heard (The Stepfather) and Heroes star Hayden Panetierre, among a whole batch of other actresses and models; and while it could end up being anyone at this point, one thing’s for certain; Megan Fox is, most definitely, out.
