You can argue that we live in a different era that holds up movie stars to a different type of scrutiny. With the constant media crush of desperate updates regarding our favorite and least-favorite celebrities, there are simply more opportunities for actors to open their mouths and reveal just how oblivious, uneducated and unpleasant they really are. So the latest comments by Shia LaBeouf regarding former co-star Megan Fox, and the asinine “Transformers” franchise as a whole, shouldn’t be a surprise. Note that this does not make them amusing in their odiousness.
“Mike films women in a way that appeals to a 16-year-old sexuality,” LaBeouf recently told Hero Complex, somehow suggesting that there are still some directors in Hollywood that still make movies for actual adults. “It’s summer. It’s Michael [Bay]’s style. And I think [Megan Fox] never got comfortable with it.” The former Disney child star sounds more and more like Robert Evans as he continues, “This is a girl who was taken from complete obscurity and placed in a sex-driven role in front of the whole world and told she was the sexiest woman in America. And she had a hard time accepting it. When Mike would ask her to do specific things, there was no time for fluffy talk. We’re on the run. And the one thing Mike lacks is tact. There’s no time for [LaBeouf assumes a gentle voice] ‘I would like you to just arch your back 70 degrees.’”
It’s endlessly amusing how Fox’s protests towards Michael Bay’s shooting style is considered “fluffy talk” but the blockbuster filmmaker, the rare auteur without a single good movie to his name, can be excused for his lack of tact. Let it be known to “Transformers” fans that LeBeouf then indirectly compares the vibe of the pictures of a Victoria’s Secret commercial in praising new co-star Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who apparently doesn’t bother with “fluffy talk.” “Rosie comes with this Victoria’s Secret background, and she’s comfortable with it, so she can get down with Mike’s way of working and it makes the whole set vibe very different.” So it’s clearly Victoria’s Secret vs. Ginger, Posh and Sporty, as, “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.”
Certainly, it’s not the first time we’ve heard of Fox and Bay mixing like oil and water. Before ultimately getting bounced from the franchise last spring, the actress had previously called Bay a Hitler-like “tyrant” with “no social skills.” At the very least, it seems like Fox was spared another round of what sounds like a toxic environment. Meanwhile, megastar LaBeouf’s decidedly backwards views on sexuality allow him to side with the odious Bay, and perhaps, in the end, it’s all about domesticity. LaBeouf says of Huntington-Whiteley’s character, “This woman’s more of a maternal, loving type. [My character] wants a domestic, eggs-in-the-morning kind of a thing.” Progressive!
“Transformers: Dark Of The Moon” opens in July why bother.