Megan Fox And The Consequences Of Speaking Out

By Irin Carmon  |  May 25, 2010 | 6:40pm
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The news last week was that Megan Fox is off the third Transformers movie. Her side told The Wrap that she walked away because director Michael Bay was “verbally abusive” and had just had enough of his crap.

She’s also talked about how he made her tan so much for the film that’s she’s nervous about getting skin cancer. Bay is known to be an ass to his female actors, and the article goes on to say that another of the female actors in Transformers 2 Isabel Lucas wouldn’t do publicity for the film because of Bay. (This being Hollywood both camps have differing responses to her departure.)

But he gets away with this shit over and over because no one has the power – or the guts – to hold this man accountable. He could never get away acting like this in an office environment. It’s also probably true that the if the executives who hire Bay and tolerate his behavior acted like he did, they would be in court up on charges.

So why does being a director make you exempt these laws?

The studio side said that Fox’s option wasn’t picked up, but the rest of the cast will be returning and in franchise films it’s pretty common to not bring back familiar cast members.

Bay is already said to be auditioning several models to replace Fox in the role as Shia LaBeouf’s girlfriend. And speaking of LaBeouf, he spoke out last week at the Cannes Film Festival when promoting the Wall Street sequel and talked about how disappointed he was with the last Indiana Jones film. He took some of the blame himself saying: “I feel like I dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished.”

When asked whether he was going to get in trouble for speaking out here was his response:

I’ll probably get a call. But he [Steven Spielberg] needs to hear this. I love him. I love Steven. I have a relationship with Steven that supersedes our business work. And believe me, I talk to him often enough to know that I’m not out of line. And I would never disrespect the man. I think he’s a genius, and he’s given me my whole life. He’s done so much great work that there’s no need for him to feel vulnerable about one film. But when you drop the ball you drop the ball.

So the question is will LaBeouf suffer any fallout for speaking out? Who knows? He’s already on board for Transformers 3 and he is one of the most sought after young actors. But he was not speaking out about how he was treated. It’s different when a woman stands up against sexism vs when a man stand up about the film content. It just is.

Megan Fox will have a reputation for being difficult (about something people already know about) because she spoke up, and Shia LaBeouf will have a reputation as an honest kid for what he said.

No matter what you think of Megan Fox, she will most probably suffer for this and Michael Bay will still get away with treating women like shit.

Megan Fox Quit ‘Transformers’ Over Michael Bay’s Abuse [The Wrap]
Cannes 2010: Shia LaBeouf: We Botched The Last Indiana Jones [LA Times]

This post originally appeared on Women & Hollywood. Republished with permission. Want to see your work here? Email us!

 
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