MOST men would kill for one night with her, but that’s not the way things work out for dead gorgeous Megan in new movie Jennifer’s Body. The 23-year-old – who won millions of fans as feisty Mikaela Banes in 2007’s Transformers smash and this year’s blockbuster follow-up – ditches the robots in favour of some good old-fashioned blood ‘n’ guts horror. “It’s sexy,” she insists.
In Jennifer’s Body you play a zombie cheerleader who preys on teenage boys while your classmate (Amanda Seyfried, below) tries to save the day. Are you trying to sabotage your sexy image?
Oh this movie is sexy. You better put on your f***ing sexy shoes for it. There’s a little bit of a lesbian relationship between my character and Amanda’s character. There’s a girl-on-girl kiss. And beyond that, before every killing, there’s a seduction. These boys have to be seduced into getting close enough to this dead girl for her to devour them. So it does get sexy. I think I’m pretty sexy in it.
Of course, you do realise most fellas would die happy after a night with you . . .
I don’t think so!
Are you a fan of horror movies then?
I’m actually not. I don’t ever, ever watch scary movies because I have a very intense fear of the dark. The last horror movie I saw, I think it was called Tooth Fairy, and it was out in 2003 or something. I was only young and I saw it and slept in with my mother for two weeks afterwards. I get really affected by them. So, I think for me to be able to play something that I would normally be frightened by was really intriguing and interesting.
How did you react when you first saw it?
I saw a screening when I was doing some additional dialogue recording and I literally jumped and screamed inside the looping booth. It frightened me. I was so shaken up I couldn’t do my dialogue because I was like, ‘Holy s**t! That was really scary!’ It’s cool to see myself being able to scare people because I’m just a little girl. Look at me, I’m so sweet.
Incredibly, for once, you look pretty gruesome when you’re in monster mode.
Yeah. That’s quite a kisser isn’t it? That was pretty amazing actually, to do something like that after Transformers, which is all about glamour and tan and sheen. They basically stuck the false teeth in my mouth and built layers and layers of the zombie flesh around it to get that effect. It looks amazing but it was very strange for me.
After the movies you’ve done, were you nervous about such a dramatic switch?
You mean from Transformers to making this movie? Well, obviously with this there’s no robots to distract you, so if it’s terrible, you’re gonna f***ing know that it’s REALLY terrible. That, of course, is intimidating but I think the character was so much fun for me. I wasn’t really sure what I was doing. I was just trying to have fun with it. I felt like I was able to make fun of my own image as to how some people might perceive Megan Fox to be. I was just sort of flying freely and I hope some of it works.
Some of the dialogue is pretty outrageous. How did you enjoy playing a character that’s so over-the-top?
What I loved about the movie is it’s so unapologetic and how completely inappropriate it is at all times. That was my favourite part about the script and about the character. It’s fun to be able to say the s*** that she got to say and get away with it and how people find it charming.
Like The Exorcist, there’s an unforgettable vomiting scene. How did you shoot that?
What I was actually throwing up in the scene was chocolate syrup initially. We did a few takes where I would just do this scream and sort of puke Hershey’s chocolate syrup. Then special effects did a rig that clamps onto my ear for when it happens again later on in the movie. It clips on. It goes around the back of my ear and then I bite down on it on the side of my face and it projectiles. It was pretty intense. I think it was worse for Amanda because she’s the one that got puked on. I was the one doing the puking.
You’re one of the hottest new stars in Hollywood. But we heard a rumour that, after Transformers, you walked around a comic book convention in San Diego and no one recognised you. Is that true?
Yeah, totally. I still can if I dress down and keep my head down because I’m so short people don’t notice me. Actually I really wanted to dress up in the Princess Leia slave girl outfit from Star Wars but I realised that would be a bad idea for a million-and-one reasons.
After Jennifer’s Body, your next film will be Wild West thriller Jonah Hex alongside John Malkovich and No Country For Old Men star Josh Brolin (below).
I’m Jonah’s love interest, I guess you could call it. But it’s not very conventional. She’s a prostitute that he’s been coming and visiting for years. They sort of have a special relationship. He doesn’t want to get too close to her or allow her too close because everyone he loves dies. She doesn’t really understand that concept. So it’s a push and pull sort of situation.
You’ve described it as your toughest role so far. Why?
I think I just meant having to try and keep my head above water in a scene with Josh is a really, really difficult thing to do. It was only five days that I filmed and I’ve never been more exhausted filming something. I mean, I shot 108 days on Transformers and the five days I spent on this were more difficult by far. It’s just hard. I’m way out of my league.
Actors often like to do a bit of research on their characters. Were you at the library studying vice girls and cowboys?
No, not really. The kind of prostitution that existed back then is very different than the kind that exists now. That was a very common way for a woman to make a living and we didn’t really show much. If there had been more graphic scenes, I probably would have but the only sex scene that is in there is between Jonah and Leila and they’re lovers, so that wasn’t really the same sort of situation.
Did you have much of a say in how your character looks on screen?
No. I didn’t do anything. I just showed up and they did my hair and make-up.
It must have made a change to dress up in period costume?
That was a lot of fun. The corset obviously changes the way you walk and your breathing patterns and things like that but I enjoyed that. I wanted that cinch to tighten me as much as possible.
Is it true you squeezed yourself into a 19-inch corset for some of your scenes?
Yeah. I’m in a corset, kicking ass.
You always look in fantastic shape. Do you spend all your downtime in the gym?
No. I never work out. I’m too lazy.
You seem to be getting lots of blokes very excited, especially in Britain. Do you find yourself fighting them off a lot?
No. The thing is here is that there are a lot of fans and a lot of them are guys but they are all super- respectful and polite. I’ve never had any trouble.
What’s the worst chat-up line you’ve had?
One guy asked me if I thought he was more handsome that Shia LaBeouf. I was like, ‘Are you mad? No one is more handsome than Shia LaBeouf!’
TRANSFORMERS: Revenge Of The Fallen is in cinemas now. Jennifer’s Body is out on November 6. Jonah Hex follows next year.
Source: News Of The World
