FOR the millions of boys who adore her, there’s never been a more aptly named film star than Megan Fox.
Often compared – whether she likes it or not – to Angelina Jolie, the actress’ sultry looks and acting ability have ensured her star is well and truly on the rise.
After a handful of small roles in films such as Confessions Of A Teenage Drama Queen and guest appearances in sitcoms including Two And A Half Men, Fox found her breakout role thanks to Transformers in 2007.
It may have taken director Michael Bay and a team of technical wizards thousands of hours to bring the Eighties cartoon robots to the big screen, but if the truth be told, Optimus Prime and Co came close to being upstaged by one of the oldest distractions in the book – a hot girl wearing a very short denim skirt.
Mikaela Banes may have been a relatively minor character in the film and its sequel, released earlier this year, but as the story’s hero Sam Witwicky and geeks the world over will testify, she’s a very important one.
Now it’s time for her first starring part. Of course, since Transformers, there’s been no shortage of offers for the actress, born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, but nothing that’s taken her fancy.
“The scripts I was usually getting offered were not of this calibre,” she says of forthcoming Jennifer’s Body, in which she plays the titular high school b***h-with-a-difference.
The difference, of course, being that she’s possessed by a particularly blood-thirsty demon who has a passion for killing boys in her high school.
“The other scripts were for, you know, like the straight-to-DVD films, where my wardrobe would consist of a bikini and that’s about it. I was so lucky to get this script from Diablo, she’s brilliant. I think everyone feels the same way; lucky to get the opportunity to work with something she’s involved in.”
The Diablo she talks of is Diablo Cody, the stripper-turned-writer who won an Oscar and a Bafta for her debut screenplay Juno.That film, about the unplanned pregnancy of a teenager, was praised for its pithy dialogue and blend of internet slang – “honest to blog?” asks one character of Juno when she drops her bombshell – and humorous invention. The phrase “your eggo is preggo” may not be the best way to tell someone they’re expecting, but it is certainly memorable.
Jennifer’s Body is no different, containing plenty of Cody’s trademark language, delivered brilliantly by Fox and her co-star Amanda Seyfried, who plays Jennifer’s put-upon best friend and heroine of the piece, Needy. Don’t be surprised if the compound “freaktarded” slips into the popular lexicon of 2010.
For Fox, getting the relationship right between the two best friends was the most important thing in the film.
“All of us living together at The Sutton Place hotel in Vancouver while filming bred its own bonding experience,” she explains.
“The more we got to know each other, the more you could bring that natural relationship to screen. I don’t think there was ever a sudden moment where we were like “Yeah, that was really awesome”, it was a gradual thing.
“I think we got better at being friends on screen the longer we worked together, the first scene we filmed, we were both really unhappy with and we were really awkward and we didn’t feel like it played as though we had known each other our whole lives,” she continues.
“We wanted that to be believable and by the end it definitely was.”
When the film is released, the lesbian kiss the two friends share will get more than a little attention. Megan insists that however it may look on screen, it wasn’t the most comfortable of scenes to film.
“It’s weird, it’s been so sensationalised in the media and the question is always asked by female journalists,” she says.
“It’s bizarre because you’d think it would be the males, but it’s not, it’s the women that have the perviest questions. I just felt it was so awkward and quiet, there was no score underneath it and it is a bit bizarre.
“I would also say it’s easier kissing someone who you know doesn’t want to kiss you. That’s more comfortable than going into a scene with someone you think is anticipating it or is going to enjoy it. That’s worse in a work environment,” she adds, “but I knew Amanda clearly wasn’t excited about it.
“We were both nervous and they cleared the set completely of anyone who didn’t absolutely have to be there. We laughed and it was embarrassing and we got through it.
“It’s really not meant to be a gratuitous girl-on-girl scene in the movie, and I think it’s a shame it’s been so sensationalised thus far in the media, because the movie’s so much more original than that.”
When the subject shifts to Megan’s own school days, and whether it was cathartic for her to kill off a few stereotypes in the film, she says there were no flashbacks to her teenage days.
“I didn’t really have a problem with boys in high school,” says Megan. “My best friends were the guys. Teenage boys are much more easy-going and friendly and they’re not judgemental and they’re just sort of easy to figure out and be around and I never had a problem with them.
“So, no, there was no hidden resentment.
“My problem was with the Jennifers of the world. There were actually some evil girls in my school and I went to a Christian high school, go figure,” she continues.
“But girls can be really cruel and really awful. There was one Hallowe’en when I was like 15 and everyone knew my aspiration in life was to become an actress and I lived in Florida and my school was really tiny.
“One of the girls came to school on Hallowe’en in a black leather catsuit and everyone thought maybe she was catwoman, and she was like, ‘No, I’m Megan Fox’.
“She was making fun of me because she thought I thought I was really cool because I was going to be an actress, so I was targeted by other girls. I didn’t say anything to her, I was really shy. I was really scared.”
With her acting career now going stellar, foxy Megan can put those days behind her.
Jennifer’s Body opens in cinemas on Friday
Source: Wales Online UK