The former Transformers star on her new comic book movie, Jonah Hex.
She may no longer be part of the Transformers film franchise, but Megan Fox hasn’t left genre films behind her. Fox stars opposite Josh Brolin in this weekend’s new release Jonah Hex, an action-heavy supernatural Western based on the DC comic.
IGN attended a press conference Sunday in L.A. with Fox, Brolin, director Jimmy Hayward and producer Andrew Lazar, during which time Fox spoke about her character in the film — a tough but tender frontier prostitute named Lilah — but was, quite diplomatically and uncharacteristically, mum about her recent departure from Transformers 3. Here’s what she had to say about working on Jonah Hex:
Q: Megan, what was it like to get away from those robots?
Megan Fox: I like working on action films, and I like working on movies that are comic book based, or that have this theme, because they’re things I watched or loved as a kid. So it wasn’t really about getting away from the robots, if that’s what you were saying. I enjoyed making both films.
Q: It takes a lot to turn a two-dimensional cartoon character into a full-blooded onscreen persona. Can you talk about the casting of Megan?
Andrew Lazar: The role of Lilah actually has some depth to it as well. It’s not just an action movie, there’s dramatic scenes. We really felt that there’s an edge that Megan has as an actress, that she can play both tough, and that longing – that she wants to get out of her life and she wants to connect to Jonah. We thought that it was a really great match, and I have to say that Josh actually did have a little bit to do with that casting too. The studio and myself were both thinking of Megan, and I think Josh sent me an email saying, “I think I have a really good idea who might play Lilah, what do you think of Megan Fox?” and I said, “That’s a great idea.”
Josh Brolin: You know what’s funny though, and it kind of sucks, is you go, guys, there wasn’t that much thought put into it, and I know what you’re all thinking, but there actually was, because however Megan was perceived, I like the idea of giving somebody, even though this is an absurd, ridiculous, fun escapist film, I like the idea of giving somebody the opportunity like somebody gave me in saying, “Hey, we can go a little further with the acting here.” Even though we made it fun, we did a lot of different takes, where she’s crying, where she’s not crying, and there’s somewhat of a dialect there, it’s kind of a generalized, bucolic dialect.
But when I read some of these articles that she had done, it showed how acerbic and rebellious she could be, I wanted to see how real that was. When you’re 22 and have that fame, nobody can handle that kind of fame that fast, at 22 years old, and I thought she was handling it really well. So when we met, I just wanted to make sure she was the real deal, and a scrapper, and that she could go head to head with John, and that she could really hold her own. There’s definitely a truck driver mentality there.
Fox: I think it’s wonderful what they’re saying and I appreciate it, and I’m humbled by their comments.
Q: Megan, having done other action movies in the past, what was more challenging: doing the action scenes in this movie, or squeezing into that corset everyday?
Fox: Actually, there was one gunfight scene that stunts had been choreographing for a couple of weeks, and I had minutes to get it down and rehearse it, and it was really difficult for me to shoot the old-style gunslinger guns, because I have tiny little baby hands, and they’re really large and really heavy, so just the physicality of having to pull that off was really difficult. This was more action-heavy for me, it was more intricate, the action, in this movie, than in previous movies that I’ve done.
Q: But what about that corset?
Fox: I loved the corset. When I showed up for camera tests, everyone thought I was in pain, or hurting, that something was wrong with me, because my waist was so small, but I enjoyed it, and I wish they’d come back into style.
Q: We assume too much by looking at your character and how she got there and everything, but did you build this up in your head, and did you come up with any backstory?
Fox: Well, Josh and I had a conversation about what their past relationship could have been, and why she would be so dedicated and so in love with someone who sort of treated her the way that he did, and was not able to love, and we came up with a back story between the two of us, what things had gone on in the past, and why she was so dedicated and loyal to him.
Brolin: It’s a Beauty and the Beast thing, physically, cosmetically. But then, I think the parallel and the kinetic connection is because they’re equally broken. Then there’s also – I mean, I hate saying this, but I will – an older-younger type of thing. [Leans into mic, stage whisper] “Daaaaaddy.” [laughter] I don’t think that’s really true, but it might be.
Q: Jonah Hex is after retribution in the film. Could you talk about your own relationship to retribution? How that sits with you — do you understand the motivation of what Jonah is going through?
Fox: [smiles] Retribution? I’m all full of candy canes and lollipops. I don’t even know what that means.
Q: Josh said it’s been a crazy few years for you. How have you handled everything and not gone insane?
Fox: I don’t know. I think I’ve maintained the same relationships that I’ve had before this happened to me, and I kept people close to me that I love and respect, and look out for me and take care of me, and I’ve distanced myself from the Hollywood crowd. I don’t go out and socialize that way. You wouldn’t think it, but I’m sort of oddly very domestic, and I think that keeps me sane. My personal relationships keep me grounded.
Q: Josh talked about seeing you as rebellious, but you said you’re more domestic. How do you see yourself, and how does it feel to be 22 and have to deal with all this fame?
Fox: Well, I’m 24 now. Well, you have to be a strong person to survive this kind of fame, because it is very difficult to be under the microscope every moment of every day. Everything that leaves your mouth becomes this sensationalized news story, no matter what your intentions were when you first said it, so it becomes overwhelming. Am I that rebellious? I think there are many sides to me, and my personality, and I think the only thing that is rebellious about me is that I don’t really have a lot of fears as far as this industry is concerned, and I’ll do things that maybe other people are afraid to do, or afraid to say. But in my personal life, I’m actually very responsible with my personal relationships. I’ve always been that way.
Brolin: And rebellion, just to be clear, can mean holding onto some of your own integrity, of not playing into the idea of sensationalism. We all have our moments, and that’s your guys’ job – to take those moments and make them turgid, gaseous, make them big, and it’s bigger than the person is. When you start believing your own press, that’s when it gets really sad. But that’s part of the rebellion that I responded to, because she was still her. She’s still very grounded, very gravelly, which I like.
Q: Megan, when you get a character described as a hooker with a heart of gold, what do you say to yourself about making this cliche character something real or convincing?
Fox: Well, hooker with a heart of gold was not in the character breakdown when I got it, but I felt like it was an amazing opportunity for me to be involved in a project with Josh, and John Malkovich, and [Michael] Fassbender – with all these incredible actors, who were coming in to make this movie. I just wanted to be a part of it any way that I could. I don’t really feel like she’s that stereotypical. Perhaps you’re responding to the fact that I’m playing the character, that that sort of makes it stereotypical. But it’s something completely different from anything I’ve done, and no one can accuse me of doing the same thing twice, which I’m proud of.
Q: What are your future projects?
Fox: I have a movie with Mickey Rourke hopefully coming out this fall called Passion Play, which I was really excited to work on. It’s an independent right now, and I’m really proud of that, and I had an amazing experience making that movie. It’s sort of a modern film noir, and Mickey’s character is a down on his luck trumpet player and is a heroin addict, and he comes across my character, who is part of a traveling freak show. She has bird wings that sprouted out of her back when she went through puberty, and it’s sort of this very bizarre strange relationship that they have, and it’s very tragic.
Q: There’s an inside joke about your character that reveals she is a character from the comics. If this is a big hit, would you be interested in reprising the role?
Fox: Of course. I mean, if that was an opportunity that was presented to me, absolutely. I would love that.
Q: Even though it’s an old comic book, it doesn’t have a particularly large fan base. Do you feel freedom to take creative liberties in that case?
Fox: Well, I feel like it’s impossible to really please the hardcore comic book fans, because they’ll never be happy no matter what you do. I go on to Lord of the Rings forums, because I’m a fan, and they’ll complain that Frodo was eating the Lembas bread outside of Mordor instead of the mines of Moria, and they get really mad. But Peter Jackson and company won like, thirty-something Oscars for that movie! So you can’t focus completely on pleasing them, because you’ll never win, and then you’re excluding a whole other world of people who weren’t aware of the comic in the first place, so I think you have to take some kind of liberties to make it into a live-action film, or it wouldn’t work.
Jonah Hex opens June 18.
