Adding another rising star to its list of honorees, the Maui Film Festival announced Wednesday that Megan Fox will receive its new Iris Award.
Best known for her starring role of Mikela in “Transformers” and its sequel, “Revenge of the Fallen,” the 25-year-old native of Memphis, Tenn., will accept her award in an opening-night ceremony June 15 at the festival’s signature Celestial Cinema on the Wailea Gold & Emerald Golf Course.
Following the award presentation, the festival will screen “Na Nai’a: Legend of The Dolphins,” a documentary in which she shares the narrating duties with other stars including Kate Winslet, Ellen Page, Gerard Butler, James Franco, Julian Lennon, Diego Luna, Whoopi Goldberg, Isabella Rossellini and Daryl Hannah.
The festival will run June 15 to 19 in venues including Wailea’s Celestial Cinema and at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s Castle Theater.
Festival Director Barry Rivers announced Fox’s award on Wednesday. She joins actors Olivia Wilde Garrett Hedlund as this year’s honorees, reflecting the festival’s recent focus on spotting young stars in upward arcs of their careers. More announcements are expected next week.
“The Iris Award honors Megan Fox as a film artist with heartfelt respect for the environment and a willingness to support the causes she believes in, through both her film career and her philanthropy,” according to a festival release.
“Megan has supported many charities involving children’s and women’s issues and we’re thrilled to now have her raising awareness about the magnificent dolphins of earth and especially those who live, love and evolve in the vast Pacific Ocean that nurtures the islands of Hawaii,” Rivers said.
Fox will next be seen in the independent film “Friends with Kids” from writer/director Jennifer Westfeldt, opposite Jon Hamm, Adam Scott and Kristen Wiig. She is about to begin filming “This is 40″ for Judd Apatow, alongside Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd, set for release in 2012.
She is also in preproduction for “Fathom” in the lead role of Aspen. That film continues the ocean theme of her recent career, casting her as a marine biologist and former Olympic swimmer who discovers she’s a member of a race of aquatic humanoids, according to a festival release.
Her past credits include “Passion Play,” opposite Mickey Rourke and Bill Murray; “Jonah Hex,” a fantastical Western opposite Josh Brolin and John Malkovich; and the dark comedic/horror thriller “Jennifer’s Body,” written by Academy-Award winner Diablo Cody and co-starring Amanda Seyfried.
The Maui Film Festival will release its final schedule Friday. For more information, visit www.mauifilmfestival.com.
– Rick Chatenever
Rich Chatenever also told us that he imagines they’ll have an interview, in advance of the fest and/or after she arrives on Maui. That all sounds very exciting!
