The months surrounding the summer 2009 release of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" were endlessly entertaining when it came to movie journalism. The world watched with fascination, horror, giggles and gasps as director Michael Bay and star Megan Fox went at each other. The duo slammed and defended each other and threw each other under the bus only to reach under and stage a PR rescue mission.
Now, all that is behind us, as Fox has parted ways with the robot franchise, and the run-up to the release of "Transformers 3" in July 2011 promises to be significantly less titillating as a result.
We're not gonna lie � we'll miss this salacious back-and-forth between two of Hollywood's most entertaining personalities. That's why we decided to take a lighthearted look back at our favorite moments from Fox and Bay's creative partnership.
I'm Terrible, He's Terrible
In the summer of 2007, Megan Fox was a little-known actress who had appeared in a handful of TV series and the forgettable Lindsay Lohan vehicle "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen." A year later, as "Transformers" stomped into theaters on its way to a $700 million worldwide gross, Fox was a superstar.
You'd have thought she'd be pretty pleased about her breakout turn. Not so much. "I'm terrible in it," she told Entertainment Weekly. "It's my first real movie, and it's not honest and not realistic. The movie wasn't bad, I just wasn't proud about what I did. ... But unless you're a seasoned veteran, working with Michael Bay is not about an acting experience."
She'd go on to compare Bay to Napoleon and Hitler, call him a "nightmare to work for" and declare that he has "no social skills at all."
I Made You, I Can Unmake You
Unsurprisingly, such statements didn't sit well with Bay. The guy has made six movies that have grossed more than $100 million. Clearly, he knows what he's doing. And he knows when his actors push things just a bit too far.
"Well, that's Megan Fox for you," he told the Wall Street Journal. She says some very ridiculous things because she's 23 years old and she still has a lot of growing to do. You roll your eyes when you see statements like that and think, 'OK, Megan, you can do whatever you want. I got it.' ... Nobody in the world knew about Megan Fox until I found her and put her in 'Transformers.' I like to think that I've had some luck in building actors' careers with my films."
She Just Can't Quit Him
Despite this war of words, Fox confessed to MTV News that she is "addicted" to making movies with Bay. It's that sort of statement that makes you think that, behind all the heated press reports, the two shared a rewarding � if not fond � working relationship.
"You get addicted to those big action movies," Fox told us last summer. "You get addicted to the Bay-hem. You step away from it, and you're relieved and you're relaxed and you do something that's quieter and you feel like you're really working on it and you're fleshing out and figuring things out. But then you sort of miss that abuse."
He Just Can't Quit Her
As the public nastiness between Bay and Fox was at its height, members of his "Transformers" crew posted an unauthorized open letter on his official website. The letter called Fox "queen of talking trailer trash," dubbed her acting "cringe-able" and suggested she might have a future career as a porn star.
Now it's one thing if Bay himself speaks freely about his star, but he was not about to let others use his considerable platform to trash her. He promptly pulled the letter from his site and penned his own, one which again suggested the two really do respect each other.
"I don't condone the crew letter to Megan," Bay wrote. "And I don't condone Megan's outlandish quotes. But her crazy quips are part of her crazy charm. The fact of the matter is, I still love working with her, and I know we still get along. I even expect more crazy quotes from her on 'Transformers 3.' "
That's Just Meg and Mike Being Meg and Mike
Such quotes, alas, are not to be. Much has been made of their feud in the past and much will be made in the future. But the key to their whole relationship just might be this: It's not that they battle any more than any other director-and-actor duo in Hollywood; rather, they both happen to speak their minds in public, for better or worse. Fox and Bay are outspoken people, and that's a big reason why their quotes always pop up in headlines. Boring or tight-lipped creative types simply don't make news. When it comes to Fox and Bay, that's just how they roll.
"Obviously, what he said is not untrue, about me saying ridiculous things all the time and being 23," Fox told MTV News at Comic-Con last year. "That's all accurate. Those are all things that he would say to me and has said to me. That's actually one of the kindest things he's said about me. I don't feel like we're in a war of words at all. That's just me and Mike. That's how we talk."
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