Megan Fox revealed the dark side of Hollywood back when she had first started in the industry. In an old interview, she opened up about her experience of landing stripper roles during the prime years of her acting career.
Megan Fox is known for her versatility, charm, impeccable fashion instincts, and incredibly gifted acting skills that have propelled her to stardom. Fox, who began her journey in the entertainment industry at the age of 13, elaborated on how the roles available to women were few when she first began, and how she would often be offered roles that were highly stereotypical such as “the nag, the trophy, the escort.”
The actress has since then defied the odds and gone beyond. Fox has stolen hearts globally by featuring in movies such as Jennifer’s Body in which she acted alongside Amanda Seyfried, and Transformers, which gave her a major career boost. Although Fox has undoubtedly been ambiguous with her genres, she highlighted her experience portraying the array of characters and roles that reinforced female stereotype.
The Jonah Hex actress brought to light how back in the day, roles for women were limited and “scarce” and how actresses were exclusively cast in roles that reinforced certain archetypes. In an interview with New York Times, Fox said, “You have these stereotypes that still dominate films: the nag, the trophy, the escort,” said Fox. She also stressed how such roles and narrow-minded perceptions still continue to exist even though things are slowly but surely changing and women are landing roles of protagonists and antagonists in films and television series.
She then proceeded to speak about her personal experience of having played the role of a stripper or a “trophy” in the past, but not having received the role of “a nag.” “I haven’t been sent a nag script yet, but I do get plenty of, like, ‘interesting stripper.’ Or, ‘She’s super funny, but she’s also an escort, but that’s what makes it funny!’” said Fox with regard to the types of roles her scripts contain. Fox questioned how one could find playing an escort character funny just because of gender. She said that she was against the idea but wasn’t enтιтled to an opinion or the right to request for her character to blossom.
The Johnny & Clyde actress used an example from her role in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles where she played the role of a pᴀssionate and bright reporter – April O’Neil. The character is the daughter of a fallen scientist, and she comes across unusual vigilantes whom she ᴀssists throughout the story in her own way. Even in this film, Fox wasn’t permitted to render her character’s growth since the film earned a sequel. “I don’t get a whole lot of say in terms of character development on movies like these. It’s not like I’m in there helping them write the script saying, April should do this because this is what a real feminist would do,’” Fox said.