Megan Fox recalled her experience with paparazzi and how the Karyn Kusama-helmed project “Jennifer’s Body” provided catharsis
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LOS ANGELES — Actress Megan Fox recalled her experience with “ruthless” paparazzi and how the Karyn Kusama-helmed project “Jennifer’s Body” provided catharsis for her during a time when she was “struggling a lot with fame.”
Asked if there was any advice she would bestow upon her younger self. then fresh off of her breakout role in Michael Bay’s Transformers, Fox characterised herself at the time as “so lost, so full of that rage that I had towards how I had been treated in the industry,” as per people.com.
The actress was answering questions during a special screening of 2009’s campy cult classic Jennifer’s Body at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, reports deadline.com.
Particularly difficult to deal with was the paparazzi’s misogynistic treatment, she said, sharing an anecdote about attending the premiere of the supernatural comedy horror film.
“I remember the paparazzi were so ruthless back then — the way they would talk to women,” the actress said.
“And I walked out just to try to get to my car, and they’re all shooting. And one guy’s like, ‘Megan, why are you such a ....?’ And another guy is like, ‘Megan, do you think you’re overrated? The internet says so,’ and I’m just trying to do my job.”
She continued, “I was asked to be at this premiere. I’m trying to get to my car. And so I had all of this grief and sorrow and also anger and rage that needed a place to go,” adding that the film gave her “permission to be unhinged even in between takes or maybe the entire time we were there, that was very cathartic for me.”
On being able to embody “that darker feminine energy that no one really wants to allow,” Fox described how she “resonated” with the script and her character Jennifer, a popular high schooler who undergoes a demonic transformation outside her control after being sacrificed by a local indie rock band, reports
“There’s something about that, whether it’s just perceived or not, I felt like I was being persecuted at that time in my career, and I was struggling a lot with fame and kind of traumatized by fame,” she said.
“And so I resonated with those deeper layers of … before she becomes a monster, she’s just a teenage girl who gets sacrificed for somebody else’s gain. And that very much resonated because that’s kind of how I came into this industry. I think I was 19 when I made my first big movie, and that, I felt like, was reflecting back these energies that existed inside of myself.”
She concluded, “(The film) was very healing for me because I was really struggling at that time. And if I had been able to warn myself or give myself advice or have any sort of grounding or clarity, I don’t think you would’ve gotten the performance that you got.”
Jennifer’s Body follows two polar opposite best friends, the outgoing Jennifer and bookish Needy (Amanda Seyfried), whose friendship takes a turn when the former embarks on a murderous rampage of her male classmates. Johnny Simmons, J. K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris, Adam Brody, Kyle Gallner and Chris Pratt.