Michael Bay is on top of the world. As the director of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Bay is getting a lot of the credit for the film’s $201 million five-day opening. It’s the second most profitable five-day opening in the history of films, second only to The Dark Knight. Bay has always reminded me of a cheesier, more commercial version of Titanic director James Cameron – they both seem to have the same kind of hubris, the same genius for silly popcorn films, and both are known for technical and special effects extravaganzas. Both Bay and Cameron are also consistently criticized for the bad acting in their films too. So when Megan Fox, star of the two Transformers films, recently took a swipe at her director, people noticed, but it wasn’t even one of the dumbest things the girl said in the same interview, much less over the course of this whole media tour.

It was Megan’s Entertainment Weekly cover interview that started it. EW asked “What percentage of your range have people seen so far?” Megan replies: “Seven percent. On the new one ['Transformers 2'], I tried. But unless you’re a seasoned veteran, working with Michael Bay is not about an acting experience.” (emphasis mine) In the same interview, Megan also bitched about a possible third Transformers film, giving a weak assurance and then said: “Sure. I mean, I can’t sh-t on this movie because it did give me a career and open all these doors for me. But I don’t want to blow smoke up people’s ass. People are well aware that this is not a movie about acting. And once you realize that, it becomes almost fun because you can be in the moment and go, ‘All right, I know that when he calls Action! I’m either going to be running or screaming, or both.’” The one thing I’ll never understand about actors – when they start complaining about the films they’ve made, I always think “Did someone have a gun to your head, forcing you to make it?” If you can’t respect your own work, how will other people respect it?

It’s no secret that Megan is dumb. But those kinds of comments are just unprofessional, and there’s a good chance her career will suffer if she continues to act like this. Meanwhile, Michael Bay sounds kind of pissed that his starlet is so consistently unprofessional, immature, and dumb. When the Wall Street Journal asked Bay about Megan’s comments, he slammed back pretty hard:

WSJ: What’s next for you, then?
Bay: I’ve been talking to some big actors right now about something that is totally different. A small dark comedy, a true story, with actors just acting, no effects. I’m done with effects movies for now. When you do a movie like “Transformers,” it can feel like you’re doing three movies at once—which is tiring.

WSJ: It’s interesting that you want to focus on acting. Megan Fox, one of the leads in “Transformers” has criticized your films for being special-effects-driven and not offering so many acting opportunities. Do you agree?
Bay: Well, that’s Megan Fox for you. 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, “Okay Megan, you can do whatever you want. I got it.” But I 100% disagree with her. Nick Cage wasn’t a big actor when I cast him, nor was Ben Affleck before I put him in “Armageddon.” Shia LaBeouf wasn’t a big movie star before he did “Transformers”—and then he exploded. Not to mention Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, from “Bad Boys.” 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.

[From The Wall Street Journal]

Catfight on aisle four! Well done, Michael. I hope there’s some follow-through. Like blackballing Megan within Dreamworks or something like that. The fan boys will find someone new to get hot over, and girls with an oral fetish are a dime a dozen in Los Angeles. Team Bay!

Here are Megan Fox and Michael Bay with Shia LaBeouf at the German premiere of “Transformers – Revenge Of The Fallen” in Berlin on June 14th. Images thanks to WENN.com .