Deadline Hollywood broke a story Wednesday claiming “Transformers 3” will proceed without starlet Megan Fox.
Reportedly a decision made by director Michael Bay, Paramount did not pickup Fox’s option for the third film; the writing team will be “giving Shia a new love interest makes more sense for the story,” with casting to begin imminently, Deadline reports.
As the call was linked to Bay, the assumption is that it was at least partially tied to the negative comments she made about the film and director after sequel “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” was released. That, of course, has not been officially confirmed.
Despite the tension with Bay, the news comes as surprising given the fact that casting rumors for the film directly referenced Fox’s Mikaela character.
Though known as eye candy to male fans for some small television and movie parts and for a bombshell Maxim Magazine shoot, Fox was far from an A-lister prior to the release of the original “Transformers.” Her sexy turn as Mikaela instantly thrust her to the top of the celebrity heap, with Fox scoring numerous roles and top spots on “sexiest women alive” polls.