Did Megan Fox Quit "Transformers" Because Michael Bay Made Her Act Like A Stripper?

Megan Fox's departure from director Michael Bay's "Transformers" franchise was long assumed to be the product of bad blood between the starlet and the director.

Each mouthed off about the other, each maintained they'd made the call for Fox to go -- and then the story went away, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley took Fox's place.

But with the series' next film hitting theaters this summer, Shia LaBeouf is hinting that more than straightforward bickering might have been at play.

LaBeouf told the Los Angeles Times:

“Megan developed this Spice Girl strength, this woman-empowerment [stuff] that made her feel awkward about her involvement with Michael, who some people think is a very lascivious filmmaker, the way he films women,” LaBeouf said. “Mike films women in a way that appeals to a 16-year-old sexuality. It’s summer. It’s Michael’s style. And I think [Fox] never got comfortable with it. This is a girl who was taken from complete obscurity and placed in a sex-driven role in front of the whole world and told she was the sexiest woman in America. And she had a hard time accepting it. When Mike would ask her to do specific things, there was no time for fluffy talk. We’re on the run. And the one thing Mike lacks is tact. There’s no time for [LaBeouf assumes a gentle voice] ‘I would like you to just arch your back 70 degrees.’”

Interesting theory -- especially since, as several people have already pointed out, Fox isn't exactly opposed to photo shoots or other movie roles (see her upcoming turn as some sort of fallen angel in "Passion Play") that broadcast her body.

But if LaBeouf is to be believed, Fox's issue may have had less to do with what she was being told to do than how she was being told to do it.

No matter what went on, there is an uneasy undercurrent to all of this, one that didn't exist before this kink in the story.

It casts the addition of Huntington-Whiteley in a new light.

After all, Fox wasn't replaced by an A-list actress -- her spot was filled by an untested model.

Know what the good thing about models is?

They don't need a lot of instruction on how to arch their backs.

And now that we look back at some stills from the first two "Transformers" movies, we can see how Fox might have found the elaborate positions she twisted into to be in conflict with her acting.

Namely because she often looked more like a carefully positioned exotic dancer than a real person running from robots.

You'll see what we mean.

Fox's car-repair scene in the first "Transformers" was the longest moment devoted to her -- and not because it took her a while to get the thing up and running.

Seriously -- the car is so beside the point, it could have just been edited in later.

Fox had to run and hide a lot in both movies -- but never unprettily.

When you suddenly take a huge, unexpected fall, is the endgame you in this position?

We'll just let the motorcycle scene still speak for itself.

Now check out why Bud ditched the "Hangover" franchise.

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