Why Megan Foxs Jennifers Body Casting Was Perfect

Why Megan Fox’s Jennifer’s Body Casting Was Perfect

Megan Fox added depth and realism to the misunderstood mean girl in Jennifer’s Body — despite the hate, her casting in the role was pitch perfect.

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Why Megan Foxs Jennifers Body Casting Was Perfect

Megan Fox’s portrayal of Jennifer Check in Karyn Kusama and Diablo Cody’s horror comedy movie, Jennifer’s Body, couldn’t have been more perfect. While it has received a much warmer reception and appreciation from horror fans in recent years, developing more of a cult classic status in hindsight, Jennifer’s Body was hated upon its initial release in 2009. Cody’s contributions were apparent in Kusama’s movie, with the screenwriter’s signature humor that made Juno so popular dripping throughout Jennifer’s Body’s tongue-in-cheek and often biting dialogue.

Fox found her counterbalance in co-star Amanda Seyfried, who played Jennifer’s best friend, Needy. Despite the movie receiving harsh, almost universally maligned criticism, Kusama went on to direct several other acclaimed movies, such as The Invitation and Destroyer. Kusama was also tapped by Universal in 2020 to helm their modern update to Dracula after Leigh Whannell’s success with The Invisible Man. However, Fox blames herself for Jennifer’s Body being so poorly received — specifically, she blames her public persona. In 2020, the actress discussed her negative reputation at the time, which may have been due to her comments about director Michael Bay, as well as her being considered by many at the time to be vapid, shallow, and the type to lean on her looks to achieve success in Hollywood.

While bad for Fox, this was possibly worse for Jennifer’s Body, which saw the acting taking on the role of Jennifer Check, the misunderstood and hyper-sexualized high school “bad girl”, Jennifer Check. The movie cleverly subverts the concept of virgin sacrifice for personal gain when a group of wannabe indie rockers murder Jennifer in exchange for achieving wealth and success in their careers. What they don’t realize at the time is that Jennifer isn’t a virgin, so sacrificing her results in her coming back as a demon or succubus-like monster. Jennifer then is forced to feed on boys, mutilating them after seducing them. The character may have fed into the commentary about Fox at the time, but the choice for her to play the role was actually perfect for several reasons.

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Jennifer’s Body is a horror comedy movie, but it also is much smarter than most people think. Walking that fine line between smart, social and political commentary and satire, Jennifer’s Body is a commentary on how young women are seen in the world, and specifically how they’re hyper-sexualized by young men. Jennifer is immediately targeted by the members of Low Shoulder, who seem surprised at first that she’s a virgin given the way she presents herself. However, she’s not – she merely claims to be virginal because she thinks it’s what they want to hear. Which, to her credit, they do; they’re looking specifically for a virgin to sacrifice.

There’s also a clear juxtaposition between Jennifer and Needy: Jennifer is popular, and Needy isn’t. Needy is more plain and bookish, whereas Jennifer is glamorous and outwardly sexy. Though Needy has a solid, stable relationship with her boyfriend, Chip (Johnny Simmons), there’s clearly an underlying feeling of jealousy about how he—and other boys at school—treat Jennifer differently. There’s also an extended scene where Jennifer and Needy kiss one another, which is clearly intended to comment on the concept of fan service, as well as how boys likely think two young women who are as close of friends and Needy and Jennifer are when they’re alone, or hope they’ll be.

Jennifer’s character is meant to subvert the male gaze by showing how it’s not only inappropriate to hyper-sexualize young women and force them into harmful situations to achieve popularity, but dangerous. This is taken quite literally when Jennifer begins using her sexuality to lure in victims before savagely tearing them apart. Fox clearly understood the role when she took it — whether this was because she understood the deeper meaning in Kusama’s movie and Cody’s script or because she was familiar with this treatment in her personal life is unknown. However, in hindsight, Fox’s clear understanding of Jennifer’s experience as a young woman was a major asset and strength for Jennifer’s Body, not a weakness.

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Link Source : https://screenrant.com/megan-fox-jennifers-body-movie-perfect-casting-reason/

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