The real reason why Hollywood dumped Megan Fox

Michael Bay's first Transformers movie turned Megan Fox into an instant star. Men's magazines couldn't get enough of her, and directors rushed to cast her in their action blockbusters and indie passion projects. Then she hit a snag when she ruffled the feathers of Steven Spielberg via her feud with Michael Bay. With that major Hollywood strike against her, Fox went on to a dismal streak of box office bombs, failed-to-launch projects, and critically skewered performances.

As a result, Fox can still be found playing second fiddle to CGI creations a decade after her debut. Outside of the running-on-fumes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, her box office prospects have been pretty dire of late. So what happened to the actress for whom the "Maxim Hot 100" list was basically created? What caused her tumble from the A-list? Find out below.

Bay told GQ that Fox was part of the rehearsal process for Transformers: Dark of the Moon early on, but seemed disinterested, and that Hitler comment didn't exactly earn her any brownie points with producer Steven Spielberg. Bay recalled, "[Fox] was in a different world, on her BlackBerry. You gotta stay focused. And you know, the Hitler thing. Steven [Spielberg] said, 'Fire her right now.'" (Spielberg denied saying this, but we imagine Fox comparing Bay to Der Führer didn't sit well with the director of Schindler's List.)

Fox was canned from Dark of the Moon, and a new love interest—played by Victoria's Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley—was written for Shia LaBeouf's Sam Witwicky. Fox, for her part, said it was her decision to leave the franchise. Still, the damage was done.

Fox's follow-up to Revenge of the Fallen seemed like a sure thing. Written by Diablo Cody (Juno) and directed by Karyn Kusama (Girlfight), the horror comedy Jennifer's Body was a low budget affair that attempted to build off Fox's growing star power by putting her front and center in the marketing campaign. But reviews were mixed, and the R-rated film earned a mere $6.8 million on its opening weekend.

While Fox isn't totally to blame for the film's failure (it didn't exactly help the careers of anyone else involved), its lackluster reception offered additional proof that the actress couldn't open a movie unless she was starring opposite a CGI robot.

On the heels of the Transformers movies, Fox made a stab for indie cred with Passion Play, a 2009 drama from writer/director Mitch Glazer (Rock the Kasbah). Despite a cast that includes Mickey Rourke, Bill Murray and Rhys Ifan, the film was critically reviled and only played in a handful of theaters before being dumped to DVD.

Critics lambasted the film, which featured Fox as a carnival freak with angel wings who also conveniently looked like a model, for its pretentious script and over-the-top performances. The movie was so bad, even Rourke slammed it, dubbing it "another terrible movie" on his résumé. And Mickey Rourke knows from terrible movies—dude was in Wild Orchid, after all.

Fox has been linked to a number of would-be franchises over the years, including a film version of the '90s "bad girl" comic Fathom. Created by the late artist Michael Turner, Fathom revolves around an aquatic heroine named Aspen, a part Fox had hoped would lead to her own solo comic book franchise.

But the project stalled, with Fox admitting in 2014 that she may be getting too old to play the twentysomething character, and with so much of the film set underwater, "unless James Cameron is going to direct it I don't know how we're going to make it happen."

Fox has frequently discussed the difficulties of being typecast as nothing more than a pretty face. Starting out as a model, Fox has rarely been given the chance to show off her acting chops. Even when she's taken roles in smaller films like the Ed Burns dramedy Friends With Kids, her looks are still what reviewers focus on. Since most of her films inevitably lead to Razzie nominations, Fox hasn't garnered many opportunities to flex her acting ability.