TORONTO - Pin-up queen Megan Fox may be developing as much of a reputation for her off-the-cuff comments as her drop-dead gorgeous looks, but the outspoken actress has a confidence to be admired, say the powerhouse duo behind Fox's latest film, "Jennifer's Body."
Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody and Canadian producer Jason Reitman praised Fox for the imposing, steely-eyed presence she brought to the set of their high school horror film.
"The Megan that you see (onscreen) is Megan -- she is this very interesting, intimidating, edgy person," Cody said in advance of the film's release on Friday.
"I think she's amazing but she is not the typical, sort of ingratiating starlet who's eager to please. She's really, really independent."
Fox's boldness caused waves just as "Jennifer's Body" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival because of an interview she gave to a British magazine in which she compared "Transformers" producer Michael Bay to Napoleon and Hitler. The comment prompted a response letter online, allegedly by three anonymous "Transformers" crew members, slamming Fox as "dumb" and "ungracious" when they worked with her on the big-budget action franchise.
Bay then stepped in to denounce the letter on his blog, saying that Fox's "crazy quips are part of her crazy charm."
At the Toronto film festival, Reitman didn't refer directly to the flap but lauded Fox for speaking her mind.
"She's smart enough to be 100 per cent honest and that's always intimidating," said Reitman, also in town to promote his latest directorial effort, the George Clooney vehicle, "Up In the Air."
"I think everyone you meet in this business often seems, to a certain extent, full of (garbage), so when you come across a young woman who is so confident in herself she will tell you exactly how she feels about anything and can back it up.... she really knows what she's doing and I'm constantly impressed."
In "Jennifer's Body," Fox epitomizes the self-absorbed teen-from-hell as she portrays a disquietingly seductive temptress with a voracious appetite for boys. It's up to Jennifer's deferential best friend Needy, played by "Mamma Mia's" Amanda Seyfried, to confront her BFF about a string of gruesome murders.
Throughout, Cody brings her trademark slang-heavy dialogue to the mix, loading the script with pop culture references and hipster-ish insults like "freaktarded," while Jennifer and Needy trade nicknames including "Vagisil" and "Monistat."
As in Cody's breakout script for 2007's teen pregnancy comedy "Juno," music plays a large role in "Jennifer's Body," with the arrival of a fame-hungry emo band coinciding with Jennifer's sudden Satanic transformation.
The group is led by a charismatic singer played by former "O.C." star Adam Brody, and its subsequent meteoric rise to fame casts a sickening spell over the town. Cody said this storyline was inspired by her own observations of the recent music scene.
"At the time that I wrote this a couple years ago, there was just this crop of very earnest, lovable kind of emo rock bands and I thought to myself, 'They present themselves as so approachable, and so charitable -- what if they were actually demonic, agents of Satan pretending to be good guys with their little eyeliner?"' said Cody.
Director Karyn Kusama said she, too, loved delving into the irony of punk-inspired "indie" bands that nevertheless strive for a big-time record deal.
"It was very much a reflection of sort of the packaging of authenticity," said Kusama. "I just find that both really funny but ripe to depict as pretty evil.""Jennifer's Body" hits theatres on Friday.
