Love her, hate her, envy her or worship her, fact is Megan Fox sells sex with the best of them. She may not be in line for an Oscar nod anytime soon, but she knows what her greatest assets are and is more than willing to flaunt the hell out of them if it means another starring role in a big Hollywood film. And that's what we're here to talk about (I think), as Now Magazine claims Fox has nabbed a lead role in the big-screen comic adaptation of Fathom -- and, luckily, this is one role where clothes are definitely optional.

In Fathom (which has been in development for some time, and is now apparently over at Fox Atomic), Fox would play Aspen Matthews, an amnesiac girl who's discovered and adopted by a naval officer vacationing on a cruise line out at sea. Eventually we learn Aspen isn't just some regular girl, but instead a member of a race of aquatic humanoids called the Blue who, somehow, can control water. So she's not a mermaid, and this isn't a remake of Splash (though I think I'd like to see a remake of Splash, maybe ...), but like any comic, it has its good guys, its villains, its intrigue and its adventure. And if Fox can film the whole thing half naked, then it's also a big box office draw.

More on this project as it develops. Who's up for a little underwater action with Ms. Fox?



[Thanks Cinemablend and IESB]

The trades apparently read yesterday's tirade about their not being any news -- because as weird luck would have it, everything hit the wire as I was getting my Anderson Cooper fix. (I'm not making that up for the sake of cuteness, it's true. The evening is not complete until I discover I lost the 360 Challenge ... again) Now, to the headlines:

• Being the sole man alive never meant you couldn't get a franchise! Variety reports that Warner Bros is putting a prequel to I Am Legend into production. The prequel boasts the return of Will Smith and director Francis Lawrence, and is based on a script outline cooked up by Smith, Lawrence, and producers Akiva Goldsman and James Lassiter. Obviously, it takes place before the plague wiped out New York. I hope they go daring and all Terminator 3-ish, and show Smith as being the scientist responsible for the whole mess. I also hope they name it I Will Be Legend.
  

• Top Cow continues its slow takeover of comic book movies -- IESB reports that Fathom movie is back on, despite creator Michael Turner's untimely death. And reportedly, Cinematical's ever present friend Megan Fox has snagged the lead as Aspen Matthews. It's all from anonymous sources, but given that Magdalena and Witchblade are on their way, I wouldn't be surprised if it's made official before too long.

• Who needs Iron Man and Samuel L. Jackson cameos? September 30th brings, at long last, your chance to finally own David Hasselhoff's Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D on DVD. Don't think you can pick this up just anywhere, though, it's exclusive to Best Buy. But what price to pay for a cult classic?

One is a giant silver robot who wants to destroy earth and the other is a 100-pound actress who wants to destroy the hearts and souls of single men (and women) everywhere by marrying "that dude from 90210." And yet ... we love them both.

A bunch of new images of what appear to be the latest version of Megatron have popped up online over at Latino Review, and since no one has put the kibosh on them after roughly 20 hours, there's a good chance these are the real deal. Each image includes the word 'Toy' near the bottom, featuring an image of a baby (sucking its thumb?) -- rather appropriate considering ... ya know. So, one imagines this is concept art for the eventual Megatron toy, based on what the robot will look like in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. And what will he look like? Well, as you can see above (and over at LR), Megatron looks to be a tank this time around. A pretty badass tank if you ask me. Question is: Will Dark Knight dollars be shot out of that cannon, or what?

And since you all like to be kept in the loop when it comes to the ridiculous-yet-erotic exploits of Ms. Megan Fox, a new video has arrived online and it shows, in part, the gal auditioning for her role in the original Transformers. What you get is footage of Fox auditioning for the part, as well as what the actual scenes in the film looked like. Check out more Megan Fox pics and the video after the jump ...


Pictured: (left) The new face of Megatron and the beautiful face of Megan Fox (right)

Today in Russian Stripper Weekly: Who cares about the markets crashing when GQ files a story titled Megan Fox Was A Teenage Lesbian?

Yes, while those of you unemployed out there are scurrying about to find new work, you'll most certainly take comfort in knowing that actress Megan Fox informed GQ Magazine that she once had a lesbian affair with a Russian stripper. Um, Megan, who hasn't? She tells the mag, "I want people to know me through the movies I do. I want to be judged on that. If you start becoming famous for your personal life, that's when your career goes away." What about being famous because you're hot? Is that enough? Also in the interview, Fox goes after the Mouse House ("F*ck Disney") and wonders "Who's given a hand job since seventh grade? Not me." When asked whether her character would have more to do in Transformers 2, Fox -- and this is why I love her -- simply replied, "Transformers 2 is directed by Michael Bay." Translation: They have me wearing a more expensive push-up bra this time around. Read the full interview here.

But what if Fox wanted to shed her bad lesbian girl image and, instead, learn how to become a real Jedi? Could she? Are there classes she could take? Funny you should ask: Beginning this November, Queen's University Belfast will begin offering a class called Feel the Force: How to Train in the Jedi Way. According to the course description, folks can "Learn the real-life psychological techniques behind Jedi mind-tricks - mindfulness, instinct, serenity, empathy, influence, flow. Light sabres not provided!" Wait, so if Fox was in one hit movie and has graced the cover of practically every major magazine, then maybe she's already a Jedi? Regardless, call me when this class hits the states -- I'm signing right up! [via io9]

They've both been Mean Girls, both acted for Nick Cassavetes, both appeared in wedding movies and now both Rachel McAdams and Amanda Seyfried will have shared the honor of being the leading lady in a Nicholas Sparks adaptation. For McAdams, it was 2005's beloved weepy The Notebook; for Seyfried, rising fast after starring in the hugely popular Mamma Mia!, it's Dear John. According to Variety, the 22-year-old has been cast as Savannah, a virginal college student who falls in love with a soldier on leave (and named John, of course) immediately prior to 9/11. Kind of like Pearl Harbor but with more letters than explosions.

The soldier is being played by Channing Tatum, who will be fresh from G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra when Dear John hits theaters, likely a year from now. Meanwhile, Seyfried will have costarred in the third season of HBO's Big Love, which begins airing in January, and opposite Megan Fox in the Diablo Cody-scripted Jennifer's Body. Dear John is being directed by Lasse Hallström (Chocolat) from an adaptation scripted by Jamie Linden (We Are Marshall). Shooting begins next month in South Carolina.

October 3 is quickly approaching -- the day that will bring Simon Pegg's How to Lose Friends and Alienate People to the big screen. Since the countdown has begun, a series of Pegg-led blogs and vlogs are being released posted over at the Guardian. The first video dips into the first day of shooting and working with a pig, and it looks more like a behind-the-scenes featurette than a blog, but that's okay. It's also teamed with Pegg's impressions of his experience on set. Ever wonder what they're like behind the camera? Here's some of the dirt:

On Kirsten Dunst: "She was friendly and unassuming and got on well with Nick Frost, which is usually my benchmark for judging people."

On Jeff Bridges: "a legend and an incredibly generous actor had me quivering with excitement every time he walked onto set" ... and Pegg says a future vlog will show him playing Pass the Pigs with Bridges.

On Danny Huston: "a man who I don't recall ever seeing not smiling is like me, a giggler, a condition which always causes exquisite anxiety when the cameras are rolling."

On Megan Fox: "an actress all too easy to underestimate, due to her striking beauty but one who definitely proves her worth as the 'so hot right now' ingenue Sophie Maes."

Will How to Lose Friends and Alienate People be on your Fall must-see list?

Other than the fact that the heroine looks an awful lot like Megan Fox, I can't say I know all that much about the horror comic Hack/Slash, but it looks like that is about to change. In an interview with Newsarama, Slash screenwriter Justin Marks (Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li) decided to share a few details about Todd Lincoln's upcoming feature film version of Tim Seeley's series.

First up is that the film "won't be an origin story, per se, but the origin will be covered." -- which probably means get ready for some rapid fire flashbacks. Marks also went on to say, "we wanted to do something very different, because this is the first chance to see a slasher movie where there is more than one slasher! Because it follows a hunter, you're going with her and her accomplice as they go from one to another, and building out the mythology of how this world works with its undead slashers."

Hack/Slash is the story of Cassie; a girl traumatized at a young age, who becomes a hunter of 'Slashers' (better known as Revenants). Along with her partner Vlad, the two are responsible for keeping the world safe from the undead menace. News of a feature film version first hit back in 2006, and other than a few rumblings that Fox was on the short-list for the lead, there hasn't been much to report. Luckily for fans of the gory comic, Marks is committed to making an R-rated film, and told Newsarama, "It was written with that mentality in mind, yes".

Well, maybe if Fox does sign on as Cassie, an R rating could guarantee that fan boys finally get that glimpse of skin they've been promised. Hack/Slash is expected to arrive in theaters in 2009.

[Thanks: Coming Soon]

I'll take the reigns of this post while my boss, Cinematical editor-in-chief Erik Davis, presumably weeps on the floor of his office. According to a reviewer over at JoBlo.com, the movie all Megan Fox fanboys have been anxiously waiting for (Davis may have already been paying someone to prematurely wait in line for tickets), is reportedly without its most anticipated scene. That's right, the horror comedy Jennifer's Body no longer has footage of the Transformers hottie sans top. Of course, as we saw from some very popularly leaked shots (still available at CelebNewsWire.com), Fox wasn't actually topless anyway -- she had on flesh-colored pasties.

The review at JoBlo (from a reader who attended a test screening) is, of course, far from dependable. Not because they aren't to be believed (they surely saw an early test screening of the movie), but because they likely didn't see a final cut, and we can all still hope that Fox's boobs make the officially released version. If it doesn't, though, will you still be interested? The reviewer gives the movie an extremely poor rating (3 out of 10 -- not good for Diablo Cody's Juno follow-up) and mentions that the only attraction for horny Fox fanboys is a gratuitous lesbian kiss, so we should maybe just forget about it?

I can't think of anything hotter than Megan Fox as a sexed-up Mother Teresa in an NC-17-rated film. We should just call that Atheist Porn. I kid, I kid. But anyway, the entire movie world was thrown for a loop when this mysterious trailer for a hardcore Mother Teresa flick starring Megan Fox showed up online. Was this an older film Fox starred in before she became hot-famous? Was this leaked footage from Michael Bay's private fetish collection? Or ... was it another one of those fake trailers for a movie within a movie? Unfortunately for all the disturbed individuals who'd love to watch a full-length, NC-17-rated Mother Teresa biopic, the latter is indeed true and the above fake trailer is part of the marketing campaign behind Fox's next flick, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.

The fake film, titled Mother Theresa: The Making of a Saint (official website here), stars Sophie Maes (Megan Fox) as Mother Teresa. Maes, we assume, is the name of Fox's character in How to Lose Friends. That film, in case you're wondering (watch the real trailer over on Moviefone) is based on Toby Young's memoir and tells of a bumbling celebrity journalist (Simon Pegg) who's hired by an upscale New York magazine and proceeds to, well, lose friends and alienate people. How to Lose Friends and Alienate People arrives in theaters on October 3. Meanwhile, Megan Fox's NC-17-rated Mother Theresa movie is currently available for download in your dreams.

More: Megan Fox Wants to Film an Entire Movie Naked

I was just about to eat lunch when Cinematical's Christopher Campbell IM'd me the following ... "your dream movie ..." with a link to an article over at Daily Star featuring a quote from Megan Fox (who's no longer getting married to what's his name from Bev Hills 90210, by the way) in which she says her dream is to film an entire movie in the nude. No joke. And if I somehow had the money to fund such an experiment (donations? anyone?), I'd do so in less than a second. Strike that -- I'd do it in less than less than a second. (What do you want from me? It's Monday ... I'm alone ... writing about Batman for the 7,654th time. I'm allowed to geek out over my girl Megan just a little, right?)

Here's the quote: "I would love to do a movie naked – it would be beautiful. No one dares make that kind of film today. They did it in the 1930s in an arty way, so why not now?" Sh*t, why not now? I'm sure Brett Ratner would make that film for no money -- heck, I'm sure Ratner would pay someone else out of his own pocket if it meant he could direct that movie. I can almost see it now: Arty: The Movie, starring a naked Megan Fox and directed by Brett Ratner. And you thought The Dark Knight was popular? Wait until you see the viral sites for this one!

(And don't even pretend not to care -- the gallery below is our most popular on the site.)