Megan Fox plays an undercover fed investigating, and beating up, a criminally sleazy motel owner played by Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly).
Somehow this was the love formula for the “Transformers” actress, 35, and the rapper, 31, who made a lasting connection on the set of “Midnight in the Switchgrass” in March 2020.
Hollywood’s current reigning red carpet PDA-forward couple is going strong more than one year later. But now fans can look at the movie that started it all, even if Fox says it was destiny that lit the fireworks rather than movie drama.
“It was just two people who were primed and supposed to be together,” Fox says. “We were meant to meet each other.”
Here’s what to know about the couple’s roles in director Randall Emmett’s “Midnight in the Switchgrass” (in theaters, digital and Blu-ray now), which critics have mowed down with a 16% positive review rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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Machine Gun Kelly threw shade at ‘Midnight in the Switchgrass’
As “Midnight” was released Friday, Baker explained his silence on the drama in which he appears in two lengthy scenes with Fox.
The actor/rapper wrote a tweet that never mentioned the critically savaged “Midnight,” but stated: “If i don’t talk or tweet about a movie i’m barely in it’s because it’s (trash emoji).”
Emile Hirsch, who stars in “Midnight,” disagreed with Baker’s tweet, posting the disparaging tweet on his own Instagram account on July 24.
“We definitely disagree here, Colson!” Hirsch wrote in the caption. “Nothing but respect to you guys, though. Especially because you and Megan are so (expletive) great in this movie.”
Megan Fox on ‘quiet moments between the scenes’ with MGK
Fox’s undercover FBI agent Rebecca Lombardo accidentally tussles with criminally sleazy alleged sex trafficker Calvin (Baker) in one of his neon-lit motel rooms. He’s not the target of the sting. Lombardo’s FBI partner (Bruce Willis) keeps yelling in her earpiece, “He is not the target!”
But Calvin pulls a knife on Lombardo, who starts throwing the (6-foot-4) malefactor around, an improbable feat.
“He’s a lot bigger than me,” says Fox, who is 5 feet, 6 inches. “He’s like seven feet tall and I’m tiny, so this is not something that’s going to happen in real life. But it went OK. We didn’t know each other yet, so it was just like two actors doing a fight scene, but with a little added sparkle.”
Adding to that screen bling: Baker’s leopard-print leather pants. It’s not just for Florida motel-owning criminals. “That’s something he would wear to breakfast,” Fox says.
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The two enjoyed some pre-production work on the Puerto Rican set before just two days of filming to get to know each other.
“It was more of the quiet moments between the scenes where all the magic was happening,” Fox says.
“But the first day I felt crazy. That energy was really overwhelming and super chaotic. I was having all these feelings and I wasn’t sure what they were, I just knew something intense was happening.”
The couple bonded after an intense fight scene
Lombardo finds Calvin again to shake him down for leads on a truck stop serial killer in the couple’s second scene. Lombardo gets Calvin to talk by placing her gun menacingly in Calvin’s face and even in his mouth.
Baker didn’t mind.
“He has a crazy high pain tolerance and he is obviously pretty reckless, so he’s good to go full-throttle with anything,” Fox says. “There weren’t any concerns.”
At the end of Day 2, Fox says the two got to know each other better chatting in her trailer, “when I brought him to actually talk to him, to get to know him more.”
After the scene, the film crew shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet Fox and Baker blossomed during the pandemic before their red carpet debut at the November American Music Awards.
Megan Fox shuts down Lala Kent rumor
Fox is remarkably not curious about seeing her “Midnight” screen chemistry with Baker.
“That’s just something we were living in, so much has happened since,” Fox says. “The question of, ‘Did we have chemistry onscreen?’ isn’t necessary, because chemistry has gotten us this far.”
Neither Fox, nor Baker, nor Willis, attended the “Midnight” premiere in Los Angeles this week. Film representatives sent word for Fox that the missed premiere was due to COVID-19 concerns.
Following the premiere, some media outlets speculated on alleged shade thrown by model Lala Kent, Emmett’s fiancee, over Fox’s absence. Kent posted a (now-deleted) photo on her Instagram Story perfectly blocking Fox in the movie poster and wrote “So excited for this!” where Fox’s name would have appeared.
Fox didn’t catch the alleged shade (“I don’t see anything ’cause I’m not online”) but doesn’t buy the media hype.
“I really like Lala, so I can’t imagine she would be trying to do anything negative like that,” Fox says. “She’s a lovely person.”
Kent denied shading Fox in a statement to USA TODAY.
“My mother took the picture of a special moment in my fiancé’s life,” Kent said. “In no way was it meant to shade anyone. I like Megan; she has been nothing but kind to me. I’m grateful she supported Randall in his directorial debut. I’m very proud of them both.”
In a July 23 interview with Access Hollywood, Kent elaborated.
“I’m not very subtle when I shade people,” Kent said. “If I was upset, I would have just straight up said it. Unfortunately the headline is way more interesting than what I’m about to tell you.”
The “Vanderpump Rules” star said she accepted Fox’s COVID reasoning for missing the premiere.
“If anybody understands a COVID concern, it’s me,” Kent said. “If you have a concern, I want you to stay home. I want you to feel safe.”
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