Megan Fox is said to have jumped into the front-running ahead of Rose McGowan for the highly coveted roll of Red Sonja, a sword-and-sorcery character loosely based on a Robert E. Howard character. The Red Sonja that movie-goers are familiar with was originally played by Brigitte Nielsen, but her character was not directly modeled on any Howard characters. The earliest incarnation of this supposed contemporary to Howard’s Conan the Barbarian seems to be a Marvel comic book written in the late 1960s.
Science fiction fans are bemused by the apparent switch. “I liked the idea of Rose McGowan better,” says one fan, “but I guess this is probably more of a sure thing with audiences.” Sure thing? What happened with “Jennifer’s Body”?
McGowan first achieved fame on the television show Charmed, where she replaced Shannon Doherty as one of the three Halliwell sisters. Movie audiences were doubly impressed by her performance in the bizarre “Grindhouse” picture. McGowan has been attached to the “Red Sonja” project for a couple of years but she reported to fans that she now had to choose between “Red Sonja” and “Conan the Barbarian”. McGowan opted for the movie with the better chance of establishing a franchise (the original Conan franchise consisted of two movies starring Arnold Schwarzeneggar).
Although her fans are disappointed she will not play the lead role in the highly anticipated reboot of “Red Sonja”, McGowan’s sword-and-sandal career will probably be significant if she wants to go that route. Her looks and talent should keep her in demand for sexy deadly sirens for at least another 5-7 years.
Meanwhile, Megan Fox will have to use this new opportunity to prove to film audiences that she can act and carry a major motion picture. Critics have denounced her work so far. Her biggest success to date is playing Shia LaBoeuf’s girlfriend in the “Transformer” movies. While the films have been a huge box office success, they have not really done anything to convince movie-goers that Fox can act.