Ninja Turtles: Five Actresses That Would Have Made You Angrier Than Megan Fox

If our comments thread, Facebook page and Twitter feed are any indication, the biggest news of the day yesterday was that Transformers star Megan Fox had reconciled her differences with director Michael Bay and will be returning for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, his 2014 movie set to begin filming in April. And if those same sources are any indication, the response has been overwhelmingly negative. Lots of people already breaking out the old "ruining my childhood" card and such. An adaptation of the fan-favorite comic books and animated series, Ninja Turtles will reportedly abandon much of the characters' original backstory, opting instead for a version of the characters that's more rooted in the kind of science-fiction that Bay has made a fortune off of with the Transformers franchise. A lot of the frustration seems to stem from the fact that she's likely playing April O'Neil. That will put her in a role similar to the one many fans already had enough problems with her playing in Transformers, except with the extra baggage of playing a beloved character whose reduction to brainless sex symbol will be a more frustrating experience than when Fox played the anonymous hot chick" in Bay's last big Saturday morning cartoon revival. So, we wanted to give it some thought and make fans feel better by coming up with a short list of actresses who would have evoked an even stronger, more vitriolic negative reaction had they been announced as the face of Bay's Ninja Turtles.

Sarah Wayne CalliesThe Walking Dead is the top-rated drama on American television right now, meaning that it's got arguably the largest audience of any mainstream piece of entertainment currently going in the U.S. TV audiences, numbering in the tens of millions and coming back week after week, eclipse by their numbers what even the most successful feature film accomplishes during most of the best openings of the year. So, if the Internet is anything to go by, that's tens of millions of people who have spent the better part of the last two years wishing for Sarah Wayne Callies to die on TV. I mean, let's be serious--is there a more hated woman on television, especially among the geek audience?

Laurie Holden ...Oh, right. Nevermind that last part about Callies. In fairness to Holden, there are far fewer fans taking pot shots at her performance than there were, warranted or not, for Callies--so it's possible fans might not have been quite as frustrated by her casting. As Norman Reedus said, you only hate her because she's so good at what she does. At the moment, though? She's damaged goods. The Governor's sweetheart, who became so only after a fling with Shane last season at the height of his crazy. She's also a cause of great frustration to fans of the comics, who know Andrea as a strong, indispensible character and not just "the girl you love to hate."

Lindsay Lohan Let's forget about people whose on-camera performances has made her a subject of hatred and ridicule...and focus instead on someone whose personal life is such a train wreck that it's hard to imagine who continues to give her work. How'd you like THAT to be the dominant narrative going into the Turtles' theatrical run next year? The other thing? While it's not a controversial position to take that once upon a time, she was one of the most gifted child/teen stars in Hollywood, successes like The Parent Trap and Mean Girls are long since overshadowed by the spectre not only of her many public meltdowns but also her string of recent critical and commercial failures on screens big and small.

Not only is she a spectacularly poor actress (again, going by prevailing wisdom and leaving the specific criticism to the critics), but it's not as though The Twilight Saga has done much to endear any of its stars to the geek world. Stewart is trying to reboot her career, taking the Daniel Radcliffe path of a pairing of mid-range tentpole films and indie darlings, but so far nothing has taken. Reviews for the version of On the Road she did have all come back fair-to-middling, when a book that leaves that kind of footprint on the American literary landscape, and then isn't adapted for fifty years, really ought to be a major cinematic event. Snow White and the Huntsman, meanwhile, did alright but enjoyed the benefit of the Twihards heading out to cinemas to support Stewart, who still had half of Breaking Dawn left to go. When the sequel, devoid of its original director, hits the theaters it's hard to say whether she'll still have a group of fans ready and willing to turn out in her support. Betty White [caption id="attachment_41387" align="aligncenter" width="452"]

Because Betty White.[/caption]