Model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley To Replace Megan Fox In 'Transformers 3'

By Adam Rosenberg

With Megan Fox out of "Transformers 3" and actors already showing up on set, it's getting down to crunch time for director Michael Bay, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Paramount to find a replacement female lead. The news today is that they appear to have found one.

Deadline Hollywood reported Tuesday afternoon that the search had narrowed to three candidates: Victoria's Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, actress and former fashion model Sarah Wright and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover girl Brooklyn Decker. Huntington-Whiteley was named the front-runner in the original report, and a later update revealed that she had been chosen.

Unlike Wright and Decker, who between them have a number of film and television credits, Huntington-Whiteley is a relative newcomer. She's been modeling since 2003, for a range of names that include Abercrombie & Fitch, Clinique, DKNY and Ralph Lauren. Huntington-Whiteley has been working with Victoria's Secret since 2006; it is likely that she made Bay's short list because of his work on ad campaigns for the lingerie brand.

Huntington-Whiteley's name first came up as a possibility last week in a report from GeekWeek. Neither Wright nor Decker were named in the earlier story; GeekWeek simply wrote, "Victoria's Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley will soon be cast to replace Megan Fox."

Deadline further reports that Bay still has a week before he needs to finalize his pick. Star Shia LaBeouf shoots his first scenes with the female lead in two weeks and the production will continue through the summer. "Transformers 3" is scheduled for a July 2011 release.

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