I’ve come to the grand conclusion that it’s quite difficult to find a recent photo of Shia LaBeouf looking halfway decent — especially considering that he looked like hell at the recent Lawless premiere in Los Angeles — so we’ll have to make do with these photos on 8/13 when he at least bothered to pull his hair back in NYC. A slight improvement, no?
Shia is still promoting Lawless, which mercifully hits theaters this week and sees him presumably fully clothed (unlike in the upcoming Lars Von Trier movie, where Shia will have actual sex and call it art). He plays the bootlegging Jack Boundurant, who is the youngest of a brotherly trio (with the other brothers played by Tom Hardy and Jason Clarke). Oddly enough, the powers that be have decided that Shia is the best possible face to do the vast majority of promotional duties for this movie. (Although Kaiser will be covering a Tom Hardy interview today.) Why aren’t we hearing a lot more from, say, Guy Pearce and Gary Oldman as well? Instead, we’re getting Shia, who’s using the platform to brag about dropping acid on a film set because he’s so “method” and also to whine about the studio system. I guess they figure since he was Transformers boy, people will want to hear from him. We’ll see how the box office fares as a result, shall we?
He gained 40 pounds for Lawless: “The first part of my preparation was weight gain, especially when I found out who was going to be playing my brothers. Tom Hardy was getting ready for The Dark Knight Rises, and Jason Clark was getting ready for this war film that he’s finishing up now. Everybody was getting bigger around me, so in order for me to stand next to them and feel like we came from the same fabric, it was mandatory that I got big as well. I landed on that set at about 180 pounds, and now I’m 140, so it was a lot of gym time and a lot of food.”
On camaraderie on the set: “I’m an only child, so I’m pretty much a loner. It’s easier to not have too many things anchoring me. When I’m working, that’s my family.”
On his bad boy image: “I’ve made mistakes along the way, but I’m learning. I’m more comfortable with myself, and I’m calming down. I think most twentysomething men go through similar struggles and start seeing what boundaries and what rules are. It’s about pushing limits and trying to find yourself. I’ve never been able to learn from other people’s mistakes — I’m not that smart — so I usually learn by trial by fire.”
On the fame monster: “I’ve been blessed in that any kind of fame that I’ve received has never been like pop-star-fanatical. There’s never been any fanatical nature to anybody who has ever appreciated anything I’ve been in or has noticed me. It’s usually pretty respectful and quiet. People are
very reserved with me, actually.”
[From Parade]
I don’t know exactly what Shia is trying to accomplish by explaining his bar fights
and hissy fits as a “trial by fire.” That’s kind of a poor excuse, but hey, at least he didn’t try to justify himself by saying he was going “method” for a movie. Nope, that’s an excuse he reserves for acid dropping and banging chicks who are not his girlfriend. He’s such an artist.
Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News
