4 bizarre ways Shia LaBeouf is trying to prove he's a 'serious actor'

The Transformers star is turning to films about sex and drugs in an attempt to move from blockbuster staple to art-house icon

Shia LaBeouf
(Image credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

After fleeing CGI monsters in all three blockbuster Transformers movies and dare-deviling in the latest Indiana Jones installment, Shia LaBeouf seemed poised to become a mega-star with the best box-office record of his generation. But thanks to high-profile interviews, in which he confessed to an affair with a co-star, criticized his directors, and attacked the entire Hollywood studio system, LaBeouf has become persona non grata in much of the industry. That may be just fine with LaBeouf, who insists he wants to make more "serious" films, like this week's Lawless, a period bootlegger drama that's clearly gunning for Oscars. But Lawless isn't the only way the one-time Disney Channel actor is endeavoring to transition from popcorn hero to respected actor. Indeed, "Shia LaBeouf is trying so hard to be serious that it's impossible to take him seriously," says Tim Grierson at Deadspin. Here, four strange ways he's proving his artsy cred:

1. Doing full-frontal nudity

LaBeouf kicked off the "serious" risk-taking phase of his cinematic career this summer by appearing fully naked in a determinedly ponderous and unfathomable eight-and-a-half minute music video for the song "Fjögur piano" by Icelandic band Sigur Rós. Though LaBeouf also gropes the bare breasts of his costar in the video, he assures the Associated Press that he "didn't get into (acting) to be a porn guy."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

2. Agreeing to have sex on camera

For his role in The Nymphomaniac, the upcoming erotic drama from controversial director Lars von Trier, LaBoeuf plans to have unsimulated sex on camera. "There's a disclaimer at the top of the script that basically says we're doing it for real," says LaBeouf in an interview with MTV News. "Everything that is illegal, we'll shoot in blurred images."

3. Dropping acid on set

LaBeouf's embrace of a "method-like" process means that he spent plenty of time on the set of Lawless drinking moonshine, reports Andrea Mandell of USA Today. But that's nothing compared to the lengths he went for his upcoming film The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, in which LaBeouf's character experiments with acid: The young actor decided to take L.S.D. for real. "There's a way to do an acid trip like Harold & Kumar, and there's a way to be on acid," LaBeouf explains. "Sean Penn actually strapped up to that (electric) chair in Dead Man Walking. These are the guys that I look up to."

4. Terrifying his Lawless co-star

In an interview with Fox News, LaBeouf concedes that Lawless costar Mia Wasikowska was so unsettled by his "aggressive method acting and drinking" that she called her attorney in an attempt to leave the film. He was a tad stalkerish off-set, too, he admits: "I had been thinking about Mia for months, before I ever was to meet her. For months. For me, I was so eager to meet her and anticipated meeting her so greatly that I scared her because I was just so eager."

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us