 Shia LaBeouf Interview
He Never Thought to Be an Action Hero
Did you hear the funny story about the grade school kid who thought he could be a stand-up comedian?
Well, this ten year-old boy from the working class neighborhood of Echo Park in Los Angeles walks into a few local coffee shops and offers up a comedy routine that might just make a 50 year-old blush.
He claims that he is only doing this to help assist his financially strapped family but secretly, he is merely finding an outlet in which to express his desire to perform. He uses this platform to hire an agent and in a few short years, has guest spots on TV shows like `The X Files” and “Freaks and Geeks.”
In 2003, he lands the role of Louis Stevens, the manic, nerdy counterpoint to his perfect older sister and wins a Daytime Emmy Award for his performance. That same year, he makes his big screen debut in the adaptation of the children's book HOLES, co-starring with Sigourney Weaver and Jon Voight.
You might be asking yourself about now where is the punch line. In actuality, this joke doesn't have one because believe it or not, it is the humble beginning of Shia LaBeouf, an actor who is arguably laughing through the best year of his young life.
Not only is he turning 21 in June, but also three major motion pictures are opening in 2007 that feature him in a lead performance. DISTURBIA already has scored successfully at the U.S. boxoffice while SURFS UP, in which he lends his voice to that of an animated young penguin destined for surfing prominence, is due next. All of this will culminate in what could prove to be the rocket ship that launches him into stardom, TRANSFORMERS. How are his youthful shoulders handling all of this pressure?
“I am twenty years old right now and there are some positives and negatives to all of this,” he volunteers during an interview in Las Vegas. Overlooking the famed Strip, where dreams are made on the roll of dice, LaBeouf is feeling like a lucky seven. “I am very blessed right now. I want to be an actor. I have always wanted to be someone else and so I am just dealing with all of this day to day.”
Those days seem to be getting filled with some of the choicest assignments for actors his age; opportunities given by some of the highest profile personalities in the business. TRANSFORMERS director, Michael Bay is quick to add his appraisal. “Shia was the sixth guy that I saw during casting and both Steven (Spielberg) and I thought he was great. He is like a young Tom Hanks. He has that all American comic timing.”
“No way,” LaBeouf laughs when told of the comparison. “That is very flattering but it is like someone saying you are the next Dustin Hoffman. There is only one Dustin Hoffman.” Going on to explain, LaBeouf attests to Hanks versatility and mystery, two components he believes make an actor interesting. “If an audience knows too much about you and trusts you too much, that limits what roles you have the potential to play. You don't look at Steve McQueen and think you can trust him. Even Tom Hanks, while trustworthy still has a mystery about him. You can trust him but not that much. He could play a crack head or a rapist and you would buy it.”
LaBeouf has not been asked to stretch those boundaries yet but for TRANSFORMERS, his most emotional and physically demanding role yet, he attests to the challenges. “It was the toughest thing I have ever been through,” he reveals about the five-month shoot where he had to work with co-stars that were yet to be fully rendered in someone's computer.
TRANSFORMERS is based on one of the most wildly popular cartoon and toy series from the 1980's. Directed by Michael Bay (THE ROCK. BAD BOYS) and produced by Steven Spielberg, the film adaptation stars LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky, a typical suburban teenager who just might hold the key to the further existence of an alien robotic race.
Two main factions from the planet Cybertron, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, have left their homeland in search of the `Allspark', their life force contained in the Energon cube. Landing on Earth, they both have the unique ability to transform their metal-based bodies into familiar and innocuous forms, such as automobiles and aircraft, which come in useful when they set out on their mission.
Setting out on a simple exercise of purchasing his first car, Sam's life is turned upside down when he buys a Camaro, which just happens to be an Autobot named Bumblebee, and finds himself front and center of the action as the Autobots and the Decepticons believe he knows the existence to the map that will lead them to the `Allspark.”
Because much of the movie depended on visual effects that Industrial Light and Magic will add in after principal photography was completed, LaBeouf found himself in rather unique situations acting against window washer rods and tennis balls to simulate the colossal height of his co-stars. Other actors in similar situations have felt threatened by the reality that their computer enhanced colleagues usually steal all of the notoriety; a fact which didn't bother him in the least.
“There is no movie without Megatron and Optimus Prime,” LaBeouf adds about the two lead robots. “You cannot steal their thunder so I am just happy to be the fourth banana here.” Using sense memory and imagery, attributes he credits his former co-star Jon Voight with encouraging him to explore, the shoot became part fantasy and playtime even though he could never really grasp what it was he was supposed to be seeing during certain sequences of the shoot.
Luckily for the actor, he was not to have to deal with that dilemma very often because his director is notorious for preferring to film his action in real time with real props. There were thus moments when LaBeouf might have found himself wishing for some additional green screen work instead of being harnessed on wires from the roof of a forty story building in downtown Los Angeles.
What does one think about being dangled so far above the earth during these action sequences? “Death,” he laughs, candidly admitting that there were moments when he didn't feel safe but lied to himself to just get through the scene. “Sure we could have shot some of the footage on a green screen and it would have felt safer but Bay is an actor's director. He is an adrenaline junkie who embodies this type of film and so he is the perfect guy to make this type of movie because he makes you feel safe. He wants to make it as real as possible and so when you see my reactions from hanging from a building, they are real.” The experience left the actor with a feeling of euphoria, that could best be compared to a rock star on stage. “I was high-fiving everyone,” LaBeuof notes. “I never thought I would ever be in this type of situation or in a movie this big and to be an action hero. I never thought that.”
The young man is going to have to get used to that feeling for it was just announced that he will co-star in the fourth installment of the INDIANA JONES franchise. At the time of this interview, there were rumors swirling that he was being mentioned for the film; however, LaBeouf tried to downplay any possible disappointment. “I was rumored to be Jimmy Olsen in the last SUPERMAN and that never happened. I was really excited about it and it fell through so this is the same thing for me. It is a rumor that I might have actually started (laugh). Look, who wouldn't want to be in that film? I don't even know what the role would be but it is just one of those things.”
With all of this heat and momentum, it might be surprising to hear that LaBeouf is seriously considering putting his career aside. ”I need to take four years away and go to school,” he divulges. I don't want to become a personality. I want to be an actor but I need life experiences. I think by going to school it will help me not become repetitive and will give me something to draw from.”
In an era of young stars grabbing at every excess of fame, it is refreshing to hear one actually talk about life and career in normal tones. “I am flawed and I don't mind knowing that but I don't want to be like some of these all-night party people who burn out,” he sums up. “I am pretty reclusive and I don't go out at night. I just do my own thing. I saw my dad go through a lot of bad stuff and it wasn't sexy. It is a blessing now and I know this is my career and that comes before a lot of things. I am pretty lucky and I don't want to do anything stupid.”
Doing something stupid? Now that's funny.
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