Why Shia LaBeouf Was Never The Same After Transformers

Transformers made Shia LaBeouf a mega star but then he followed that up with legal troubles resentment and some generally bizarre behavior Shia LaBeouf had a complicated childhood his parents were both artists so the family wasn't exactly rolling in cash his father in particular wasn't always Pleasant to be around he was a professional clown who had a history of drug addiction following his military service in Vietnam after his parents separated an adolescent LaBeouf began mapping out a career that he hoped would help with finances he was inspired by a friend who seemed to have it all after an appearance on Dr Quinn Medicine Woman so he started doing stand-up during which he sported overalls and a bowl cut in front of a room full of adults looking for a laugh he managed to quickly make a name for himself with the mouth of an adult on the body of a kid LaBeouf's next move was Landing an agent by pretending to be his own 50 year old English manager the agent that he hired helped significantly by paying his family's rent driving him to auditions and booking in his breakout role at the age of 12 Shia LaBeouf landed the role that would change his life forever on the Disney Channel sitcom Even Stevens he played Lewis the youngest sibling of the titular Stevens Family the show ran for three seasons 65 episodes and a full length made-for-tv movie from 2000 to 2003. in 2003 Le buff was honored with a Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding performer in a children's series the same year he starred in the movie Holes alongside big name actors like Sigourney Weaver and Jon Voight the latter of whom took Le Buffon as a mentee Foles also got the attention of a certain major Hollywood director by the name of Steven Spielberg after he watched the movie with his kids Spielberg recommended Le buff for a certain upcoming flick about alien robots that he was producing it may be one of the biggest franchises around today but when the first live-action Transformers came out in 2007 there was plenty of skepticism about whether or not it could actually rake in the Box the idea of adapting a Hasbro toy line and cartoon from the 1980s into an action Blockbuster wasn't exactly a slam dunk proposition but it had some serious industry power behind it with Steven Spielberg producing and Michael Bay directing Shia LaBeouf was cast in the lead human role as Sam Witwicky who has unknowingly inherited a connection to an ongoing war between extraterrestrial robots with Decepticons set on taking over the world Sam helps the Autobots led by Optimus Prime save the planet with a heavy dose of fast cars military weapons and loads of CGI Transformers managed to be a massive success collecting over 700 million dollars at the worldwide box office and suddenly Shia LaBeouf found himself catapulted into Mega stardom the boys pheromone level suggests he wants to mate with the female around the time the Transformers came out Shia LaBeouf was being touted as the next big thing in Hollywood Steven Spielberg doubled down on his faith in the young thespian by casting him as the son of Indiana Jones as the Director raved a Time Magazine Shia was within everyone's reach he's Every Mother's Son every father's spitting image every young kid's best pal and every girl's possible dream 2007 was undeniably quite the year for lab in addition to one of the Summer's biggest Blockbusters he also starred in the Thriller Disturbia and the animated penguin comedy Surfs Up but then the following year Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the Crystal Skull wasn't exactly the most beloved entry in that long-running franchise as the actor bemoaned to the Los Angeles Times I feel like I dropped the ball on the Legacy that people loved and cherished Le buff returned to play sandwich Wiki again for two Transformer sequels 2009's Revenge of the Fallen and 2011's Dark of the Moon but those experiences were filled with conflict as he arrived on the set of Revenge of the Fallen with an injured hand after being arrested for suspicion of drunk driving the charges were ultimately dropped but the injury resulted in some necessary script changes making matters worse the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike resulted in Revenge of the Fallen beginning production without a finalized script despite that setback and less than Stellar reviews it still earned over 800 million dollars at the global box office but LaBeouf wasn't exactly happy with the end result as he put it in an interview we weren't making a movie to make a good movie we were making a movie to hit a date two years later Dark of the Moon broke the one billion dollar Mark at the global box office and was slightly better received critically but before it even hit theaters Le buff had already announced that he would be moving away from the franchise no no no the news that LE buff was exiting Transformers was a shock to nearly everyone the franchise had made him one of Hollywood's most bankable young stars but he chose to use that cloud to pursue more artistic independent films instead as he told the Hollywood reporter's Awards chatter podcast in 2019 I don't think there was any acting going on this was like personality there was no acting going on for the huge front half of my career this was all just my personality exhibited on a camera the key transitional moment for LaBeouf's career happened when he starred in 2010's Wall Street money never sleeps as he recalled I was trying to shake off Disney I was trying to shake off Blockbusters as for the fourth Transformers movie Michael Bay resisted Studio pressure to recast Le Buff's role and instead opted to bring in Mark Wahlberg as a fresh face for the franchise as it turned out Shia LaBeouf's legal troubles weren't the only thing plaguing the Transformers films as his co-star Megan Fox wasn't exactly comfortable while making them to put it mildly in a 2009 interview with Wonderland magazine she revealed that Michael Bay was a nightmare to work with and she even compared his directing style to Adolf Hitler she was fired from the franchise but she and Bay would eventually bury the hatchet and reunite for 2014's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles this unsettling treatment wasn't ignored by Le buff who admitted that he had a romantic fling with his co-star as he explained to the Los Angeles Times Megan developed this Spice Girl strength this woman empowerment that made her feel awkward about her involvement with Michael who some people think is a very lascivious filmmaker the way he films women he continued Mike films women in a way that appeals to a 16 year old sexuality and I think Megan never got comfortable with it when Mike would ask her to do specific things there was no time for fluffy talk and the one thing Mike lacks is tact after his time with Transformers LaBeouf's controversial reputation would only grow and grow in February 2013 a Broadway production of the play orphans was canceled after he reportedly quit over what was later revealed to be a fight between him and his co-star Alec Baldwin that fight gave fire to the rumors that LE buff also got into an altercation with Tom Hardy on on the set of the 2012 film Lawless a year prior but as Le buff claimed during an appearance on the YouTube talk show hot ones there was nothing to that story Beyond some playful wrestling I look up to Tom as an actor and I respect him as an actor he has a different appetite for you know being a method actor than I do then in 2014 Le buff was arrested after causing a scene at a Broadway production of Cabaret this was just the beginning of a string of arrests for disorderly conduct as he again faced charges in 2015 and 2017. the latter of those arrests was a self-admitted new low for Le buff as he was caught on camera accusing a black police officer of arresting him for being white and that wasn't the end of his run-ins with the law as he was charged with misdemeanor battery and petty theft in 2020. in 2016 the always candid Shia LaBeouf was making headlines again after an interview with variety saw him insulting his work with Steven Spielberg as the actor put it I grew up with this idea if he got to Spielberg that's where it is you get there and you realize you're not meeting the Spielberg you dream of you're meeting a different Spielberg who was in a different stage in his career he's less a director than he is a company Le buff went on to say that the only movie he appreciated making under Spielberg was the first Transformers as he declared everything has been so meticulously planned you got to get this line out in 37 seconds you do that for five years you start to feel like not knowing what you're doing for a living however the actor later retracted his statements and admitted that Spielberg opened a lot of doors for him despite all his misdeeds and lack of tact Shia LaBeouf has managed to build himself the artistic career of his dreams since his Blockbuster days he's taken on more character-driven work in the likes of such films as Fury Borg vs Mcenroe and honeyboy he's also challenged himself with a move into the director's chair adding a few short films and music videos to his resume and one of his most notable projects a motivational speech titled hashtag introductions became a popular internet meme do it just do it Le buff has also branched into some other otter artistic Pursuits in 2015 he broadcast a live stream of himself watching all of his own movies he followed that up a year later by spending 24 hours inside an elevator and going on a journey across America where fans could pick him up and drop him off wherever they chose unfortunately Le buff has also become equally famous for his plagiarism a short film that the budding director debuted at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival was discovered to be a ripoff from a comic book written and illustrated by Daniel Klaus Le buff later tweeted an apology which was itself discovered to be plagiarized subsequently two comic books that he'd previously released were also condemned for plagiarism LaBeouf's ongoing troubles have only seemed to get worse over time in 2020 a former romantic partner is singer FKA Twiggs filed a lawsuit alleging a range of Acts including violence towards her and shooting guns at stray dogs she also accused him of not disclosing an STD infection to her LaBeouf has since owned up to the fact that his behavior in that relationship was disgusting during a 2022 appearance on the real ones podcast he admitted I was a pleasure-seeking selfish self-centered dishonest inconsiderate fearful human being I hurt that woman you know and in the process of doing that I hurt many other people and many other people before that woman LaBeouf also attempted to credit his former partner for positively changing his life as he put it had she not intervened in my life and not created the Avenue for me to experience ego death I'd either have a really mediocre existence or I'd be dead in full Shia LaBeouf now finds himself in a struggle for Redemption becoming a father is one experience that has helped him recalibrate his life as he explained on the real one's podcast it's almost like having the ultimate parole officer I need somebody to keep me accountable despite that effort LaBeouf once again found himself at the center of a high-profile Feud after leaving the cast of The 2022 film don't worry darling he and director Olivia Wilde have offered differing takes over whether he quit or was fired nevertheless his career has remained alive as he set to star in the 2024 Francis Ford Coppola directed sci-fi epic megalopolis meanwhile the Transformers movies have continued to truck along without their former star with the latest entry rise of the beasts arriving in theaters on June 9th 2023 the plan is to launch a new Trilogy of Transformers films separately Transformers 1 set for release in 2024 will act as a prequel to The established franchise and yet another movie inspired by the toy line is reportedly in the works under director Angel Manuel Soto if you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 you can also find more information resources and support at their website foreign

Channel: Looper

Views: 1,024,956

Keywords: looper, shia labeouf, transformers, behavior, bizzarre

Id: VpkAOLh27Qw

Length: 11min 6sec (666 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 13 2023