Shia LaBeouf Wants To Be An Indie Guy?

[Mitch Henessey]

Transformers star Shia LaBeouf isn't just walking away from the Hollywood studio system that raised him -- he's bolting. "I'm done," says the 26-year-old actor, who is devoting his career to indie film and soon starts shooting Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac. "There's no room for being a visionary in the studio system. It literally cannot exist," he says. "You give Terrence Malick a movie like Transformers, and he's f--ed. There's no way for him to exist in that world."

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Refreshingly candid and abundantly energetic, LaBeouf was a driving force in getting Lawless made. The indie film opens in the U.S. over Labor Day weekend, just as LaBeouf goes to the Venice Film Festival for the world premiere of The Company You Keep, directed by Robert Redford. Company and LaBeouf's The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, now in postproduction, were financed by L.A.-based Voltage Pictures. "These dudes are a miracle," he says. "They give you the money, and they trust you -- [unlike the studios, which] give you the money, then get on a plane and come to the set and stick a finger up your ass and chase you around for five months."

LaBeouf's trip to Cannes in May for Lawless was a symbolic turning point, marking his transformation from blockbuster poster boy to indie star. It also was poignant. He'd been to the festival twice before, for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, neither of which went over well. The actor "deeply regrets" his negative comments about Indiana Jones, revealing they ruptured his relationship with Steven Spielberg. "He told me there's a time to be a human being and have an opinion, and there's a time to sell cars," he recalls. "It brought me freedom, but it also killed my spirits because this was a dude I looked up to like a sensei." This time, Cannes was a different experience. Says LaBeouf: "I fought for Lawless. I didn't jump onto anyone else's coattail and ride their wave."

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LaBeouf starts shooting Nymphomaniac after Venice. Von Trier intends to release two cuts, one much more sexually explicit. As to why LaBeouf took the job: "Because he's dangerous. He scares me. And I'm only going to work now when I'm terrified."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/shia-labeouf-abandoning-big-budget-movies-361943

I can't seem to find it, but a while ago, I posted a thread about Shia LaBeouf becoming the next big Hollywood movie star. Well, LaBeouf isn't interested in the big paychecks anymore, and he's decided to turn his back on the big time studio productions.

Can LaBeouf become one of the more well-known actors on his own? I dunno. As of right now, it's a tough call. Sure, plenty of people will recognize LaBeouf. After all, he received TONS of mainstream exposure from the Transformer films, the Wall Street sequel, and Indiana Jones. But LaBeouf hasn't reached the level of a major star just yet. Look, I'm sure Lawless will be a good film. But LaBeouf is surrounded by a superb supporting cast. Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain, Guy Pearce, AND Tom Hardy? Sorry, but LaBeouf could give the performance of a lifetime, and his chances of standing out would still be very slim. I like LaBeouf, but he isn't the type of a guy, who can carry a film (i.e. Will Smith, Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, Robert Downey, Jr.)

But I guess you have to respect LaBeouf's decision. LaBeouf has probably gained enough mainstream exposure by now. A lot of people hate the Transformers' film franchise with a burning passion, but each film was a tremendous box office success. I'll be rooting for LaBeouf's new career path, but a part of me wishes he would've stayed in Hollywood a bit longer.

Your thoughts?

 

[JWGunslinger]

I'm not sure how successful he'll be stepping away from Hollywood and going Indie, but then again he's been successful money wise and that wasn't fulfilling to him. If he does it and just enjoys it/feels like he's free to be creative then that's a kind of a personal success for him.
As to how the stuff he produces will sell, I would say a few people will be into it because they think it's cool he said no to big money in the name of being a true artist, but I don't have a good feeling about this one and I fear that Shia will flop there and come crawling back to Hollywood looking to get back to the blockbusters.

I hope he enjoys it, but then realizes where he truly belongs and comes back to the big screen because I have enjoyed watching him go from the kid on Even Stevens to playing more serious adult roles. I want to see him be successful but I don't think that he will be in his new career path, so I'll be hoping for him to return and get bck to what he does best.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

http://forums.wrestlezone.com/showthread.php?t=214224

I think that is the thread you were looking for Mitch, though I can't remember if we discussed him in another thread too.

My views on Shia are largely the same now as they were in the previous thread. While Lawless does look pretty good, Oldman, Pearce and Hardy are more of a draw for me than Shia at this moment in time. However I'm willing to give him a chance in this as the last few times I've seen him is in the Transformers films, so this will be a huge departure.

I think its because I have an urge to watch Buffalo Soldiers again, but I keep thinking of Joaquin Phoenix's departure from Hollywood which was a lot more extreme. Both have the money for their indie routes to perhaps be seen as a little adventure rather than settled career path for the long-term but if they want more challenging roles to test their acting range then so be it.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

I have a lot of respect for Shia LaBeouf after reading this. I was just talking with my friend Jack last night, who works as a reader for one of the larger script companies in Hollywood (essentially, he reads scripts sent in my hundreds of writers and decides if they're good enough to make it to the billion dollar production companies). He was out at the bar having a few drinks with Jeremy Renner - lucky bastard gets to meet all the cool people - and they just got talking about the industry and what it's like working for various companies and whatnot.

I guess Hollywood is a real depressing, soul-crushing place for a lot of people. You make your millions there, but it's really rare that there's any creative freedom in the process any more. Astonishing how much what he said reminded me of the way WWE went from a place of "everyone move your own character forward, or you don't get over" to "do this, hopefully it works". And the industry really hasn't gotten any better for it, either in wrestling or in Hollywood. A lot of what LaBeouf was saying stems from his time with the Transformers trilogy. There's so much money to be made in these giant productions, but in the end the product you're putting together simply isn't very good... And I can see how devastating it would be to have one of your heroes basically tell you to "sell out" for the sake of putting over this movie.

So yeah, I have a ton of respect for a guy who can say "alright, I made it as a movie star. I'm rich, and accomplished my goals in Hollywood, and now...I want to do something really, really good. Something inherent to the industry I fell in love with." Everyone once in awhile you get big-name directions with big budgets that truly have vision, and a clear passion for the industry. Christopher Nolan made Inception. It was a HUGE movie; obviously made a shit load of money. But it had vision, and tried to do something big and beautiful, and succeeded. JJ Abrams, David Fincher, Joss Whedon to an extent...there are people in Hollywood worth a billion dollars that have a true creative spirit.

But yeah, sadly a guy like Terrence Malick, one of the all-time greats in film, will get run over 10/10 times at the box office by a buffoon like Michael Bay. I have a huge appreciation for anybody that can break free from Hollywood and try to make something more, "pure" for lack of a better term. LaBeouf is a very talented star that came a long way from Even Stevens. He was one of the few things that made the Transformers trilogy watchable in my experience. I think he'll do great things no matter what kind of film, no matter what kind of budget he's given.

 

[jacdnwarrior]

I think those were nice sentiments, but unfortunately what is great in theory doesn't always work out in practice. I like the idea of what he's saying, but he says this after making a lot of money on a 4 film Transformer series, after Indiana Jones, after Wall Street after Eale Eye, etc. Now everyone is entitled to change their mind, but in his case, there have been great benefit to him through the studio system that he shouldn't overlook and ignore. Tbh there have been some great filmmakers and great films that came out of the studio system, so there is definitely a profit driven mentality in the sytem but there is great art to be found there too.

With Indy films you have problems also. A lot of Indie films are crap. Poor production, lousy story, piss poor acting, there are people working for very little pay, if at all, often the films aren't seen by enough people due to lack of advertising, so the Indie system isn't without its own problems.

I wish him the best of luck, but if I had the option, I'd do the films that get me a cheque and do the necessary promotional stuff that comes afterwards and if he wants to do smaller films, go ahead. Find a production company with similar ideas or start your own and create (or help create) films that you want to make.

 

[Loveless]

He doesn't have the talent to step away from the Hollywood system and his poor attitude won't be tolerated outside it. I give him a year before he misses the paycheck.

 

[jmt225]

I think it's really a stupid statement. I mean, if Martin Scorsese offers him a lead role, he won't take it? Complete BS. There are very good mainstream movies made every year... he just has to make sure his agents gets him the right auditions.

That said, I think Shia's a lot better of an actor than given credit for. His charisma is what made the first Transformers and even Disturbia fun to watch. He was also damn good in both highly underrated films Holes and The Greatest Game Ever Played. And while the movie itself was trash, I liked his performance in Wall Street 2, too.

As far as his indy stuff... I've seen two of them, and while he gave respectable performances, neither were as good as his best mainstream work. I'm talking about A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and The Battle of Shaker Heights, so the fact that he even has that typical "indy" holier than attitude is pretty astonishing since the indy films he has starred in in the past weren't even worth harping about.

I'm sure Lawless and his upcoming Robert Redford movie are both fine, but just because he had good experiences on those sets and enjoyed the final product, it's ******ed to then just completely write off mainstream films. The dude is probably bi-polar anyway, so anything he says should most likely be taken with a grain a salt.