Actor Shia LaBeouf who you may not remember as a young kid acting in Project Greenlight, the television series focusing on first-time filmmakers and produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, has come a long since then.
He opened up to Parade.com about his transformation for his latest role in Lawless, cleaning up his bad-boy image, and dealing with fame.
“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 relating to the camaraderie among the Bondurant brothers.
“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.”
“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 dealing with fame.
“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.”