The problematic way Shia LaBeouf landed his role in ‘Nymphomaniac’
When child stars are first thrust under the limelight, commentators speak of bright futures, but all too often, the plastic minds of youth are warped by the weight of fame. Of course, there are exceptions; Elijah Wood and Haley Joel Osment are two prominent and dignified former child stars who come to mind. Of late, the likes of Ezra Miller and Shia LaBeouf are among the prominent former child actors to add their names to a list within a problematic black book, as it were.
In LaBeouf’s case, the former Even Stevens star found himself in court in 2020 after his former partner, FKA Twigs, accused him of sexual battery and physical and verbal abuse. The pair first met on the set of the 2019 movie Honey Boy and dated for around a year after. Twigs detailed violent outbursts and strangulation. She also accused the actor of knowingly infecting her with an STD and shooting stray dogs with a gun to get into character for The Tax Collector.
“I hurt that woman,” LaBeouf said in penitence during an appearance on Jon Bernthal’s podcast, Real Ones, in 2022. “And in the process of doing that, I hurt many other people and many other people before that woman. I was a pleasure-seeking, selfish, self-centred, dishonest, inconsiderate, fearful human being. When I think about what my life has become, and what it is now, like what my purpose is now… I need to be useful. And when I look at this #MeToo environment, there’s not a whole lot of dudes that are taking accountability.”
“I fucked up bad,” LaBeouf added. “Like crash and burn type shit. [I] hurt a lot of people, and I’m fully aware of that. And I’m going to owe for the rest of my life.” LaBeouf later said he has a “long list of people that I need to make amends to.”
Elsewhere in the interview, LaBeouf admitted to “cheat[ing] on every woman I’ve ever been with” and never telling his “sexual partners about getting cold sores,” which he admitted was “manipulative”.
Though LaBeouf now appears to be making moves to right his wrongs, it’s unclear whether his erratic behaviour will be completely doused. Since his humble beginnings on the Disney Channel, LaBeouf has displayed undeniable talent in several popular movies, but it seems his wild method acting antics have offered a helping hand along the way.
Beyond allegedly shooting at stray dogs for The Tax Collector, LaBoeuf also revealed that he led by unorthodox and slightly unsettling examples when landing his role in the two-part erotic movie of 2013, Nymphomaniac. The story follows a woman named Joe, portrayed by Charlotte Gainsbourg, and her prolific, increasingly sordid sexual history. Much of the movie involves flashbacks to her earlier years when she was in a distinctly sexual marriage with Jerome, LaBoeuf’s character.
Lars von Trier, the movie’s director, is well-known for his rather provocative art, and LaBoeuf seemed to know how to push all the right buttons during the casting phase. Cutting straight to the chase, LaBoeuf decided to submit a real-life sex tape as his audition. “I sent him [von Trier] videotapes of me and my girlfriend having sex, and that’s how I got the job,” LaBeouf told Chelsea Handler of The Guardian in an interview prior to the movie’s release.
Elsewhere in the interview, LaBeouf revealed that he was excited about the erotic nature of the role. “Everything that is illegal, we’ll shoot in blurred images,” he said. “Other than that, everything is happening.”
At the time, LaBoeuf was in a relationship with Karolyn Pho, who appeared in the audition tape with him. It’s unclear how consenting Pho was of being exposed in LaBoeuf’s audition, but the manipulation rife in his relationship history certainly casts a shadow on the topic.
Watch the trailer for Nymphomaniac Vol. 1 below.
