The actor who “intimidated” Shia LaBeouf on set
Shia LaBeouf rose to prominence as a child, starring in the Disney Channel comedy Even Stevens in the early 2000s. His interest in acting was initially a way to earn money to provide for his struggling family – not because he wanted to become a star. To escape his volatile home life, he began frequenting The Improv when he was just ten years old to perform stand-up comedy routines, known for his “disgustingly dirty” material, stating that he had a “50-year-old mouth on [a] ten-year-old kid.”
Yet, he continued acting throughout the early 2000s, winning a Daytime Emmy Award for his performance in Even Stevens. He described the series as the “best thing” that ever happened to him, stating that he “grew up on that show.” Roles in Holes, Constantine, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, I, Robot, and Transformers followed in subsequent years before LaBeouf’s star power increased with a part in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
During the 2010s, LaBeouf starred in films such as Nymphomaniac, American Honey, and Honey Boy, for which he wrote the screenplay. However, the past decade has also seen the actor come under fire for legal issues and physical and sexual abuse allegations. Citing alcoholism as a factor for his disorderly behaviour, LaBeouf has been in and out of rehab for several years. Despite these serious claims, many of which the actor has admitted to, he is set to star in Francis Ford Coppola’s upcoming epic Megalopolis alongside actors such as Adam Driver, Jon Voight, Forrest Whitaker, Aubrey Plaza and Dustin Hoffman.
You would think that a man as grossly self-righteous as LaBeouf would find himself superior to all of his co-stars; however, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he – rather snidely – picked out the actor he finds the most intimidating. His choice was British actor Tom Hardy, who starred alongside LaBeouf in 2012’s Lawless. During filming, it was reported that there was much friction on set between the two, confirmed in a Reddit AMA with director Jonah Hillcoat. He wrote, “There was definitely a fight between them. It escalated to the point where they had to both be restrained.”
In an interview with Hot Ones, LaBeouf attempted to clear up rumours that there was bad blood between the two. He stated, “We used to fuck with each other all the time, but it just so happened that, this one week, my girlfriend was in town, and he runs into the room. The girl I was with at the time was terrified.” The ‘fight’ ended with Hardy falling down several flights of stairs, “for the rest of the shoot, he told everybody I knocked him out,” LaBeouf claimed.
While we don’t know for sure how well the pair actually got on, LaBeouf’s comments on Hardy from The Hollywood Reporter interview tell us everything we need to know. He described the actor as a “bit of a gorilla on set.” He continued, “he runs a set […] it’s his set, you know it when you get there. It don’t feel like a shared space, it feels like his space. He’s a very good actor and also super loving, but on a set, you’re in his church.”
Watch the full interview below:
