On Shia LaBeouf's Birthday, Let Us Talk About The Actor's Method To Madness

Shia LaBeouf turns 34 today. The actor could have become stereotypes after his breakout role in the Transformers movies, but it took serious efforts from his side to break free. He has delivered some of the most brilliant performances, that makes wonder if he ever, indeed starred in a Michael Bay popcorn movie. Shia often resorts method acting to add finesse to his performance. Also, he hates 'method acting'. Honey Boy Trailer: Shia LaBeouf Delves Deeply Into His Troubled Life as a Child Actor in This Semi-Autobiographical Drama (Watch Video).

"The word is getting embarrassing," he told Variety in 2016. "You don't hear about female method actors. The whole thing has turned into weird, false masculinity sh-t." The actor has since stopped describing himself as a method actor.

So, on his 34th birthday, here is looking back at Shia LaBeouf's Ghost of Method Acting Past.

Joined Army For Fury, Cut His Face And Pulled Out His Tooth

After Shia landed a role in the World War II film Fury, he joined the army. "I joined the U.S. National Guard," he told Dazed magazine. "I was baptized—accepted Christ in my heart—tattooed my surrender and became a chaplain’s assistant to Captain Yates for the 41st infantry. I spent a month living on a forward operating base. Then I linked up with my cast and went to Fort Irwin. I pulled my tooth out, knifed my face up, and spent days watching horses die. I didn’t bathe for four months."

He also scarred his face with a knife when he thought the makeup was not realistic enough. He also made his dentist pull out his tooth for this role.

Dropped Acid for The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman

In the movie, Shia's character consumes LSD. And the method actor that he claimed to be, Shia popped LSD as well. He said in an interview that he sent his co-star Rachel Evanswood recordings of him tripping on LSD.

Drank Moonshine For Lawless

Lawless is a film about bootlegging set in the 1930s. For his role, Shia actually drank moonshine, which made his behave crazily on the sets. The stories were confirmed by his co-star Mia Wasikowska, years later. Here's How Shia LaBeouf and ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon’ Co-Star Zack Gottsagen Became Best Friends.

An on-set altercation led to Shia punching Tom Hardy and knocking him out.

Shia had explained, "I did it for the movie. I didn’t drink off set for no reason. I did it because, when I showed up on set the next day, my [bleep]ing eyes looked like this and my face… had that drunk bloat that I needed, that I couldn’t have if that wasn’t going on. Moonshine is different than liquor. Moonshine is closer to heroin."

Sent Nudes For Nymphomaniac

LaBeouf had told talk show host Chelsea Handler that he sent a sex tape to producers of Nymphomaniac as part of the casting process. However, it was later confirmed that it was merely a photo of his penis.

"The first info we got — and I’ll never forget this, because my entire team reacted with such a fear — the first request from the production end, not from Lars, but from production, was pictures of my penis,” LaBeouf said in an interview that Zentropa Productions, the company behind Nymphomaniac , released to YouTube.

"Lars goes, ‘Send him the [offer] letter. The letter was, ‘Are you game?’” LaBeouf recalled. “I guess the first test was, ‘Let’s time how long it takes this motherf—ker to send his dick over the internet.’ It was like 20 minutes. They were like, ‘All right, kid’s ready.’"

There is enough debate about Shia's method acting in Hollywood. Tom is not holding grudges against his co-star. Tom said in an interview, "It takes a very strong human being to sustain a genuine sense of well-being through that baptism of fire. Drama is not known to attract stable types." His Fury co-star Brad Pitt is concerned about him but loves the boy nevertheless.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 11, 2020 01:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).