Shia LaBeouf blames his arrest on ‘performance art’: funny or offensive?

Shia LaBeouf

This is a photo of Shia from last week. He arrived to Jimmy Kimmel’s show in shiny, pink spandex pants. The pants were officially a gift from Ellen DeGeneres (as part of pink month), but we know Shia loves his neon workout ensembles. I have been slacking on Shia coverage, so this will be a lengthy roundup.

Shia embarked upon a grand redemption tour for Fury. He’s behaved badly for several years, but he always catches a break and lands prestigious roles. Brad Pitt talked up Shia’s skills to GQ by saying, “He’s full-on commitment, man.” But Shia is always one step away from popping off. He’s holding it together at the moment, but you never know when he’ll start punching holes in doors again. Oh, and speaking of that bitchfight that made Alec Baldwin look sane: Shia covers the new issue of Interview magazine. He says (via Page Six) that everything — including the Alec incident and the Cabaret meltdown — was a result of method acting:

Hollywood bad boy Shia LaBeouf blames method acting for the wacky antics that got him fired from a Broadway play and tossed in the slammer.

The drama-prone actor was simply role-playing when he clashed with Alec Baldwin on the set of Orphans and also when he smacked actor Alan Cumming’s butt at a performance of Cabaret, he claimed in Interview Magazine’s November issue.

“Alec and I butted heads hard. I was sleeping in the park … At the time, I was out of my mind,” he revealed about preparing for the brutal, street-smart character, Treat.

“My whole goal was to intimidate the f— out of Baldwin. That was the role. And it wasn’t going to be fake. I wanted him to be scared … So I went about doing that for three weeks of rehearsal,” he said.

The 28-year-old actor was arrested in June after drunkenly slapping Cumming and later spitting at a cop.

“I was reading about performance art of the ’60s and ’70s and so I thought … we’re all involved here. It’s not just your stage. We’re all in here and we’re all part of this,” he said. “I was wrong.”

[From Page Six]

According to this logic, method acting is to blame for everything. For slashing one’s own face on set, for repeated plagiarism, and for chasing homeless men. Sigh. I should have sympathy for Shia. He is clearly very ill, but he’s making a mockery out of mental illness. Daniel Day Lewis is one of the most notorious method actors, and he’s admitted that he’s tough to live with during filming. But DDL’s not spitting on cops and urinating in public, you know? It’s also hard to buy that Shia is serious abot his recovery when there’s nothing anonymous about his AA visits. He prominently displays the Blue Book for the paps.

Shia’s story also keeps changing. He’s appeared on two recent talk shows to discuss his arrest. Shia told Ellen the Broadway meltdown was “an existential crisis.” He said, “jail was quite scary. I was there for, it felt like forever, I think 24 hours, 25 hours.” Shia laughed the whole time he talked about jail. He thinks this is funny. He claims to be keeping himself together with daily 12-mile runs. He’s full of it. Shia is not running that much. This is a guy who sustained stress fractures after jumping rope. No way is he running 12 miles a day and staying uninjured.

Shia also chuckled his way through his Kimmel interview. He gave a “humorous” account of “drinking a lot of whiskey” for “the World Cup,” which caused him to buy ladies drinks after they turned down his offer. Then he talked about sexually assaulting Alan Cumming: “I slap and grabbed him. Like, I grabbed a whole cheek because I wanted the party right here in my pants.” Everybody laughs. Kimmel. The audience. One person who didn’t think it was funny: Alan Cumming. Alan recently told the NYT that Shia is “a dangerous menace. I guess similar to dealing with my [abusive] father.” But you know, Shia tells a cool story, bro.

Here are clips of Shia’s Kimmel and Ellen appearances.

Shia LaBeouf

Photos courtesy of Interview magazine, Fame/Flynet & WENN

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20 Responses to “Shia LaBeouf blames his arrest on ‘performance art’: funny or offensive?”

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  1. Tapioca says:

    Funny, but I thought the whole point of actors was that they could, y’know, ACT?

    If you have to behave every day like a douchebag to portray one, then you’re pretty s*** at your “craft”!

  2. Lee says:

    He is mentally and emotionally unstable. Let’s face it.

  3. NewWester says:

    Something is going on with Shia. The problem is there does not seem to be anyone around him who is willing or able to talk to him about it. Slashing his own face? That is a cry for help

  4. Liv says:

    I really hope he would disappear for good, I can’t stand him. He has clearly problems in his private life. Please, we endured James Franco’s art talk for years, I can’t cope with Shia’s concept of “performance art” now!

  5. lower-case deb says:

    omg. the cavalier way he talks about assaulting Alan Cummings. sure whatever dude go ahead with your performance art or whatever, but would it hurt you to be considerate about other people? like Alan Cumming is a public person and easily googleable or wikipediable. for someone purportedly so method, he lacks research skills.

    like, would it hurt to take into account other people’s feelings, you know normal decency, like respecting people’s personal space. there’s a reason why some people’s personal space is larger than others (or alternately smaller than others).

    when the victim doesn’t laugh with you it stops being a joke and starts being a bullying or assault.

    Shia get a clue! it’s not all about you!

    (then again he might not notice it himself and needs someone to sit him down). has somene tried it?

    • RocketMerry says:

      Ditto.
      Alan Cumming is a great actor, a very professional person and a sweet guy. So inconsiderate of Shia to publicize his own horrible behaviour like that; he was immensely out of line there, and if he cannot see that he’s in deep trouble. Had this happened to a woman, this would have been a major thing, it would have ended Shia’s career.
      Team Alan.

  6. Ms. Lady says:

    How about his excuse for his crap acting? This man has issues though, and he needs serious help.

  7. FLORC says:

    He’s so unaware of how offensive and damaging his actions are. Method acting is not a get out of jail card to be played this frequently.
    He assaults people and threatens the safety of others. Even if he is preparing for a role like that there’s no excuse.

  8. Belle Epoch says:

    So I can’t just hate him now, because he is ill? I’m having trouble scraping up any sympathy for him. I wish his “cry for help” did not involve being the ultimate obnoxious d-bag. Amanda Bynes was a pitiful wreck. This guy just seems like a lying liar who is full of himself.

  9. Kiddo says:

    I think he is covering personal problems with this narrative. He’s making it sound as though he was ‘completely in control of his actions’ and I’m not buying it.

  10. Adrien says:

    Amanda Bynes, please don’t go telling us it’s all method acting the whole time. Those who gave you sympathy will look like fools.

  11. whatsmyname? says:

    I don’t think method acting has anything to do with this. He needs serious help and he is trying to cover his ass. He is still a douchebag though.

  12. serena says:

    Shia needs to let the doucheness go and go to a terapist. In that photo with Brad (who looks so damn hot) he’s wearing such a weird smile… almost creepy. Dude has still many issues, I hope he’ll work em out before Brad kick his ass.

  13. Jaderu says:

    How unfortunate that the story will now stand as a joke. A bubbly, running around slapping people on the butt, nonsensical method acting, joke. Instead of Cummings story of being afraid and being reminded of his abusive father. Shia is the bigger star so of course his “cute and funny” stories will be remembered. I do feel sorry for him in a way because he obviously needs help. However it’s sick that he’s allowed this revisionism.

  14. Rose says:

    You know, I’ve actually never seen one of Shia’s movies. I only know him by reputation and I do feel bad for him but he needs to take responsibility for his actions. Other people don’t get away with that kind of behaviour toward other people.

  15. kri says:

    We are talking about someone who sucker-punched Tom Hardy. He assaulted one of God’s rarest hotties, Alan Cumming, in the middle of a performance. He menaces the homeless. He needs to be leashed by Brad Pitt. Sigh. He has real mental health problems and substance abuse issues. I know I’m stating the obvious, but this isn;t something funny for him to yammer about on TV. It’s sad. I think he has some talent buried under all of that. Get some real help, Shia.

  16. Redheadwriter says:

    I truly believe he’s having a mental health crisis. That being said, I wanted to comment on the “not being anonymous” part of AA. The actual concept of anonymity with AA is that what is said and who attends a meeting is anonymous. The fact that he is (or isn’t) participating and working on his sobriety is not required to be anonymous if he chooses to be open about that. So I wouldn’t shame him for that part.

  17. Emily C. says:

    The vast majority of mentally ill people are not violent. I’m not even sure he’s mentally ill — if he were truly delusional, he wouldn’t have picked his targets so well when assaulting homeless people. He knows everyone will laugh off his abuse when it’s of the homeless.

    He’s an entitled, spoiled brat, yet another child star gone wrong. Amanda Bynes’ problems are because of mental illness. Shia’s are because he’s a violent a-hole.

  18. Pat says:

    I agree about this method acting crap is about actors who aren’t really able to ACT. It the producers wanted a real homeless guy for the play they would ask ..you know.. a real homeless guy to be in it. The whole thing is about the ability to be someone you’re not for a while, you know? like the great Lawrence Olivier said sometime to an exhausted Dusting Hoffman doing the method thing in a movie together: “Honey why don’t you try just to ACT it?”

    Pretentious actors, when they do the method shit I feel like I’m being cheated and lied