Over the past few weeks, I may have tweeted, “Shia LaBeouf is getting on my last nerve.” This was the precise moment I chose not to write a standalone post about our reluctant subject’s “metamarathon.” The fabricated event involved Shia circling an Amsterdam museum 144 times and calling it a marathon. Spare me, dude. It was great fun to talk about Shia’s neon workout ensemble, but he took it too far.

Now that I have that off my chest, let’s talk about Shia’s ongoing method acting. Shia appears in the upcoming Brad Pitt vehicle, Fury. Shia has curiously disappeared from the film’s promotion. This probably has to do with his most recent public displays of drunkeness. Brad is fine with talking up Shia as long as Shia’s not on the publicity tour. Because Shia takes his method seriously. So seriously that rumors continue to swirl about how Shia pulled one of his own teeth out for Fury. Shia has fed the gossip on Twitter:

WHEN YOU GET A ROLE TO SINK YOUR TEETH INTO – DO IT #FURY pic.twitter.com/EgBTDSh76N

— Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) May 30, 2013

The tooth-pulling topic is up for debate. I’ve heard conflicting reports. Some outlets say Shia yanked out his own tooth to be method. Others say an on-set accident resulted in Shia’s tooth loss. Who knows. Fury co-star Logan Lerman has spoken to British GQ (via The Guardian) about Shia’s method:

Shia’s “method” facial slashes: “We were in make-up and they were putting cuts on Shia and I said, ‘Yeah, yeah, it looks good.’ And Shia was like, ‘No, it doesn’t look real’,” said Logan, who appears alongside LaBeouf, Brad Pitt, Jason Isaacs and Michael Pena in David Ayer’s film.” Then [Shia] walks out into the hallway and says, ‘Hey man, wanna see something fun? Check this out…’ and he takes out a knife and cuts his face. And for the whole movie he kept opening these cuts on his face. That’s all real.”

Did Shia purposedly have his teeth pulled? “I mean, he didn’t do it himself, he did go to a dentist and asked them to pull his tooth out but yeah, what an odd request. He really spent every moment on that set. He’s the guy operating the turret in every shot, even when you don’t need to be in there as an actor. You know, you can have somebody else inside. But he was there, for every shot.”

[From The Guardian]

So much ART and so much method, and it’s growing tiresome. Here’s the thing — even if Shia wanted to get realistically bloody to go “method” for his “art,” cutting his own face is not the way to do it. There’s a reason that carob syrup stands in for blood on camera. It’s the same reason that glue is often used as a milk stand-in during cereal commercials. What a mess. I don’t know how Shia has convinced museums to allow his performance art on their premises.

Photos courtesy of Shia LaBeouf on Twitter & WENN