Actor Shia LaBeouf attends the movie premiere of “Fury” at the Newseum October 15, 2014, in Washington, DC.
Credit: MCT
Shia LaBeouf came out from under his paper bag last week to do an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, and I was very curious to see what he had to say. I knew it was either going to be a complete train wreck, or a success story, and I’m happy to report that LaBeouf seems to be on the right track.
In case you didn’t know, Mr. LaBeouf basically went bats— crazy this year. In his words, “Man, I went through, like, an existential crisis.”
No kidding, Shia. He wore a paper bag on his head reading “I am not famous anymore” to a red carpet event in February and later apologized through an art exhibit titled “#IAMSORRY,” where anyone off of the street could go in a little room and attempt to interact with him while he sat there blankly staring and crying.
Shia has since turned the corner, and I was impressed with the way that he presented himself in the interview. He had some profound things to say about entertainers and people in general.
“I got into this industry because I had this void. I’m a kid of abandonment. So I thought being good at being an actor would somehow fill that void … A lot of entertainers are this way … I think we (all) suffer from the same thing, which is just a lack of attention and love.”
Preach! He’s right. We are all just trying to feel whole. Everyone turns to different things to try to fill up any voids, and making some sort of misstep is almost inevitable. Going off of the rails is even easier when you have the world at your fingertips like so many young actors and actresses do. It is easy to forget that celebrities, such as Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Bynes, are really just dealing with human issues, except they are doing so very publicly.
I didn’t want to give up on Shia, because, whether you like it or not, some of his movies are classics. “Holes,” the Transformers franchise and the fourth installment to Indiana Jones will always remain on his resume and will continue to be watched for years to come. The same goes for the ladies I mentioned above. There has to be at least some of the raw talent left under the neurotic shell we see now. I am still holding out hope that some of our beloved child stars can get back on the right track like Shia did. Might I suggest a group counseling session?
I turned off the TV with a renewed faith in humanity, because if this dude can get it together, anyone can.
