It might be a huge put-on, but Shia LaBeouf sounds pretty unhappy in an interview in this Sunday’s edition of Parade magazine, now available on the Web.
“Actors live dependent on being validated by other people’s opinions,” LaBeouf, who stars in the forthcoming "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," told the magazine’s Dotson Rader. “I don’t understand what it is I do that people want. I don’t know what an actor does. I have no credentials. I don’t know what I’m doing. To my mind, talent doesn’t really exist. Talent is like a card player’s luck. It is motivation, ambition, and luck. It’s just a drive to be the best. I think acting is a con game.”
Later, he added, “Acting is instinctual. The good actors are all screwed up. They’re all in pain. It’s a profession of bottom-feeders and heartbroken people.”
LaBeouf himself is, apparently, recovering from a broken heart. He broke up with China Brezner, the daughter of “The Greatest Game Ever Played” producer Larry Brezner. LaBeouf starred in the movie, which was based on Mark Frost’s book.
“Why did the love of my life and I break up?” he said. “Man, I have no idea. What was that all about? I have no answers to anything. None.”
Then he said, “Why am I an alcoholic? I haven’t a damn clue! What is life about? I don’t know.” LaBeouf was arrested for drunken driving last year, and also had a drunken run-in with guards at a Chicago Walgreens in 2007.
The interview is full of revelations, including memories of his “hippie childhood,” which included dressing up in a clown costume to help his father sell hot dogs, and doing stand-up at age 10.
The upshot is that LaBeouf seems to have developed a well-worn cynicism about everything, even as he tries to work out what he’s doing.
“I’m still doing the same hustle now,” he continues. “The only change is that, instead of my dad selling hot dogs from the cart, it’s ["Transformers" producer] Steven Spielberg selling the hot dogs.”
- Todd Leopold, CNN.com Entertainment Producer