In a summer dominated by such movie franchises as Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean, evolving into trilogies, one Hollywood player has his own trio of films. For the 21-year-old Californian Shia LaBeouf, this threesome – Transformers, Surf’s Up and Disturbia – looks set to make him this summer’s brightest star.
“Three years ago I’d have never been able to conceptualise where I am now,” says LaBeouf on the day that his biggest film yet, Michael Bay’s $150 million (£74 million) blockbuster Transformers plays to its first big UK audience.
LaBeouf made his debut as a potty-mouthed stand-up at the age of 10, in a bid to move his family into better digs. At 15 he became an actor, hoping that this would keep his heroin-addicted father on the straight and narrow. Now, six years and nine movies later, he is the (human) star of a film that has so far crushed a host of box office records.
“It’s scary working with something like Transformers,” he says. “When you have an audience that is this passionate, if you say, ‘Optimus Prime’ wrong, they will think the whole movie sucks.”
On the evidence of the US release, the fans are more than satisfied. Michael Bay’s reimagining of the Japanese 1980s cartoon series (itself prompted by the toy action figures) took almost £15 million on July 4. The critical reaction to the film has been more restrained, although the majority agree that LaBeouf brings dignity to his action role.
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As a child, he was the star of the Disney TV show Even Stevens and of three of Disney’s children’s movies. Later he took small roles in the high-octane hit Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle and the low-octane miss Dumb and Dumberer.
“It’s not always easy trying to shed that Disney-kid image,” says LaBeouf. “Dito Montiel [the writer-director of A Guide to Recognising Your Saints, in which LaBeouf starred last year] refused to cast me because of that background. So when I got an audition, I trashed his office. I was as violent as possible to get that image out of his head. It’s easy to get typecast as a kid. I’m still pretty young, though, and I’ve got my life to sort out still.”
He may yet end up at Yale, where he was accepted as a psychology student in 2003, although he is not taking up his place yet. After he has finished promoting Transformers, he will be back talking up the cartoon adventure Surf’s Up, and then Disturbia, in which his character suspects his neighbour of violent crimes. From there he will go on to star in the fourth Indiana Jones.
“But right now, f*** the fame, all I want to do is make great films,” he says. “If I study psychology, it’ll be to become a better actor.”
That aim has been constant throughout his life, with the encouragement of his family. “My parents were not at all conformist and they wanted me to be an artist,” he says. “Basically, my dad was a hippie, although he was a tough Cajun man and they are a wild people. So at times it was hard.
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“And I never wanted to become dependent on anything, like my father and heroin. That’s been a real monster in my life. But, conversely, if it wasn’t for my folks, I’d have probably ended up addicted to something.”
Now acting is his addiction. “It is more important than my hobbies, love or friends,” he says.
— Transformers is released on July 27, Surf’s Up on Aug 10 and Disturbia on Sept 7