New Method Actor Shia LaBeouf Claims "Sex Is Different Than Love"
Shia LaBeouf becomes a method man by taking acid, drinking Moonshine and having sex for his films.
Remember when Shia LaBeouf was the lead star in Even Stevens, the Disney Channel TV show that everyone loved? I remember sitting in front of the television as a kid, cracking up at everything his character Louis Stevens would say.
Now, Mr. LaBeouf has gone from childhood star to A-List actor to a newly independent film actor. According to USA Today, after his huge success with Transformers, LaBeouf is experiencing character-rich roles by immersing himself completely through method acting, trying out whatever his role requires. For example, in his new movie Lawless, Shia is a moonshine drunk. In order to portray this to its fullest, LaBeouf drank the liquor and let his reaction to it play out on-screen. In his next movie, The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman due out in January, Mr. LaBeouf's character is on acid ... so you can be sure that Shia tripped himself. Shia LaBeouf On Seeing His Parents Do The Nasty
LaBeouf, 26, explains his actions: "There's a way to do an acid trip like Harold & Kumar, and there's a way to be on acid. What I know of acting, Sean Penn actually strapped up to that (electric) chair in Dead Man Walking. These are the guys that I look up to."
But sometimes there is a line that can be crossed, and in this case, Shia admits to having gone too deep. "Sometimes, it does get real," says LaBeouf, thinking back to his drug-assisted day on set. "Too real for a (director) who's trying to keep a diplomatic set."
Above all, Mr. LaBeouf assures us that he's not out of his mind despite his new immersion lifestyle.
"There are rules," he says, reached by consensus with the director. And he wouldn't take on an experience like Nymphomaniac—the Lars von Trier film he just began shooting in Germany, which requires actors to engage in real sex—without considering his girlfriend, Karolyn Pho.
"I have ethics, I'm not completely out of my mind," says LaBeouf, "But I don't think there's anything wrong with sex. Sex is beautiful if it's done right. And I wouldn't just do it for no reason … Sex is different than love, and there is a separation, and that middle gap is what the movie's about."
It seems as though Shia LaBeouf is the next Hunter S. Thompson and instead of gonzo journalism, it's gonzo film acting! Although his lifestyle choices are a bit radical, you have to hand it to him. He's the next Johnny Depp or Heath Ledger who would act in character even while at home by themselves. Maybe that's what makes an actor truly great, and if it is, then we can be sure that Shia LaBeouf is on his way.
Tell us: Do you agree with Shia that sex is different than love? If you were his girlfriend, how would you feel?
More juicy content from YourTango:
Photo Credit: Getty