Even Shia LaBeouf would probably agree that he plays against the type as the actor takes on the role of a saint in his new movie.
But he may be on his way to Hollywood’s redemption.
For the past year and a half, LaBeaouf has shunned the limelight after she was accused of sexual assault by singer ex-girlfriend, FKA Twigs in a case that could soon lead them to court.
During that time, he has been reunited with his wife Mia Goth and, as he recently revealed, they have a 5-month-old daughter, Isabel, who he says has given him a ‘new purpose’.
He revealed in an open letter to actor-director Olivia Wilde, defending himself in a simmering feud, that he has been sober for more than 600 days.
And multiple sources told Vidak For Congress that the 36-year-old former child star is back in Hollywood’s good graces — including announcing this week that he’s been hired by Frances Ford Coppola for the director’s epic $100 million “Megalopolis,” also featuring Adam Driver, Forest Whitaker, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight and Laurence Fishburne.
In LaBeouf’s latest film, “Padre Pio,” which debuted this week at the Venice Film Festival, he plays the real-life 20th-century “radical rebel saint” who battles both his spiritual demons and his on-screen flaming fury.
The actor – who comes from a Jewish family – recently told Bishop Robert Barron of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries that he converted to the Roman Catholic Church while studying for the part of Pio.
Now he even claims that Twigs, and her accusations, saved his life.
LaBeouf told Bishop Barron that “suffering is actually a gift”, and Twigs added: “When I think about what has happened in my life this way … The old me, when I walked in, was so upset about, so mad at the woman I accused of all this.
“I wanted to go on Twitter and write all these things. I wanted to justify this and explain all this. Now I really see it: the woman saved my life. She is a saint in my life. She saved my life. It happened, the perspective shift feels amazing… I couldn’t have done it any other way.”
He also said he reached out to his mother, Shayna Saide – with whom he has had a fraught relationship – after a message popped into his head while he was learning to pray the rosary: ”Call your mother, tell her you love me.” loves her.”
“I had assaulted women, shot dogs and willingly given female STIs,” LaBeouf confessed to the bishop. “It’s disgusting. It’s depraved. My mother is unimaginably ashamed.”
Despite the actor’s public exhaustion, his ex Twigs – real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett – is still going through the lawsuit she filed against the actor in December 2020 for sexual assault, assault and inflicting emotional distress.
The two met on the set of the 2018 movie “Honey Boy” and dated for eight months. She has accused him of “relentless abuse”, including her suffocation, threatening the car they both were in, and knowingly supplying her with a sexually transmitted disease. Twigs also said the actor had a gun by the bed. LaBeouf has denied her claims, though the actor appears to be publicly confessing a lot.
A court date has been set in Los Angeles for April 17, 2023. (Twigs now lives in London.) Asked about the actor’s comeback, a former confidant of LaBeouf told Vidak For Congress: “Shia is very much on his redemption tour. He plays a saint in his new movie and he takes on that persona, which he often does with his movies. But just because you play a saint doesn’t mean you’re one.”
“All Twigs ever wanted was for Shia to get the right help and take responsibility for his actions,” said a source familiar with the situation. “She wants to prevent others from getting hurt and give a voice to survivors.”
Sources close to the “Cellophane” singer previously told Vidak For Congress that she was “traumatized” by the relationship with LaBeouf and still suffers from PTSD from their time together.
Representatives for Twigs and LaBeouf did not comment.
The revelation of LaBeouf’s path to enlightenment was driven in part by Olivia Wilde, the actor/director who has long claimed she forced his exit from her upcoming movie “Don’t Worry Darling” because of her “No a–holes.” policy.”
That has become part of the film’s fable, starring Wilde’s real-life friend – Harry Styles, who took over from LaBeouf – and Florence Pugh.
When Wilde echoed the claims, adding that his trial last month required a “combatant energy,” LaBeouf vengefully retaliated.
In an email to Wilde and shared with Variety, LaBeouf denied that he had been fired, instead claiming “to have left the film due to lack of rehearsal time”.
He said: “I have embarked on a journey that feels liberating and righteous (dirty word but appropriate). I write to you now with 627 days of sobriety and a moral compass that never existed before my great humiliation which was the last year and a quarter of my life. I reached out to you a few months ago to make up for it; & I still pray that one day you can find space in your heart to forgive me for the failed partnership we shared”
LaBeouf also used the email to talk about his ex.
“My shortcomings with Twigs are fundamental and real, but they are not the story that has been presented. There is a time and a place to deal with such things, and I try to navigate a nuanced situation respecting her and the truth , hence my silence,” he wrote.
The well-known source said Twigs has focused on making her music and videos, but added: “She’s tried to keep going, but of course when things like this happen, it can’t be difficult.”
“In all these stories, he says he does the job, but she has no idea what he does,” said LaBeaouf’s former confidant. “Going to AA is not the same as anger management.”
A source known to LaBeouf told Vidak For Congress that he is “completely committed to living a healthy life, making better decisions and taking care of himself and his family.”
The actor has previously been arrested 11 times and had numerous other charges against the law for crimes ranging from public intoxication and disorderly conduct to attempted stabbing a neighbor.
But as he wrote in his email to Wilde: “I have a little girl, Isabel; she is five months old and just starting to develop the last half of her smile; It is awesome. Mia, my wife and I have found each other again and are on our way to a healthy family with love and mutual respect.”
LeBeouf told podcast host Jon Berthnal this week that becoming a father was like pushing some kind of weird reset button as he lives his life.
“She’s testing me,” he explained. “It’s almost like having the ultimate probation officer. I need someone to hold me accountable.”
LaBeouf said he is “learning to be a man of principle” and plans to make amends with a “long list of people” he has hurt in the past. “I was a pleasure-seeking, selfish, self-centered, dishonest, inconsiderate, fearful person and I operated on a survival instinct,” he said. “All my loves and friendships were transaction.”
He added: “For my wife I will make it up for the rest of my life.”
The actor also said he was inspired to clean up his act by the thought that one day his daughter googled his name and found that her father was seen as “a deplorable, disgusting piece of s–t … I now have until she is literate to create a relationship with her where she knows me more than this idea of who i am in the audience.”
Despite Wilde claiming LaBeouf was difficult on set, “Pio” director Abel Ferrara this week told Variety that he had no reservations about working with the actor: “I know the journey he’s on. I’ve struggled with drugs. and alcohol, and I’ve been sober for 10 years now… This movie is about Shia’s struggle as much as it is about Padre Pio, because… there are scenes where he is him, his own s–t out.”
A leading Hollywood production source told Vidak For Congress that “Shia is a real talent, so it’s exciting to see what he will do next. His email to Olivia seems to take genuine responsibility for his past behavior and that he is sorry. Actions speak louder than words, so let’s see how he behaves on the set of upcoming projects.”
But another industry insider, while optimistic, suggested caution.
“Shia is chipping and it’s helpful to show that he can make movies and not get thrown out or scolded,” the insider said. “But it will take a while for studios to trust that 100 percent.”