14 DAY TRIAL // One of the hottest releases of this fall, and according to industry insiders, a worthy Oscar contender, is the David Ayer-directed war drama “Fury,” with Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf as leads. According to Logan Lerman, who also appears in the movie, Shia went fully Method while on the set of the movie.
So the rumors were at least partially true. Last year, when the movie was still shooting in London, word had it that Brad didn’t want to hang out with his younger co-star Shia because he thought he was taking his Method acting a bit too far, refusing to wash in between takes, change out of his clothes, or act as if the war had been over for decades.
Lerman says things got even more serious than that.
Real injuries, not movie makeup
And they got even bloodier too. Speaking with the publication (quotes via Contact Music), Lerman says that Shia is such a perfectionist that he even cut his own face because he didn’t find movie makeup convincing enough.
Now that says a lot about dedication.
“We were in make-up and they were putting cuts on Shia and I said, ‘Yeah, yeah, it looks good.’ And Shia was like, ‘No, it doesn't look real.’ Then he walks out into the hallway and says, ‘Hey man, wanna see something fun? Check this out...’ and he takes out a knife and cuts his face. And for the whole movie he kept opening these cuts on his face. That's all real,” Lerman explains.
If you’ve been keeping up with LaBeouf gossip for the past couple of years, this isn’t that hard to believe: it sounds like something he would do and say, and not necessarily because he’s Method. He has a reputation for doing unnecessary and mostly stupid stuff because it’s fun – and occasionally because it’s “art” too.
Putting in extra hours even when he wasn’t needed
Even if Shia cut his own face because he thought that’d be “fun,” he also did something for which he deserves due credit: he made such an effort to become the character he was playing that he actually spent time on set when he wasn’t supposed to be there.
His co-star says he learned to control the tank and was in the turret driving it even when his character didn’t get any screentime, so he could have easily had someone else do it for him. So, instead of relaxing in his trailer / hotel room or doing whatever else he wanted, Shia hung around to drive the tank for scenes in which his character didn’t show up, thus putting in a lot of extra hours.
If you think that there still are actors out there who refuse to show up on time or do their job without causing a diva scene, Shia’s gesture becomes even more commendable. Seriously now.
As a bonus, Lerman reveals that Shia also had one healthy tooth removed by a dentist, because his character had a tooth missing. This is confirmed if you scroll though the actor’s twitter feed, and he even posted a photo hinting he was missing a tooth. You will find it embedded below, right before the official “Fury” trailer.
WHEN YOU GET A ROLE TO SINK YOUR TEETH INTO - DO IT #FURY pic.twitter.com/EgBTDSh76N
— Shia LaBeouf (@thecampaignbook) May 30, 2013
