14 DAY TRIAL // The internet is abuzz with the news that Shia LaBeouf's directorial debut, “Howard Cantour.com” is shamelessly plagiarizing a graphic novel by comic artist Dan Clowes.
The short film illustrates the internal struggles of a veteran film critic but, during its 12 minutes manages to be very similar in dialogue and also in plot with the Dan Clowes graphic novel “Justin M. Damiano.”
Dan Clowes told BuzzFeed: “The first I ever heard of the film was this morning when someone sent me a link. I’ve never spoken to or met Mr. LaBeouf. I’ve never even seen one of his films that I can recall — and I was shocked, to say the least, when I saw that he took the script and even many of the visuals from a very personal story I did six or seven years ago and passed it off as his own work. I actually can’t imagine what was going through his mind.”
As the outrage from fans and people in the industry reached alarming rates, first-time director Shia LaBeouf took to Twitter for a formal apology, saying, “In my excitement and naiveté as an amateur filmmaker, I got lost in the creative process and neglected to follow proper accreditation.”