Shia LaBoeuf Q&A

With Bobby, Transformers and A Guide To Recognising Your Saints, you’re having a good year…
It’s five movies this year. I’m blessed that I’m working, but… Yeah, man. I’m kind of exhausted. I can’t wait to get the fuck out of here and go on vacation to tell you the truth!

What was it like acting with so many great stars in Bobby?
Bobby was like a circus. It was a crazy, crazy situation. We were surrounded by great actors – it’s like playing in the all-star game. You wouldn’t want to be anywhere else as an actor. When you see Hopkins on set, you know you’re making a sick movie. When people feel like they’re making a sick movie, sick movies get made. I swear to God.

Did Anthony Hopkins impress you the most?
He’s probably the one I spoke to the least. Because he’s a legend, you know? You don’t really talk to that person about his favourite football team or, ‘What d’you eat last night for dinner?’ You just don’t go up to Hopkins and ask him stupid fucking questions. You got to prepare that, you know? You’re gonna have Hopkins thinking about that for, like, three days. So I spoke to him the least because I just didn’t have enough days to prepare my questions.

Who else did you rate?
Christian Slater’s probably got my favourite role in the whole movie. He really surprised me - I didn’t expect him to be so good. He’s really open: one minute he’s talking to you, the next minute he’s the biggest asshole you’ve ever met in your life. And that’s fun to watch. He likes pulling people’s triggers, you know.

Your character goes on an LSD trip at one point. What was it like shooting that?
That scene was a 7-8 hour day of ab-libbing. Just going off… You know, one minute you’re crying, the next minute you’re laughing, then you’re naked, then you’re not naked. Most of my scenes were that way, whereas a lot of the other stuff was scripted. It was fun.

With five movies this year, is it tough bouncing from character to character?
You forget who you are. There’s a lot of shit that goes into creating roles – even Transformers. I’ve never worked harder on anything in my life.

How does Michael Bay compare to Emilio Estevez?
Emilio was never going to let Bobby be bad – he loved what he was doing. But I don’t know if Emilio could direct Transformers. Emilio has his opinions, but they’re shifting. You can talk him out of his opinion depending on whether your opinion means more or if it’s more correct. He’s open to it.

What about Bay?
Michael is just as attached to his films. He’s a tough-ass and he’s hard. Nobody knows action like Michael. Fact. He lives and breathes it. It’s not opinion-based. Emotion’s not the most important aspect in his film. He can’t cater to actors. He hasn’t got the time. He needs to be able to shout at the actors like they’re just another crewmember. We turn up ready to go to war…