Shia LaBeouf is the most underrated artist of our generation. Yes, I said artist because Shia LaBeouf is so much more than an actor. And besides, Robert Pattinson is the most underrated actor of our generation – but I’ll save that for now.
Shia is finally getting his flowers for acting following his performances in The Peanut Butter Falcon and Honey Boy. And of course we all cherish young Shia’s performances in Even Stevens and Holes. So that’s why I want to remove Shia’s acting from this discussion and just delve into why this man has ascended to artistic genius.
In my opinion, there are a few core values that are necessary to being a true artist: Willingness To Experiment, Indifference To Other’s Opinions, And Full Expression Of One’s Self. Shia hits on these three areas unlike anyone else.
Willingness To Experiment
Following his days as a leading man for Hollywood blockbusters such as Transformers and Indiana Jones, many thought Shia fell off. But to me, this is when Shia truly started to express himself in a meaningful way.
During this time Shia partook in a series of public experiments pointed at himself and the idea of celebrity from #IAMNOTFAMOUSANYMORE, where he retired from public life and wore a bag over his head to an awards show, to #IAMSORRY, where he allowed strangers to enter a room with him and do or say anything they wanted to him. He also engaged in public displays that aired on the lighter side, from livestreaming himself watching all of his own movies in reverse order, to inviting strangers to converse with him while he spent 24 hours in an elevator.
Many thought Shia had lost his mind during this time. Many wrote him off as looney. Shia was not crazy. He was just experimenting. But like all great artists, he was misunderstood.
Going All In
A second critical piece of becoming a true artist is the willingness to take the breaks off of your inhibitions. The complete absorption into any role or project you take on. Not many artists are as dedicated as Shia. He completely fed off of his internal trauma to churn out his performance in Honey Boy and he went as far as getting a full chest tattoo for his upcoming role in The Tax Collector. But a true artist doesn’t just go all out for their big roles. A true artist applies the same mentality to even the smallest and most insignificant roles. This was abundantly clear as Shia reprised the role of Jeff Spicoli during a celebrity zoom table reading of “Fast Times At Ridgemont High” that was put on for charity. During the performance, the other A-list actors read their lines from the script in front of them while Shia completely embodied the role, getting high out of his mind and never breaking character. This may sound facetious, but this was one of the most honest performances I’ve ever seen and it was essentially over FaceTime.
Express Yourself To The Fullest
Finally, it’s important to talk about one’s ability to fully express themselves. When someone gets famous for something, they get put in a box. Whether it’s being an actor, or a singer, or a painter. That’s what you are. But what I often find true of real artists is that one art form cannot entirely fulfill their need to express. That’s why Shia’s emotional performance in Sia’s music video for her song “Elastic Heart” is truly one of my favorite performances of his to date. It’s completely gritty and vulnerable and you forget that he’s the goofy kid from Even Stevens. The first time I watched it I was in awe. He’s just an actor right? Wrong. The way he moves his body in this video is in complete service to the art and it further proves that he’s not just an actor or just a dancer. He’s a person who expresses emotion and meaning regardless of the art form.
Okay, maybe this got a bit more serious than I intended. Holes still slaps.
