Shia Labeouf: The End of the Line?

"I think what Steven [Spielberg] really likes about Shia is his endearing quality...he calls it a Tom Hanks quality, where he's this great actor an you want to root for him."  These are the words of director D. J. Caruso, who directed Shia in the movie Disturbia.  Admittedly a good movie, made more so by Mr. Labeouf.  He was being quoted in an August 2007 Vanity Fair article.  

So what happened?  Are we witnessing a detour on Shia's way to a Tom Hanks renaissance or instead a car crash (not his first, mind you).  With his recent Daniel Clowes plagiarism scandal and related tweeting/sky-writing incidents, odd music videos and nymphomaniac movies,  and now his planned show to humiliate himself (too late), we are a long way from Tom Hanks and more into River Phoenix territory before the final fall.  We are certainly a good distance from his Disney TV days, though not all Disney brats need to burn up along the way.  Justin Timberlake seems to do just fine.

It appears the Terminator, Wall Street, and Indiana Jones days are behind him, though I hope he can get out of this funk.  I can only hope he is in the territory of River's brother, Joaquin, who purposely took a detour with a series of stunts but eventually returned to us. 

Shia is currently working with Brad Pitt and Logan Lerman on Fury, a World War II movie to be released later this year.  I was hoping this would bring him back to some normalcy, but the news stories leaking out from production are somewhat disturbing.  It appears Shia pulled out a tooth and refused to shower for weeks so he could feel closer to a World War II soldier (not that our soldiers were toothless, of course).   London's The Guardian reported:

According to the Mail on Sunday's "source", LaBeouf's behaviour proved so unpopular among cast members, which include Brad Pitt, Jason Isaacs and Logan Lerman, that he was installed in a bed and breakfast away from them. "Shia was warned about his behaviour by several people on set, including Brad Pitt and director David Ayer," the MoS confided. 

Some other parts of the 2007 Vanity Fair article struck me as I watch Shia's latest performance.  For example, he claimed that he did an X-rated comedy routine during his first interview with a talent agency, whereas the agent said he really read a scene from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  This same agent later said, "Let me tell you about Shia...I absolutely adore him, [but he] never let the truth get in the way of a good story."  He apparently still lives by that credo. 

Update:  James Franco tried to put all of this into perspective in a New York Time's editorial titled "Why Actors Act Out," noting:
 
Though the wisdom of some of his actions may seem questionable, as an actor and artist I’m inclined to take an empathetic view of his conduct...As an actor, you are often in the uncomfortable position of being the most visible part of a project while having the least amount of say over its final form...Mr. LaBeouf has been acting since he was a child, and often an actor’s need to tear down the public creation that constrains him occurs during the transition from young man to adult. I think Mr. LaBeouf’s project, if it is a project, is a worthy one. I just hope that he is careful not to use up all the good will he has gained as an actor in order to show us that he is an artist.