Photo: Automatik/Amazon/Sony/Kobal/Shutterstock
Shia LaBeoufadmits to taking some creative liberties with his supposedly autobiographical opus.
The Emmy Award winner, 36, said the depiction of his fatherJeffrey Craig LaBeoufas abusive in 2019’sHoney Boywas “f—ing nonsense” as he opened up about making amends with the people he’s wronged on an episode of pal Jon Bernthal’sReal Onespodcast.
“Here’s a man who I’ve done vilified on a grand scale,” LaBeouf said afterplaying a version of his own dadin the movie, in which the character was named James Lort.
LaBeouf wrote the screenplay forHoney Boyduring a previous in-treatment program. The star recently revealed that he’s627 days soberafterseeking treatment againin 2020, followingallegations of abusefrom his exFKA Twigs, whom hebegan datingafter starring together in the film.
“I wrote this narrative, which was just f—ing nonsense. My dad was so loving to me my whole life. Fractured, sure. Crooked, sure. Wonky, for sure. But never was not loving, never was not there,” LaBeouf said. “He was always there … and I’d done a world press tour about how f—ed he was as a man.”
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“Honey Boyis basically a big ‘woe is me’ story about how f—ed my father is, and I wronged him. I remember getting on the phone with him, and him being like, ‘I never read this stuff in the script you sent.’ Because I didn’t put that s— in there,” he explained.
LaBeouf said he was “bull—ing” his dad to get his permission to make the film, “just trying to get him to sign this piece of paper,” adding: “I turned the knob up on certain s— that wasn’t real.”
“My dad never hit me, never,” LaBeouf admitted. “He spanked me once, one time. And the story that gets painted inHoney Boyis, this dude is abusing his kid all the time.”
Alma Har’El and Shia LaBeouf.Rachel Luna/FilmMagic
The Disney Channel alum explained that the only time his dad spanked him was when he was caught smoking as a kid. “But that wasn’t my narrative, because it didn’t position me as this wounded, fractured child that you could root for, which is what I was using him for,” he said.
LaBeouf continued: “So, when I got on the phone with him, I took accountability for all of that and knew very clearly that I couldn’t take it back, and my dad was gonna live with this certain narrative about him on a public scale for a very long time, probably the rest of his life.”
RELATED VIDEO: Shia LaBeouf Talks How ‘Honey Boy’ Was Created and How He Transformed in to the Role of His Dad for the Film
LaBeouf previously opened up abouthis parents' reaction to the filmduring an interview withThe Hollywood Reporter, explaining that they were “happy with my reaction to it.”
“Yeah, my mother, my dad, they’ve seen it,” LaBeouf said in 2019. “It was tough for them to watch it. But I think also, they can have distance with it as well. I mean they really, more than they care about this movie s—, they care about their kid, you know?”
source: people.com
