Shia LaBeouf assaults his own acting students in new documentary
Shia LaBeouf, the American actor, stars in a documentary at the Cannes Film Festival in which he appears to physically assault his own acting students.
LaBeouf, best known for his roles in Indiana Jones and Transformers, has a controversial reputation for his alleged abuse of past romantic partners.
He is currently facing a lawsuit filed by singer and former girlfriend, FKA Twigs, who has accused him of 'relentless abuse'.
LaBeouf has now attended Cannes for the premiere of a documentary that appears to capture him bullying and manhandling young acting students.
His attendance on the Riviera comes after the event organiser pledged to stamp out the threat of abuse at the festival.
The documentary is titled Slauson Rec, and follows LaBeouf's leadership of acting masterclasses held at Slauson Recreation Centre in Los Angeles between 2018 and late 2020.
The film appears to show LaBeouf, now 38, berating his young students as he tries to have them stage an avant-garde play he dashed off in a matter of weeks.
LaBeouf is shown grabbing one student violently enough to leave a scratch on his ribs and armpit, and in another incident he is shown pushing an actor against a wall for failing to giggle correctly.
He is also shown frequently screaming at his students, and publicly sacking an aspiring actress whose mother has just died.
The documentary by filmmaker Leo Lewis O'Neil featured at Cannes, where LaBeouf discussed his own personality issues.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter at a screening of the film, he said he was 'disgusted' by his own behaviour. He added that he had 'one horrible s--- in the past that I'm going to have to make amends for the rest of my life'.
LaBeouf faces a scheduled trial following the lawsuit filed by Twigs in September.
When Twigs first brought her lawsuit, LaBeouf's legal team said the star denied 'each and every allegation' against him.
These include waking her up by choking, grabbing her hard enough to cause bruising, and at one stage threatening to crash a car he was driving unless she said she loved him.
A former child actor, LaBeouf became an international star at the age of 20 following his starring role in the 2007 film Transformers.
He became known for bizarre stunts, including walking the Cannes red carpet with a paper bag on his head, spending 24 hours in a lift as part of a performance art piece, and copying the words of other celebrities during interviews.
He has been arrested several times, including at a New York's Studio 54 in 2014, and in 2017 after subjecting police to a drunken rant, which he called 'a new low'.
The star recently sought to change course with the help of religion.
In 2023, LaBeouf embarked on a 'spiritual journey', converting to Catholicism after working on a film about Padre Pio, the Italian stigmata sufferer and holy man.
Friars in the US who prepared the star for the role of Pio announced the news, and claimed that the actor also wished to become a deacon, a role intended to assist parish priests.
A statement released by the Capuchin Friars of the Western America Province said: 'We are thrilled to share that our dear friend Shia LaBeouf has fully entered the Church this past weekend through the sacrament of confirmation.'
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