Culturally Obsessed & Muse TV’s Jennifer Ortega attended the premiere for Honey Boy at Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood. The film is written and starring Shia LaBeouf. LaBeouf plays a character based on his father, and the title comes from his childhood nickname. The film is directed by Alma Har’el and stars Noah Jupe, Byron Bowers, FKA twigs and Lukas Hedges. Jennifer interviewed some of the cast and crew.
Actor, producer and now screenwriter Shia LaBeouf grew up in the public eye, becoming a seasoned performer by the time he was 10 and a bona fide television star at 14 on the hit Disney Channel sitcom “Even Stevens.” While still in his 20s, LaBeouf was one of Hollywood’s most sought-after young actors, with a resume that included the blockbuster Transformers action franchise, Nymphomania by auteur director Lars von Trier, and a chapter of Steven Spielberg’s legendary Indiana Jones saga.
But by 2017, his off-screen behavior had begun to overshadow his award-winning performances and LaBeouf seemed destined for a path faced by many child stars. Instead, a court-ordered stint in rehab put him back on track as one of the finest actors of his generation and as an exciting new scriptwriter. Ordered by a therapist to write about his troubled childhood, especially his fraught relationship with his father, whom he paid to chaperone him, LaBeouf wrote his first feature film, Honey Boy, an uncommonly intimate account of a father-son relationship steeped in misunderstanding, competition, trauma — and an indestructible love.
Honey Boy is equal parts autobiography, exorcism and finely honed storytelling. “The script grew out of a specific moment in my life,” LaBeouf says. “It’s not something I ever thought I would do, wanted to do or needed to do. But I was forced to confront my past and writing was an important part of my therapy.”
Inspired by the behind-the-scenes turmoil of his early days in television, LaBeouf provides insight into the source of his demons. “As an actor, everything you do is played out through other people’s ideas of who you are,” he explains. “They have no clue, especially when you are so young. It’s taken a really long time to get the perspective to look back on it, think about it and talk about it in a constructive way.”
Buy tickets at Atom Tickets: https://www.atomtickets.com/movies/honey-boy/286470
Honey Boy is in Theaters Nov. 8, 2019 Rated R
Directed by: Alma Har’el Written by: Shia LaBeouf Produced by: Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Anita Gou, Christopher Leggett, Alma Har’el Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Lucas Hedges Noah Jupe, Byron Bowers, and FKA twigs
