The 10 Weirdest Things That Shia LaBeouf Has Ever Done

You might know Shia LaBeouf from those Michael Bay robot movies (admit it, you’ve seen them), or some of the other countless big Hollywood blockbusters he’s been in. And there’s no shame in that, he’s a fantastic actor. The guy’s got a lot of talent, it’s just a matter of how he chooses to use it. LaBeouf has been circling major news outlets quite a bit over the past year or so, but most of the time, it has had nothing to do with the movie industry. Without a doubt, actors and actresses are always a little peculiar and distinctive, that goes without saying. But still, in case you hadn’t already noticed, the year 2014 has been a very, very strange one for dear Shia. The actor seems to keep getting himself into odd situations, and each time we think it can't get any weirder, it does. That's not to say we don't still love him, but his behaviour is certainly erratic. So, on that note, here are 10 of the weirdest things that Shia LaBeouf has ever done. 10) Plagiarism Accusations This, ladies and gentlemen, is the chain of events that started it all. The embryo, if you will. At the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, Shia premiered his directorial debut, Howard Cantour.com. Surprisingly enough, the short film received a large volume of critical acclaim, with reviewers praising the 11-minute presentation and heavily encouraging the actor to continue trying things out behind the camera. That’s great, right? Well, at the end of 2013 - when the film finally surfaced online - people started to realize that it showed an odd resemblance to Justin M. Damiano, a comic by author Daniel Clowes. And we’re not talking about a little inspiration here. No no. Instead, it turned out to be a precise, blatant replica. Like, the dialogue was the exact same. Word for word. So yeah, the short turned out to be an obvious film adaptation of the comic. The only problem, though, is that the two artists had not made any type of deal with one another. Luckily, being the gentleman that he is, Shia quickly went on social media to make things right. Which leads us to the next part of this list… 9) Twitter Activity Following the whole plagiarism encounter, Shia used Twitter to publicly apologize for the so called mess he had made. He stated that he wasn’t trying to copy Clowes, but instead was inspired by him and along the way “got lost in the creative process.” Well, okay, it was an honest mistake. That could happen to anyone. Understandable, right? Plus, it was nice enough that he apologized and made everything better. But then he apologized again. And again. And again. And again... The apologizes kept on coming, with no end in sight. And then it turned out that even his apology was copied from a Yahoo! Answers post. A little weird, yes… taking in consideration that one “I’m sorry” would have been enough. Continuing the whole thing even further, Shia openly posted the cease and desist letter he got from Clowes’ lawyer on his Twitter page. And at this point, literally no one knew what was going on inside his head anymore. 8) Trying To Start A Fight With A Stranger Outside A NYC Strip Club In July 2014, about a week before his Broadway outburst (more on that later), Shia was caught on video outside of a NYC strip club trying to start a fight with someone. Shia is no stranger to a good ol’ fistcuffs, but the weird thing about this particular event is the location and that the man he was trying to get in a brawl with was a total stranger. Seriously, he was just someone passing by. Now, I can definitely imagine getting agitated by a wasted self-proclaimed-tough-guy on a Saturday night, but imagine that you’re casually walking along the sidewalk and suddenly out of a nearby titty bar jumps Sam Witwicky, trying to get you to hit him in the face. I have to admit that I would be at least a little bit baffled by the sight, wouldn't you? 7) Stare Down A Motorcyclist In Traffic This might’ve taken place in the past and be entirely unconnected to the other events on this list, but it’s definitely weird nonetheless. In mid-2013, a Californian motorcyclist was in for a surprise (to say the least) when a black pickup truck pulled up next to his bike. Standing at the red light, the biker turned his head right to see the one and only Shia LaBeouf menacingly staring straight into his eyes. Straight into his soul. Luckily, he managed to take off before any serious internal damage was done. The biker later posted the footage from his helmet cam to YouTube, and the video is now standing at over 7 million views. He then made another video shining a little more light as to why Shia had been so taken by him. But no one can really know that, can they? 6) Audition For Nymphomaniac Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac was undoubtedly a strange occurrence just on its own. Definitely a bit too weird for me, but then again, it made decent money at the box office and earned solid reviews, so there was definitely an audience for it. What I can’t understand though is Shia's audition for the film. For those who don't know, apparently the actor took pictures of his equipment and recorded himself having sex with his girlfriend, and then sent them to Lars. And presto -- the role was his. Or maybe I’m just not fully aware of how Hollywood really works? 5) Wearing A Paper Bag Over His Head At The Nymphomaniac Premiere The first time we saw Shia wearing his now-infamous “I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE” paper bag over his head was on the red carpet at the Berlin Film Festival, where he was premiering the aforementioned Nymphomaniac. This came as a shock to everyone, exceeding even Lady Gaga's weird attire choices. Why did Shia put a bag over his head, exactly? I honestly have no idea. But it was enough the make news headlines around the word. So that’s a win, I guess? The act was not just limited to the costume, either. When an interviewer tried to ask Shia about it, the actor simply answered, “I’m a bag. Ask me a bag question.” Now that’s what I would call method acting. Speaking of which.... 4) Antics On The Set Of Fury After Nymphomaniac and fresh off the plagiarism ordeal, the next movie on Shia’s list was David Ayer’s World War II film Fury. The flick hit theatres this month and so far, reviews are fairly positive. The production, however, was not all fun and games. Apparently, Shia had refused to shower for weeks so he could “get into character,” subsequently becoming resented by the rest of the crew. He was warned about his behaviour by Ayer and even Pitt, but didn’t seem to care. Instead, he drove everyone on the set mad by trying “desperately to prove that he was the most dedicated actor out there.” Eventually, he was moved to an entirely different hotel because of how badly he smelt. Also, he single-handedly yanked out his own tooth on the set. So there's that, too. 3) Outburst At Cabaret Just a couple of months ago, Shia decided to attend the musical Cabaret at Studio 54 in Broadway. That’s nice, I guess. A little culture. A little art. It could be good for him, right? Wrong. Clearly intoxicated, Shia was smoking in the crowd, yelling profanities at the performers as well as fellow audience members and even slapped a few people. When security eventually came to confront him, he took it all a step forward and created a scene by screaming at them. All at the performance of Cabaret… Next, he was escorted out and subsequently arrested. And when he was released the next morning, he was just a big mess. His shirt was torn, he looked numb, so and so on. In fact, to me it looked like he might’ve been copying sad Keanu. Poor sad Keanu… 2) #IAmSorry Art Exhibit Now we’re beginning to get to the really, really, really weird stuff. Following the plagiarism events, Shia held his own art gallery in downtown LA. The aptly named #IAmSorry exhibit was open to anyone who wished to check it out, and boy oh boy was it strange. One at a time, the visitors stepped into the actual showcase room where Shia was sitting at a table, dressed in a tuxedo, with the familiar paper bag over his head. And that’s basically it: he just sat there, not saying a word. Some of the visitors - who were brave enough - actually removed the bag from his head to make sure it was really him. And it was. To make things even more weird, he appeared to be crying. Seriously, we're not kidding. 1) Chasing A Homeless Man Around New York Now it’s just getting to the point of being ridiculous… Hours before the whole Studio 54 occurrence, Shia was spotted on the streets of New York City chasing a homeless man up and down the sidewalks. And what might possibly the reason for this? Well, Shia seemed to believe that the man had his hat. Shia ran after the fleeing homeless man for a good distance, trying to get “his” hat back. Also, he was constantly screaming stuff like “don’t worry, it’s me, Shia!” to him, as if the two were best buddies. As crazy as this all sounds, imagine seeing it from the homeless man’s perspective: you’re just minding your own business, when suddenly an A-list Hollywood superstar appears and chases after you, trying to steal your precious old hat. Honestly, I'm not even going to try to figure this one out.