Shia LaBeouf: "Suicidal" During 'Man Down'

LaBeouf says he was at a "low point" when he was offered the role.

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Shia LaBeouf’s Tupac tattoo, partying in South Dakota, and rapping in the woods, may have just been explained. LaBeouf spoke to The Hollywood Reporter at the Venice Film Festival about his latest film, Man Down, with friend Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints), and explained the emotionally taxing role of U.S. Marine Gabriel Drummer made him “suicidal.” It appears LaBeouf's previously mentioned behavior are signs that he's moved on and is celebrating his life instead.  

LaBeouf said playing Drummer, who gets discharged after a horrific event in Afghanistan gives him Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), left him:

“Suicidal. You try your hardest, you know? You jump onto some other train of thought, or some other passion, or fall in love with another creative process and sort of find yourself somewhere else.”

Despite this, Man Down couldn’t have come at a better time since LaBeouf says he was at a “really low place” in his life. And there was no one else who could’ve helped but Montiel, who calls LaBeouf “the greatest actor out there.” LaBeouf said, 

“This script landed on his [Montiel’s] lap at just the right time, and he came to my house when I was at a really low place and offered it to me like therapy, like, 'Here’s a healing process where we can jump into together and get well.’…It felt like we were going to grow up."

LaBeouf admitted this was his most difficult role ever emotionally, adding: “I needed a friend—otherwise, you can’t get this vulnerable.”

In Man Down LaBeouf’s Drummer gets help from a military psychiatrist (Gary Oldman) for his PTSD while also having to find and save his wife (Kate Mara) and his son in a post-apocalyptic U.S. once he returns home.

[via THR]

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