Shia LaBeouf's First Inteview About #AllMyMovies Is Full of Jaden-esque Gems

Shia opens up and the result is golden.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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A Shia LaBeouf interview is always going to be ripe with minable quotes and anecdotes. But wow, my man is really on a Jaden Smith or, dare I say, Kanye West level here. Just about every answer in this interview with Shia and his artistic collaborators Rönkkö and Turner with whom he staged the #AllMyMovies art installation/Shia's Films Festival/insomnia movie theater experiment with is golden.

To summarize, Shia goes into detail about his own loneliness and self-loathing and the ways in which #AllMyMovies helped him conquer those feelings, if even temporarily. There's also talk about the feelings of exclusion within the film world and the art world proper and how he and NewHive are working to break down those boundaries. There are also some interesting details about the way they approached the project overall, like picking the smallest theater on purpose and apparently turning away celebrities who asked to attend and skip the line. But the ways in which Shia (and at some points, Rönkkö and Turner as well) manifest these opinions is simply amazing. These are some of the highlights:

Shia, contextualizing the ways in which #AllMyMovies helped him love himself and feel loved, through ordering coffee:

[LaBeouf]: It’s as simple as this: I used to order my coffee and when they’d say, “Hey what’s your name?” I’d say James, because I didn’t want them to say my name.

On pizza, which can be art (true af fam):

[LaBeouf]: You’re not born an artist, or everyone is. You’re not born an actor, or everyone is. It’s about drive, a dedication level to this very specific thing. Roofers, pizza guys, anyone can be an artist. Anybody who’s great at anything. Making pizza can be an art.

On literally squirming in his seat during his "shit" movies such as Transformers 2, as a genuine, non-performance reaction:

LaBeouf: I think it started after Lawless. When the movies started getting shit. I’m telling you. When the movies started getting shit and they knew that I felt it too, it was the shared secret that we all had…not just because I’m in it…I’m in the same boat as you, I’m a viewer in this and this is hard for me to watch too. In fact, I’m gonna go take a nap ‘cause I hate myself, not ‘cause I’m tired, but because I’m dying right now. And nobody had a problem with that. When I woke up an hour later and watched

On choosing the smallest theater in the Angelika to heighten the communal experience, for good or bad:

LaBeouf: It amplified it being in a small room like that. Everyone in that theater could throw popcorn at me. See I thought it was going to be—

Shia, absolutely nailing why the streets love him in an instant-classic one-liner:

LaBeouf: The movie world is just as elitist. I get emails from people in the movie world, people telling me, “You gotta maintain mystery.”…but truth will always find its way out there. Sincerity is the new punk rock.

It damn sure is, Shia. Read the full interview here

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