Posts Tagged ‘Shia LaBeouf’
40 items.
The full theatrical trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon is almost good enough to make me forget that ridiculous title.
Almost.
I gotta give credit to whoever cut this trailer. It actually makes me excited to see the movie. It hits all the right beats and does a good job of making me feel like something is actually at stake. They certainly aren’t trying to play the cutesy-clever card like they did with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Watch the full trailer for that one, if you don’t believe me.
Boy, Shia LaBeouf sure likes to shout “OPTIMUS!” a lot, doesn’t he?
What’s your reaction to these two trailers?
[ 13 Comments ]
You may have heard by now that our favorite scruffy weasel Shia LaBeouf gave an interview to Details Magazine where he essentially bragged about banging Megan Fox on set while working with her on the first two Transformers movies.
If you missed it, here’s the key information:
Asked if he hooked up with Fox, LaBeouf nods affirmatively. “Look, you’re on the set for six months, with someone who’s rooting to be attracted to you, and you’re rooting to be attracted to them,” he explains. “I never understood the separation of work and life in that situation. But the time I spent with Megan was our own thing, and I think you can see the chemistry onscreen.”
When I inquire about Fox’s status at the time with her longtime boyfriend, Brian Austin Green, LaBeouf replies, “I don’t know, man. I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. . . .”—repeating the phrase exactly 12 times with various intonations, as if trying to get it just right. Finally, he says, “It was what it was.”
Now, if you know me, you know that I am not a fan of Shia LaBeouf. Basically, I am of the mind that he has been parading around Hollywood for the last few years in his Big Boy pants trying to prove to anyone and everyone what a badass he is. Bragging that you nailed Megan Fox in a trailer somewhere on Paramount back lot basically lines up with this.
If that doesn’t jive with your interpretation of Shia LaBeouf, then sample this quote from the same article:
…there’s an upside to posing for the occasional mug shot. “I’ve noticed that since this ‘wild child’ s— has been posted on my head,” he says, “people seem a little more respectful.”
Mmm-hmm. We’re all fawning over how dangerous you are, you little imp!
Here’s the thing: I never really bought LaBeouf’s tough guy act and I’m certainly not buying it now. But I think I’m starting to understand it a little bit more. Especially his pathological need to “tell it like it is” in interviews.
Think about this guy’s career in the last 5 years. Between Transformers, Indiana Jones and Wall Street, he’s basically acting in movies where he’s the least interesting thing in them. He’s a cipher. No one wants to talk to him about his performance. People want to ask him what it’s like working with Harrison Ford, Oliver Stone, Michael Douglas or Michael Bay.
So what do you do? You start talkin’ smack. Why? Because it gets you headlines. People start talking about you again. You can the crazy nonsense you’re spouting. Watch cable news. Politicans pull this move ALL THE TIME.
Some people like to give LaBeouf credit for being honest. I like to call these people “self-hating movie fans.” They’re basically mad that they got duped into putting down good money for a lousy movie and cheer up only when someone behind the scenes pulls the curtain back to agree with them about how awful it was. It makes them feel validated. Meanwhile, the guy doing the “truth telling” gets to look like a hero.
But here’s the thing: It doesn’t take a lot of intestinal fortitude to say Transformers 2 sucked or Indiana Jones 4 sucked or Wall Street 2 sucked TWO YEARS AFTER THE FACT. You know, after your promotional obligations are over, after the critical and fan response has been factored in or after your paycheck has cleared.
My question is, “Would LaBeouf still be doing all this ‘truth-telling’ if fan reaction to those movies had been positive?” My guess is “probably not.”
Someone with integrity might look at the final cut of a bad movie they starred in and say “You know, this isn’t very good. I’m not comfortable promoting it.” Someone with discerning taste might look at a script and say “This is not for me. I should be doing movies with more substance.”
LaBeouf is not that guy. In the Details article he talks about how he passed on recent Oscar winners like The Social Network and 127 Hours.
He does talk about how he’s trying to be more choosy and is looking for roles that are “Warren Beatty—type game changers.” He also says he’s done with action movies. Apparently it creates “animosity from men.”
“They feel like they want to challenge me,” Labeouf shares. “‘I just f—ed up Shia LaBeouf!’ It’s a story you can tell, and I guess you’re cool for it.”
Which I guess kind of explains the Megan Fox bragging. Like that’s suddenly going to make him look cool to men he feels animosity from. Meanwhile, he’s shooting himself in the foot by alienating the only fanbase I’ve ever seen stick up for him – young women. I can’t imagine bragging about the women you’ve slept with will endear you to… y’know… women.
Shia LaBeouf is basically the Mark Hamill of Generation Y. A smarmy kid who stumbled upward into a giant franchise and got into a car accident at the apex of his appeal. Except, unlike Hamill, LaBeouf wreck just mashed up his hand and not his face. So that bought him a few more years.
He’s still got a heaping spoonful of humility coming his way. I’m looking forward to the next 20 years of his obscurity.
[ 15 Comments ]
Okay, so it’s been a little more than two weeks since I updated. That’s really bad. But let me explain how it happened.
Basically, I got thrown for a loop by the 4th of July holiday last week. Didn’t really plan in advance and was exhausted after all the family activities and whatnot. That’s why there was no comic last Monday.
I thought I would be able to compensate and post a comic later in the week, but late-night work commitments pretty much drained me of my energy reserves in the evenings last week to the point that I was going to be early, completely wiped out.
I hoped to get back on track over the weekend, but I was once again laid low – this time by crippling illness. Fevers of 103, chills, vertigo, migraines, back pain, night sweats, fever dreams. I don’t know what I picked up, but whatever it was certainly took advantage of my weakened state. I was pretty much out of commission from Friday night until… well, I’m still not 100% at the moment.
I went to a walk-in clinic on Saturday. They couldn’t confirm if I had a viral or bacterial infection. But they put me on antibiotics anyway. Then I went home and slept for 16 hours. It was tortured sleep, that much I can say – punctuated by thunderstorms, which made it all the more exhausting.
So, yeah. Last week? Not a great week.
I will also admit to a certain lack of confidence in this comic’s punchline. Frankly, the comic doesn’t stand very well on it’s own unless you know Jared’s long and sorted history with Shia LaBeouf.
I’ll also admit to a little bit of selfishness. I thought if I could extend the Shia-hate for a week, I could run this ad (or actually, a variation of that ad) on a few web sites to help draw eyeballs to the site. I have no doubt it would have worked. I just had way too much on my plate last week and prioritized things very, very poorly.
But you know what? I’m not going to beat myself up about it anymore. I was already sick with some kind of infection and started to make myself even sicker with guilt. I just have to dust myself off, say “sorry” and move on. Next week, bigger and better things await, right?
Hey, it can’t all be Chaucer.
[ 14 Comments ]
TMZ posted footage of actor Shia LaBeouf getting knocked to the ground by some hairy, shirtless dude outside of a bar in Vancouver. Although, truthfully, most of the video is of LaBeouf getting talked down by his bros before he decides to engage in any more fisticuffs.
Shia’s looks pretty drunk in the video. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen someone who has had a few too many try to clumsily extract themselves from the grasp of a friend who is trying to keep them from getting their head caved in. If that’s the case, it makes it a little difficult to cheer for the comeuppance I feel he’s due for. Make it a fair fight, at least.
That said, the wave of schadenfreude that took over Twitter when the news broke pretty much reflects what I believe is the general consensus – “People don’t like Shia LaBeouf.”
This coupled with the news that LaBeouf won’t be back for the next two Transformers sequels they’re filming back-to-back (Jason Statham is rumored to be the replacement), it’s been a pretty interesting week in Shia-related news.
[ 5 Comments ]
As you may have noticed, I’ve advanced the timeline of the story by four months. If you remember, it was January when this whole thing started. People were wearing coats! Time to bring everything up to speed.
What happened in those missing 4 months? Not much. Jimmy and Charlie went on a few dates. Tom and Cami caught up on Mad Men using Netflix streaming. I think Truman found a bone, or something? Trust me, you didn’t miss much.
I knew I had to advance the timeline to accommodate the inevitable comics I’ll be doing about The Avengers. But there was an ancillary experience I had at C2E2 in Chicago a couple of weeks ago that inspired today’s comic and, well… here’s the story.
So, after driving all morning, I pulled into the McCormick Center pretty much right as the doors were opening to the public at 1:00 PM. That made load-in a little stressful, but I got set up fairly quickly.
After getting settled, meeting a few fans and drawing a few sketches, word started getting back to me that no other than Shia LaBeouf was at the convention!
This isn’t a huge deal. Celebrities come to conventions all the time. He was probably speaking on a panel or something, right?
WRONG. He’s was in Artist Alley. Apparently he was there to promote a comic that he had worked on.
Everyone I talked to about Shia’s appearance that afternoon had the same initial reaction that I did. “Bullsh*t!” So I scoured Twitter for confirmation and specifics.
It didn’t take long before people confirmed that Shia was in attendance. Several people had tweeted photos they had taken with him. An opportunity had presented itself. I had to go meet him. But where WAS he?
Eventually I learned that he was in Artist Alley, table O22.
For some perspective, I was at table O2.
You know that scene from When A Stranger Calls when the police office tells the babysitter “The calls are coming from inside the house!” Yeah. It felt like that.
So I knew it was now or never. I had to get a picture with the guy. Readers of this comic know my feelings about Shia LaBeouf, if I punk out now, I’d never live it down. So I start walking down the aisle.
As I approach the end of the aisle, I see a huge line near the tables. I immediately assume it was for Shia, but quickly realize that George Pérez was at the table right next to him doing commissioned sketches and the line was for him.
And if you don’t know who George Pérez is, then I strongly recommend you read more comics.
Anyway, no one was in line to see Shia, so I walked right up to him to say hello.
“Hi, there,” I said. “I don’t mean to bother you, but I was wondering if I could get a quick picture with you?”
LaBeouf was more than gracious. “Sure!” he said. As I leaned back over the table to get in the shot with him, he put out his hand and said “Bring it in here,” to go for the bro shake. And that’s why I look a little more awkward than usual in this photo…
I know it’s a little blurry and I know that Shia’s face is obscured a little bit by his hat a little bit, but that’s him.
It was over pretty quickly. I thanked him for his time, shook his hand and told him to have a good show. In retrospect, I probably should have bought one of his books, but I seriously didn’t have a game plan before walking up to the guy. I knew if I thought about it for too long, I’d lose my nerve. So I swooped in there to get my photo trophy and swooped out.
Back at my table, panic started to settle in a little bit because I realized that my banner was promoting some mild anti-Shia sentiment on it…
I wouldn’t have thought twice about it except that he was in the SAME ROW that I was. What if he walked by it and saw it? What if he approached me about it and commented on it. He’s punched people for less, you know!
I tweeted my concerns about the banner and several of my follower suggested that I take it down to him and have him sign it.
While I can’t deny that would have been unbelievably cool, I couldn’t envision a scenario where I could approach the guy and NOT come off like a complete jerk.
“Excuse me, Mr. LaBeouf? Yeah, I just got my picture taken with you – No, I didn’t buy one of your comics – and I’m exhibiting just up the aisle from you a little way. I was wondering if you would sign my banner? Y’see, my comic is about movies and I regularly make comics about how much I think you suck. Oh! You drew a penis on my main character’s forehead! Ha, ha, ha! Delightful! Thank you very much for your time, Mr. LaBeouf.”
So, no. I didn’t get Shia LaBeouf to sign my banner. I thought it best to let sleeping dogs lie.
For the rest of the weekend, people kept talking to me about Shia LaBeouf. Often I would take out my phone and show them the picture I took with him. Incidentally, I heard from someone who was standing in line to speak with him a story about another con-goer that asked him to draw a sketch of Megan Fox naked. LaBeouf gave him a dirty look and slapped together a quick stick figure before telling him to take off. I actually thought that was kind of cool.
I guess he was only there on Friday and didn’t come back Saturday or Sunday. But, honestly, could you expect him to?
So… what do we do with this experience?
I’ve taken lots of shots at LaBeouf over the years. Mostly it was for fun. After I decided Jared didn’t hate Ben Affleck anymore, the comic needed a new straw man and LaBeouf was an easy target.
Did I ever truly hate LaBeouf? No, I can’t say that I ever gave him that much thought. But a lot of other people really seemed to hate him and I felt like I kind of taped into that. But – and here’s what everyone gets wrong – it’s not how I really felt about the guy. I took my moderate dislike of him as an actor and amplified it for the sake of the comic. After that, it became it’s own thing. Was it exploitative? Sure. Do I regret it? Well, yeah. I do.
It’s easy to forget that these actors are people. We build them up and we tear them down. We do it because it’s fun. I’m guilty of it and I’ve also been victim to it. It’s just how things are.
But I have to give LaBeouf credit for showing up to promote his comic on Artist Alley the way he did. He didn’t use his celebrity to pull strings or get preferential treatment. He met with fans, put in the time and promoted his book just like anyone else. I can’t fault him for that.
Are his comics any good? Critical consensus says “No.” But I don’t think that accounts for much. Have you ever been to an Artist Alley at a large comic book convention? It’s just like anything else. You’ll see some amazing stuff and you’ll see some real crap. Shia’s comics maybe aren’t my cuppa tea, but I’ve seen worse. MUCH worse. And those guys NEVER get reviewed. So let’s keep it in perspective.
As for Theater Hopper… well you saw how that played out in the comic.
Everything about this last arc is about evolving the characters – even if it’s only by a fraction – so that when it’s all said and done, you know that everyone is “okay.”
It didn’t seem fair to me to advance Charlie and Jimmy’s relationship or put Tom and Cami on the path to parenthood without giving Jared the opportunity to grow a little as well.
Even if “Movie Jumpers” looks totally lame.
Anyway, that’s where we are today and that’s my Shia LaBeouf story. I seriously can’t believe I’m leaving comics behind. Because I sure as hell wouldn’t have a story like that to tell without ’em.
Keep checking the site. I’ve got Avengers comics comic up soon…
…and the return of CARDBOARD IRON MAN.
[ 9 Comments ]
I was remiss for not posting this along with my original blog entry. One of my Facebook followers shared it with me two weeks ago.
Of course, since then, Tumblr got its mitts into it and ran it into the ground. But maybe you haven’t heard it yet! You should really give it a listen. It’s appropriately related to this week’s comic.
[ 2 Comments ]
Some people were genuinely bummed out when the learned that Jared had moved on from his Shia-hate in Monday’s comic. That’s understandable. Hating ridiculous things can be fun sometimes.
I was fully prepared to leave it alone, though. Chalking it up to a slight push forward in Jared’s progression as a character.
And then, well… someone suggested Taylor Lautner as a replacement and I couldn’t resist.
Don’t get your hopes up too high. I’m not certain anything will actually come of it. But maybe the takeaway is that a tiger doesn’t change its stripes and perhaps Jared is permanently destined to arbitrarily hate a specific actor for the rest of his life?
That sounds kind of bleak. Let’s just say Taylor Lautner sucks and leave it at that.
Oh, and if you were at all confused by the title of today’s comic, please enjoy the following meme…
[ 4 Comments ]
Jul03
GUEST STRIP – DAVID BUIST
July 3rd, 2012 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(5 votes, average: 10.00 out of 10)
In my 10 years of producing this comic, I have been very fortunate to have friends like David Buist.
David, in addition to producing his excellent comic Taking the Bypass, was INSTRUMENTAL in creating content management features for Theater Hopper that carried it through some of its most prosperous years.
So imagine my extreme pleasure to receive this guest strip from David in my inbox. I was really touched. And he did an EXCELLENT job of capturing the spirit of the “real life Tom” punchlines I’ve done from time to time.
David produced a guest strip for me once before in 2007. But if you want to get a sense of what his work is REALLY like, then I strongly encourage you to visit Taking the Bypass, going back to the very first comic and reading everything he has to offer. You won’t be disappointed.
David’s a great friend and I really appreciate his contribution.
Thanks, David!
[ 3 Comments ]
Jul16
GUEST STRIP – NEIL BRYER
July 16th, 2012 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(3 votes, average: 8.67 out of 10)
Remember last week when I was all, “I’m gonna turn up the heat on producin’ these them thar comics and it’s gonna be awesome!”
Then remember when I didn’t do it?
Thank goodness for Neil Bryer’s excellent guest strip. I think he really hit it out of the park with this one. Not only did he throw in a great callback to the dream sequence punchlines I use from time to time, but he made it as sweet and heartfelt as all get out.
I think what I love most about the comic is that Truman makes an appearance in the fourth panel. Good to know he’ll still be with us in the future…
I’ve had the good fortune to meet Neil a couple of times while attending conventions in Chicago. He’s always very cool and polite. We talk shop for a little while and then he always let’s me get back to selling. Never intrusive. Always plays it just right.
Neil has a comic of his own called Wombat Comic that I encourage all of you to check out. It’s obvious to me that Neil put a lot of thought into his guest strip and I think you guys should reward him for that with a few clicks, don’t you?
Need proof that Neil put a lot of thought into his comic, check out his commentary, which he included with the image file he sent to me!
I’ve known Tom and “Theater Hopper for a few years now. I was late to the show, sure, but I quickly became a fan and jumped on each new strip as they were posted. So when Tom announced a few months ago that he was ending the strip, it of course made me sad. I mean…it’s one less webcomic for me to compete with, so sure, I wasn’t too sad…but still. You know? Anyway, when Tom said he was accepting submissions for guest strips, I knew I had to jump on this. It took me a while to come up with a concept that fit both the current storyline and stayed true to the tone of the strip overall, but hopefully I’ve managed to do just that. So without further ado, I present “The Dream”.
Panel 1: Why does Jared have a beard?…and a wife?…AND KIDS? Oh, it must be some time in the future. That would also explain why Tom has a receding hair line, a bit of a gut, and looks just generally worn out. I imagine this is taking place about 10 years out from where we are right now.
Panel 2: Henry and Pearl are the names of Tom’s real life children. I figured since the characters in the strip are based on Tom and his wife, then his kids should also be based on reality. I asked Tom if it was cool to include their names and he said it was alright.
Panel 3: In 2016, right on the heels of the highly successful “Jones 5: The Adventures of Mutt”, Shia was tapped to play Atticus Finch in a remake of the classic film “To Kill a Mockingbird”. To the surprise of everyone, this instantly became Jared’s favorite movie. Also, in the future, movies are shown on little metal cubes (Actually, the cube is just the player. The files are stored on tiny crystals, but they’re so small that they often get lost when you try to transport them, so most people just bring the whole player along with them when they go anywhere).
Panel 4: Why the heck did I put so many characters in this story?! By the time I was done drawing in the kids, my hand was ready to fall off.
Panel 5: The reveal, it was all just a dream. I guess Tom is more ready to start a family than even he realized. And, of course, who hasn’t had the Scarlett Johansson “initiation” dream?
Panel 6: Cami has good reason for the look of concern on her face…I mean, better than the Scarlett Johansson dream? Her mind reels with the possibilities.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this flight of fancy of mine. It was fun to play in someone else’s sandbox for a bit, but I should get back to work on my own comic (http://www.wombatcomic.com (shameless self promotion)). Pleasant dreams!
-Neil Bryer
Thanks, Neil. I loved this comic!
Incidentally, I think I figured out a simple solution to the content problem I’ve been experiencing lately.
Certainly there’s a bit of foot-dragging going on at a subconscious level. I don’t want the comic to end! But, also, I’m making the production of the comic MUCH harder than I need to.
I have it in my head that if I’m going out, I want to go out with a bang. So I’m trying to make each comic as good as possible before I post it – and it’s causing delays.
Then I remember something one of my art teachers told me: “Stop fussing with it.” Sometimes, you just gotta let these things go, you know?
The thought occurred to me when I was putting together this week’s comic. In an effort to give you “more,” I was setting myself up for an 8 panel comic. Then I realized, “This could easily be split into two comics.” Problem solved! I work faster, suffer less burn out and you get two comics this week instead of one.
So that’s the goal. Be on the lookout for two comics this week starting tomorrow. Thanks again for your patience as I cross the finish line with the comic.
See you soon!
[ No Comments ]
Dec27
GUEST STRIP – JESSE GUIHER
December 27th, 2012 |- Comics »
- Comics »
- Guest Strip
(4 votes, average: 10.00 out of 10)
I know that the comic is ending in less than a week and maybe now seems like an odd time to share some fan art. But, c’mon. Did you look at that thing up there? I HAD to share it.
The above piece of art comes from Jesse Guiher. You can learn more about him at his web site – Tiger Tail Art.
Jesse actually wrote me a few months ago asking me about some of my favorite movies. Bi-polar as I am, I remember suggesting both Vertigo and Anchorman. Little did I know that inquiry would result in this piece of fantastic art!
I don’t know if there’s more that I can say about it other than I am very appreciative to have fans like Jesse who pour their heart and their talent into pieces like this.
Jesse was very complimentary to me in his e-mail. “I am sorry to see Theater Hopper going away, it was one of a handful of comic sites that influenced me to try my own hand at starting a comic on the web after sending countless submissions to syndicates over the years,” he said.
My reaction to that kind of praise is to almost shy away from it. I’ve had people over the years tell me I’ve been an influence to them – which I appreciate – but I’ve never doubted for a second that these talented individuals couldn’t have made their dreams real on their own.
But then you look at a piece like this and it’s kind of hard to ignore.
And I am humbled further.
Thanks, Jesse. And thanks to all of the fans that have kept me humble over the years. Cheers.
[ 1 Comment ]
