MANILA, Philippines - Shia LaBeouf burst upon the scene and has quickly become a sought-after actor. Shia is back with director Michael Bay in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
How is it to be back on the set of Transformers after the success of the first film?
It’s fun for us. It’s like a five-month Prom Night. We are all excited that people are excited. For me it is the biggest success that I have ever experienced and I am a fortunate and blessed human being to be here and to see the Pyramids. It is awesome. It is the most physically taxing thing that I have ever done in my life but we are happy to have jobs, especially with the economy and where the business is at. It is a blessing.
How did your life change after the success of Transformers?
If I had more recreation time I would be able to step back and reflect on how life has changed. But it has been like a constant... boom, boom, boom, boom, boom! So I have not really had the reflection moment so I don’t think that it has not really changed that much. Mike still screams at me, like he did in the first one.
What has happened with your character?
Sam has saved the world and once you have done that, you become very famous very quickly. But Sam never wanted to be that guy; he was sort of pushed into a situation. He was this neurotic kid who was forced into it because of his lineage. Now he is trying to live a normal life and go to school and he is maintaining a long distance relationship with the woman he loves and he is trying to maintain a friendship with something that is not human. So he is dealing with all those things and trying to maintain some semblance of normality and sanity in an insane situation. Then he gets called on once again. He starts getting visions and he is losing all thread and fiber of sanity, he is losing his mind completely and he is on the run. That is sort of where he starts.
When you were making the first movie did you expect to be here three years later?
We knew we would make another one and we knew how cool the first one was, we got to watch footage all the time. But we did not think we would be here in Cairo. Mike had an idea of going to one of the wonders of the world. Plus in the interim I was not really thinking about Transformers. I was on the Indy set, standing next to Harrison Ford so where we would next be shooting Transformers was last on my thoughts.
Do you have any leisure time?
Yeah. I like to go skeet shooting and I like dirt bikes and motorcycles. Like a normal guy I like watching TV. But I have no time to do that. But I am 22 and I am supposed to be a workhorse right now. I don’t want to be 40 and working at this pace. Harrison (Ford) has taught me a lot. You are supposed to work when you get work, especially now where we are at in the business.