Accredited method actor Shia LeBeouf, who once claimed that his life was one extended art project, reportedly took a knife to his face on the set of Fury to ensure that his battle wounds looked more realistic.
His co-star in the World War II flick, Logan Lerman, claimed the eccentric Hollywood actor wasn’t content with the work of his makeup artists, so he took matters into his own hands.
“They [makeup artists] were putting cuts on Shia and I said, ‘Yeah, yeah, it looks good,'” Lerman explained. “And Shia was like ‘No, it doesn’t look real’… He walks out into the hallway and says, ‘Hey man, wanna see something fun? Check this out…’ and he takes out a knife and cuts his face… For the whole movie he kept opening these cuts on his face. That’s all real.”
Lerman confirmed that LaBeouf hired a dentist to extract one of his teeth for the role of World War II soldier Boyd ‘Bible’ Swan. He tweeted a picture last May with the caption:
“When you get a role to sink your teeth into–Do it #Fury”
The fully committed actor reportedly didn’t shower for four weeks, became an expert at operating the tank, and barely left the set.
“He really spent every moment on set,” said Lerman. “He’s the guy operating the turret in every shot, even when you don’t need to be in there as an actor. You know, you can have somebody else inside. But he was there, for every shot.”
Brad Pitt recently praised LaBeouf for his dedication to Fury, which hits the big screen on Oct. 19, and hailed him as one of the best actors he’s worked with.
While filming Nymphomaniac in 2012, LaBeouf was eager to put his method acting skills to use when he told director Lars Von Trier that he would do “whatever is asked” during the explicit sex scenes.
He showed up to the film’s premiere in February wearing a brown paper bag over his head displaying the words “I’m not famous anymore.”
Shia LaBeouf has seemingly come a long way since his start on Disney’s Even Stevens, and his extreme on-and-off set antics have yet to negatively impact his progressive career in Hollywood.