Actor Shia LaBeouf is grabbing headlines for his performance alongside 12-year-old Dance Moms star Maddie Ziegler in a new music video for Australian singer Sia’s new single “Elastic Heart.”
In the video, which made its debut Wednesday, the duo is covered in dirt and wearing flesh-colored underwear, held inside a large cage in the middle of a warehouse. They battle it out through interpretative dance that sees them share both aggressive and tender moments.
Ziegler eventually finds her way out of the entrapment, leaving the eccentric LaBeouf, bearded and covered in tattoos, alone on the other side. Defeated by the escape of the young girl, he desperately motions for her until coming to rest on his knees.
After passively observing her much older co-star, Ziegler’s character attempts to teach LaBeouf to escape from captivity; however, he is unable to fit through the bars of the cage. The video, which is heavy in its use of underlying literary devices, then ends abruptly with LaBeouf desperately grasping at the girl during nearly a minute of complete silence.
A version of the single is also featured on the soundtrack of the 2013 film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.