Lucas Hedges cast as Shia LaBeouf in Shia LaBeouf biopic

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Shia LaBeouf’s career has been a roller coaster ride of blockbuster hits, indie flicks, WTF moments, and performance art pieces. The last few years have been a surreal experience for anyone watching his career from the outside, especially now as news broke that LaBeouf has co-written and will star in a biopic about his own life. LaBeouf will not be playing himself, however, and that honor will be going to Oscar-nominee Lucas Hedges.

The biopic is called HONEY BOY, and per Variety, the story is about “a child star attempting to mend his relationship with his law-breaking, alcohol-abusing father over the course of a decade.” Hedges will play the actor in his younger days, and LaBeouf will play his own father in the movie. LaBeouf co-wrote the movie under the pseudonym Otis Lort (per THR), and the movie is being directed by Alma Har’el (the documentary BOMBAY BEACH).

Playing his own father in a movie about himself may sound like a meta, arthouse, undoubtedly strange way to go about doing the movie, but this is hardly the most “out there” thing he has done. This comes after LaBeouf screened a marathon of all the movies he’s been in, with himself in attendance, as well as numerous performance art pieces. One of them, #TAKEMEANYWHERE, involved him being picked up by strangers and being taken, well, anywhere.

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Hedges is an upcoming talent who rose to fame in the movie MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, for which he earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He made a second trip to the Oscars this year, this time part of the casts for Best Picture-nominated THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI and LADY BIRD. No doubt, playing LaBeouf will be his crowning achievement forever and always. 

LaBeouf has been going all out when it comes to artistic projects, but on the movie front, he’s been doing some noticeably great work. He’s received acclaim for movies like FURY, AMERICAN HONEY, and BORG/MCENROE, with critics praising his boldness and nuance. Perhaps playing his father will prove a genius movie, allowing him to explore a tough part of his life from a different perspective.