Shia LaBeouf gets biographical in first Honey Boy trailer

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Based on his own childhood relationship with his father, the Shia LaBeouf scripted HONEY BOY dives deeply into the personal life and struggles of a young Shia LaBeouf, er, Otis Lort. Amazon Studios have released the first trailer for HONEY BOY, and the results look quite impressive, with the lead actors getting to sink their teeth into some potentially meaty material. Noah Jupe (A QUIET PLACE) and Lucas Hedges (BOY ERASED) star as Otis Lort, with Shia LaBeouf playing a version of his own father, an ex-rodeo clown and a felon. The Alma Har'el directed drama also stars FKA twigs, Maika Monroe, Natasha Lyonne, and Martin Starr.

Our own Chris Bumbray reviewed HONEY BOY when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, calling it a "pretty bold piece of self-analysis." Bumbray had plenty of praise for the leading actors, but added that the project "may be a touch too self-reflexive to really connect [with audiences] in a big way," although it does help to put Shia LaBeouf back on the map.

The official synopsis for HONEY BOY:

From a screenplay by Shia LaBeouf, based on his own experiences, award-winning filmmaker Alma Har'el (Bombay Beach, LoveTrue) brings to life a young actor's stormy childhood and early adult years as he struggles to reconcile with his father and deal with his mental health. Fictionalizing his ascent to stardom, and subsequent crash-landing into rehab and recovery, Har'el casts Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place) and Lucas Hedges (Boy Erased, Manchester by the Sea) as Otis Lort, navigating different stages in a frenetic career. LaBeouf takes on the therapeutic challenge of playing a version of his own father, an ex-rodeo clown and a felon. Dancer-singer FKA twigs makes her feature-film debut, playing neighbor and kindred spirit to the younger Otis in their garden-court motel home. Har'el's feature narrative debut is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between filmmaker and subject, exploring art as medicine and imagination as hope through the life and times of a talented, traumatized performer who dares to go in search of himself.

HONEY BOY is slated for a November 8, 2019 release.