Shia LaBeouf has really stepped up his game since the plagiarism scandal in December…if the game involves chasing the rabbit down the hole! His behaviour is suggestive of many things but being sane is not one of them. LaBeouf’s problems started after releasing a short film “HowardCantour.com”. The “Nymphomaniac” actor is accused of being a copycat for allegedly ripping off Daniel Clowes’ comic “Justin M. Damiano” without crediting the artist. Many scenes in the comic and the film are nearly identical, even the narration. To make matters worse, LaBeouf sent his apologies to clear his name somehow, only to find that his apology is identical to a Yahoo! Answers post on the subject of plagiarism posted in 2010.
Image courtesy of Variety.com
There is a bit more on the plagiarism scandal but I think the paper bag on the Red Carpet is evidence that it escalated. Since the scandal, LaBeouf announced his retirement from the movie industry because his creative work has been under scrutiny. He did however denounce his retirement and claim that his antics and outbursts is considered “performance art.” I suppose this is the default answer for the remainder of this article, who knows?
At the press conference of Lars von Trier’s “Nymphomaniac” on Sunday, February 9, LaBeouf managed to pull out all the stops to raise eyebrows. He answered only one question using someone else’s quote, probably another antic aimed at his plagiarism scandal. The “Transformers” star was asked about doing a movie with so many sex scenes. He answered:
“When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you very much.”
This is a quote from French soccer legend Eric Cantona at a press conference for “Looking for Eric”, after winning his appeal against a two-week prison sentence for kicking an abusive footballer spectator in the chest. LaBeouf made a swift exit after 10 minutes, leaving the rest of the panelists to pick up the pieces. Christian Slater, Uma Thurman, Stellan Skarsgard, Stacy Martin and producer Louise Vesth was part of the panel. Slater awkwardly joked about the incident saying:
“Obviously, the script is packed with a lot of sardines …one sardine after another,”
An hour later LaBeouf made his way down the red carpet walk of “Nymphomaniac” sporting a brown paper bag which read:
“I am not famous anymore.”
Additional sources: mtv.com, variety.com
