Cannes Doc Unmasks Shia LaBeouf's 'Monster' Behavior Inside His Acting School

Reviews are starting to trickle out of Cannes for Leo Lewis O’Neil’s documentary Slauson Rec, a late entry to the festival that chronicles the disturbing events inside an acting school run by Shia LaBeouf. Held at the Slauson Recreation Center in South Central Los Angeles, LaBeouf’s workshops took place on Saturdays from 2018 until they fizzled out during the pandemic. While the school may have been well-intentioned, early reviews suggest the documentary is just as much about LaBeouf’s personal unraveling during what was arguably the most tumultuous period of his life.

In 2018, LaBeouf put out a call for actors interested in joining an acting project he was launching at Slauson Rec. Leo Lewis O’Neil was one of the participants, and with LaBeouf’s blessing, he documented LaBeouf’s “methods.”

Over two and a half hours, O’Neil’s footage captures LaBeouf berating students, instigating a fistfight with a student who quit out of frustration, and wreaking emotional havoc that Variety describes as bordering “on the inhumane.”

“It’s an endless loop of rage and regret, which caused nearly 30 audience members to trickle out of the auditorium during the screening,” wrote Variety in its review.

Rolling Stone’s assessment was even harsher:

“Documenting how LaBeouf’s growing impatience with the group eventually led to biblical rage spirals, physical assaults, and some truly Grade-A asshole behavior, it paints a truly terrifying picture of its subject. Even if O’Neil signals this is a work of love for his old mentor, LaBeouf still comes off like a monster. Those who care to bask in the Shia-denfreude of seeing more evidence of his nastiness presented to the public will be in heaven. The rest of us are simply forced to watch between our fingers as the celebrity-driven car wrecks keep getting exponentially worse.”

Both reviews describe one particularly unsettling account of a young woman who was so afraid of being fired for missing rehearsals that she skipped time with her ailing mother. When she attended her mother’s funeral, LaBeouf fired her after running lines with another actor he deemed better.

The documentary also captures the atmosphere within the Slauson Rec Theater Company, which is described as having a “Kool-Aid-sipping cult” vibe. Despite the brutal meltdowns and emotional chaos, many of LaBeouf’s students remained devoted, buying into his vision of a “creative church” that aimed to break artistic boundaries, even as LaBeouf’s behavior grew more unpredictable and violent.

Not only did LaBeouf give O’Neil permission to make the documentary, but he also appeared at Cannes alongside him for its debut — LaBeouf’s first time seeing the film. In the film’s final moments, O’Neil visits LaBeouf for a sort of postmortem interview. LaBeouf calls his willingness to allow the documentary’s release “the ultimate virtue signal.” But LaBeouf also admits, as he chokes back tears, that he owes apologies. The doc received a two-minute standing ovation, which, to be honest, does not seem that impressive for Cannes.

Source: Rolling Stone, Variety