Shia LaBeouf recently opened up about his intense approach to method acting, which left co-star Jon Bernthal completely taken aback.
At the time, the 38-year-old Transformers star had just been let go from a play with Alec Baldwin when Brad Pitt reached out, asking if he’d be interested in joining him for a WWII drama.
The film, called Fury, directed by David Ayer, was released in 2014. It follows the story of US Army Staff Sergeant Don ‘Wardaddy’ Collier (played by Pitt), who leads a team operating a Sherman tank on a high-stakes mission deep behind enemy lines in Nazi Germany.
The crew includes characters like Boyd ‘Bible’ Swan (portrayed by LaBeouf), Grady Travis (played by Bernthal), and Trini ‘Gordo’ Garcia (brought to life by Michael Peña).
The film showcases the crew’s struggle to retain their humanity while facing the grim realities of war.
As for what happened off-camera, LaBeouf’s dedication to his role led to some pretty wild experiences, according to Bernthal.
During an interview shared by Talent Agency Guide, LaBeouf recalled: “And then we’re in this makeup trailer getting ready to do this movie and I just made friends with all these armours, and we’re like putting fake mud on our faces and like it just feels like ‘oh man, like this can’t be it you know’.”
“So I see Brad Pit in the mirror and I’m thinking like ‘how do I motivate my boys,’ you know, ‘how do we make this more, how do we get further?'”
Unwilling to use fake mud or staged effects, he took things further by cutting his own face with a knife, wanting to show Pitt just how committed he was.
“I wanted more and we had already fallen in love at that point, like really bonded, and so I’m like rubbing blood on my face, partly for the character, but also partly like [to] motivate the troops, you know.”
“And then I’m like, I went and kissed him on the face, and that wasn’t enough, they kind of laugh at me like I’m an idiot. And they think it’s like ridiculous.”
Not stopping there, LaBeouf even pulled out one of his bottom teeth with a pair of pliers to fully embody the role.
“And then I went to the grip department, I got some pliers and I ripped my tooth out and spit blood all over the mirror and everybody’s like ‘oh this is f**king crazy’,” he said.
“And if I wasn’t around a bunch of people who loved me, I might have gotten fired, you know, but what it did to us was, it like it’s game time.”
In an effort to keep things as real as possible, LaBeouf claimed that the cast then avoided the make-up trailer for the rest of the shoot, choosing instead to stay gritty and authentic.
