Shia LaBeouf’s Exit From Press Conference and “I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE” Stunt Causes a Stir in Berlin

Shia LaBeouf has been in the spotlight from a young age, my earliest memory of him being in Even Stevens and being quite a quirky child star. Yet it seems that recently he has taken an interest in ‘performance art’ claiming that his recent antics were all a stunt. However yesterday we saw Shia LaBeouf’s abrupt exit at Berlin Press Conference for Nymphomaniac.

He recently issued an apology for plagiarising work from Daniel Clowes, a comic book creator. LaBeouf posted his latest directed film HowardCantour.com online last December, where it reached audiences including Clowes. He noticed certain similarities between the film and his book Justin M. Damiano. Clowes stated; “I was shocked, to say the least, when I saw that he took the script and even many of the visuals from a very personal story I did six or seven years ago and passed it off as his own work. I actually can’t imagine what was going through his mind.”

Strangely LaBeouf actually used apologies from other famous people on Twitter, including Russell Crowe, Mark Zuckerberg and Alec Baldwin as Perez Hilton’s site notes. He has also been in the news for various other reasons recently including “the , being offended by Jim Carrey’s joke, hiring a skywriter not once but twice, announcing his retirement”

The actor announced a month ago today on that “In light of the recent attacks against my artistic integrity, I am retiring from all public life.” Shia was in the news in early January regarding his method acting whilst filming war drama, Fury, with Brad Pitt.

A source stated that; “Shia was warned about his behavior by several people on set, including Brad Pitt and director David Ayer…He didn’t heed any of their warnings…Shia drove everyone mad on set trying to prove that he was the most dedicated star…He pulled out his own tooth during the first few weeks of filming and then refused to shower for weeks on end so he could better understand how his character would have felt living in the trenches.”

LaBeouf has tweeted almost daily the phrase “I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE” since January 13th. The actor made has today made headlines after he abruptly left a press conference yesterday for Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac Vol I, in which he stars. Apparently LaBeouf quoted Eric Cantona and said “When the seagulls follow the trawler it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.” He later attended the premiere of the film at the Berlin Film Festival. He walked down the red carpet wearing a brown paper bag over his head, with the phrase ‘I am not famous anymore’ written on it. Watch his exit from the conference below.

According to the BBC LaBeouf had left the conference after being asked about taking part in the film’s very explicit sex scenes. On the matter newcomer and lead actress Stacy Martin commented “It’s just Lars. He creates conversations and debates, and it can be uncomfortable talking about them, but it’s important. Our sexuality is important so why deny it?… The sex scenes are part of the film, and I love Lars and I trust him, so I trusted the scenes. You just have to have fun with it, I guess, if you’re going to be in a film called Nymphomaniac.”

LaBeouf had previously tweeted that he was engaging in performance art, in a project created with Kenneth Goldsmith, Luke Turner and director David Ayer. He explained in tweets, which have now been deleted that; “Performance art has been a way of appealing directly to a large public, as well as shocking audiences into reassessing their own notions of art and its relation to culture. My twitter ‘@thecampaignbook’ is meta-modernist performance art. A Performative redress which is all a public apology really is.” He also wrote “All art is either plagiarism or revolution & to be revolutionary in art today, is to be reactionary. In the midst of being embroiled in acts of intended plagiarism, the world caught me & I reacted. The show began. I became completely absorbed, oblivious to things around me.”

Nymphomaniac Volume I will be released on the 22nd of the month in the UK as will Volume II. Fury will be released on October 24th.