There are those YouTube videos that you stumble upon in the middle of the night and after which life isn’t the same. Because they’re so disturbing, because a video essay opens up completely new horizons, or simply because it’s so absurd that it feels like it’s from a completely different dimension. The live version of “Shia LaBeouf”, a song by singer Rob Cantor, is such a YouTube video.
Here the Transformers star of the same name, who crashed his career with personal gaffes and was consequently kicked out of the Indiana Jones franchise, is stylized as a horror icon: a Cannibal who goes manhunting at night. At the end, Shia Labeouf appears in person – and thus delivers the most absurd performance of his entire career.
What’s behind the cannibal video about Shia LaBeouf?
In the highly silly and dramatic song, Rob Cantor tells how the protagonist (we, Cantor addresses us directly as “you”) gets lost in the woods at night with a dead cell phone battery. Completely helpless, we meet Shia LaBeouf, who follows us on all fours. A fight for life and death breaks out. Includes bear traps, bloody leg stumps and – “Shia Surprise!” – Jiu-Jitsu.
Watch Rob Cantor’s Shia LaBeouf YouTube video here:
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According to a Washington Post article, Cantor came up with the idea for the song after a friend dramatically whispered the name “Shia LaBeouf.” From this he devised the cannibal story, because “The idea was just so funny that Shia LaBeouf, smeared with dried blood, terrorizing helpless victims in the dark forest“. The song first appeared in 2012 as audio only and went viral. Then, in 2014, Rob Cantor released a live video in which professional dancers, a string quartet and two (!) choirs perform the song on a stage.
Those responsible put four months into the preparation of the performance. The result are 3 minutes and 27 seconds of pure perfection. Or as one of the millions of people who viewed the video over the past 8 years put it in a recent YouTube comment: “This is still one of the masterpieces of our generation.”
Why Shia LaBeouf’s cannibal cameo is perfect
The actor appears several times in the video, albeit initially in the form of giant cardboard heads. The biggest surprise follows from minute 2:50, when the song ends and the camera pans towards the audience. There sits a lone man clapping enthusiastically and with mad eyes: Shia LaBeouf, the real one.
How did Rob Cantor pull this off? “I knew Shia knew the song, after all he tweeted it last Halloween”, the musician told MTV in 2014. So he just wrote an email. “Three days later, Shia’s manager came as a surprise. I was shocked and thrilled.”
In Honey Boy, Shia LaBeouf filmed his alleged youth:
Honey Boy – Trailer (German subtitles) HD
These 27 seconds, in which the actor applauds more and more frenetically, finally even gets up enthusiastically and then suddenly seems almost uncomfortably touched, as if he were only now aware of what he is outing himself as – all of this perfectly summarizes the external impact and the public discourse around LaBeouf together. As a Meta-comment on entirely real incidentswhich aren’t nearly as funny as Rob Cantor’s cannibal fantasy.
The actor makes statements with art projects, offends his colleagues during filming and repeatedly reveals very real shallows. His ex-partner, musician FKA Twigs, is suing LaBeouf for physical and emotional abuse, among other things.
So if you really meet Shia LaBeouf in the woods at night: better run away. Even if he’s (probably?) not an actual cannibal.
Also definitely worth seeing: The 23 best series of 2023
From the endless starting lists from Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and more, which titles have really been worthwhile so far this year? What insider tips did you discover? We have chosen the 23 best series from the first half of 2023 for you and present them to you in 2 (!) new stream browsing episodes. You can hear part 1 here:
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The following series highlights are included: 1923, Abbott Elementary, Arnold, Atlanta, Cunk on Earth, Daisy Jones and The Six, Silo, Ted Lasso, The Night Agent and Yellowjackets.
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