It’s a decent film, nowhere close to a masterpiece, but the stories of the making of David Ayer’s WWII tank drama “Fury” are nearly legendary. Ayer put his cast, including Brad Pitt, through a rigorous boot camp; they all took it very, very seriously, bonded, and seemingly all started acting the part of tough guy soldiers in real life when cameras weren’t even rolling. One of them, Shia LaBeouf, went way too far in that regard, giving himself a real-life scar on his face with a knife while on set in front of his castmates and then later, pulled out a tooth because he thought his character would be missing one if he was real (on top of various other shenanigans).
It’s evident in interviews like this new one on “Fury” co-star Jon Bernthal’s podcast Real Ones featuring David Ayer that all the actors who worked on this film are brothers for life (though Scott Eastwood, maybe not so much; Pitt nearly got into a fight with him on set). And Pitt called LaBeouf “one of the best actors” he’s ever worked with. LaBeouf’s commitment to the part clearly impressed his entire cast, including Bernthal, but he was often just going way over the line.
In a conversation about “Suicide Squad,” Ayer’s 2016 superhero film that was notoriously taken away from him, mangled in the edit, and converted into a comedy against his wishes, Bernthal recalled an early story during the “Fury” press tour when Ayer—who was apparently on top of the world after the film—was meeting with dozens of A-list stars for potential parts in ‘Suicide Squad.’ And during one of those meetings, LaBeouf inappropriately went off.
“I remember being in some fancy room in some fancy-ass f*cking hotel, and you were meeting—I can’t probably fucking talk about it—you were meeting like a very famous actor and horribly unlucky to you guys, you got seated next to me and Shia, meeting about ‘Suicide Squad,’” he said, building up to his story.
“And Shia got up,” he continued. “He was like, ‘What the fuck, G?’ ‘Why are you doing this fucking movie, fuck you [gesturing at the star] for even wanting to be in this movie. You’re throwing it away, bro, don’t even do it.”
“Sigh…Ayer said, visibly annoyed in remembering the story, but because of his poor experience, he said, “Shoulda listened to him.”
Bernthal is still friends with LaBeouf, taking heat several months back for having him on his podcast during the allegations of emotional and psychological abuse the actor faced a few years back about his relationship with FKA Twigs. But clearly, he was appalled by the way his friend was acting.
“I remember being like, ‘Shia, dude, what are f*ckin’ [doing?],’ he recalled. “Because for me at that point, it was like anyone who said anything bad about you meant like I would kick their [ass]—but it was like Shia— and I was like, ‘what are you doing, bro?’”
The conversation then pivoted back to the heartbreak of losing creative control of ‘Suicide Squad’ and still having to make and finish it, which we’ve covered, but it’s fascinating to hear just how wild LaBeouf was at the time. Though, given LaBeouf was reportedly not showering for months on set, and the cast was fist fighting every day as one of Ayer’s strange bonding exercises, maybe nothing was off the table.
