Shia LaBeouf hasn't evolved into the big Hollywood star that most people assumed he would be a few years ago. There was a time when he had a $700 million-plus grossing movie coming out almost every year - Transformers in 2007, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in 2009, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon in 2011.
But now, we don't get to see Shia in such mega-blockbusters, and not even in many low-budget hits. However, there were chances of seeing the 30-year-old actor this year in a superhero movie which is likely to cross the $700 million milestone by the end of its box office run. Yes, he almost appeared in last month's Suicide Squad!
That's what Shia LaBeouf himself has revealed to Variety. While speaking to the magazine, he claims that it was the movie's director David Ayer who approached him for a role. What was the role? Well, it was the one that his Fury co-star Scott Eastwood ended up playing, Navy SEAL member GQ Edwards.
According to Shia, the character wasn't the same in the initial stages. After they had added Will Smith to play Deadshot in Suicide Squad, things changed to a certain extent. The actor says:
The character was different initially. Then Will [Smith] came in, and the script changed a bit. That character and Tom [Hardy's] character [later played by Joel Kinnaman] got written down to build Will up.
Scott Eastwood's character hardly had any significance in Suicide Squad, but Shia LaBeouf doesn't seem to be the one who had problems with that! It appears that he was still interested, as he claims it was the studio that stood in his way. According to the actor:
I don't think Warner Bros. wanted me. I went in to meet, and they were like, “Nah, you're crazy. You're a good actor, but not this one.” It was a big investment for them.
Should WB have just let Shia do Suicide Squad? (GIF via Giphy)
