After coming off of relatively strong reviews for the most recent installment in Michael Bay’s Transformers movies, Shia LaBeouf indicated that he’s not up for another sequel. LeBeouf commented to MTV News saying, “I just don’t think right now there’s anywhere to take Sam”. Sam Witwicky of course is the main character that happens upon a special car that he later discovers is a transformer, and develops an intimate relationship with the “Auto-bot” in the first movie. His statement suggests an artistic reason for not continuing the story of Sam Witwicky because he’s hit a character arc plateau. LeBeouf grew up while working with Michael Bay, and has continued to support the explosive-happy director despite some of the negative reviews that have plagued his career.
With that being said, Michael Bay is notoriously opinionated and controlling on set, and Mr. LeBeouf is growing up into a very strong-willed actor who is very serious, and almost Tom Cruise-like with his intensity about his craft. In a recent appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, LeBeouf was cordially coerced into admitting having differences with Michael Bay on set. After Letterman’s consistent pushing, you could tell LeBeouf had gone through a number of skirmishes with Bay. LeBeouf certainly doesn’t want to say he’ll never work with Michael Bay again just in case Bay gets the job to do the next Indiana Jones remake, or perhaps a Wall Street sequel with alien robots attacking the New York stock exchange, but it’s my opinion that LeBeouf may want to take a healthy and extended break from Bay’s directorial style.
Shia LeBeouf’s next move is most likely going to be…well whatever he pleases I would guess. For the second year in a row, Forbes Magazine said that LeBeouf earned the most “bang for the buck” than any other star in Hollywood. For my money, I would bet on studios considering that