Shia LaBeouf’s “Honey Boy,” which he wrote and stars in, is out in theaters today and is based on his own early experiences in Hollywood and his relationship with his father.

Directed by Alma Har’el, the 2019 movie “brings to life a young actor's stormy childhood and early adult years as he struggles to reconcile with his father and deal with his mental health,” according to the synopsis. “Fictionalizing his ascent to stardom, and subsequent crash-landing into rehab and recovery, Har'el casts Noah Jupe and Lucas Hedges as Otis Lort, navigating different stages in a frenetic career. LaBeouf takes on the therapeutic challenge of playing a version of his own father, an ex-rodeo clown and a felon.”

While speaking with Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show earlier this week, LaBeouf opened up about “Honey Boy” being based on a true story — his story — and about what stage in his life it focuses on.

“It’s a chunk of my life when I was doing a show called ‘Even Stevens,’ and my dad was coming to set with me, and it’s based around this chunk of time when we were living in a motel by the Fox Hills Mall and going to work, and that’s what the movie was about.”

honey boy shia LaBeouf
Shia LaBeouf in “Honey Boy.” Amazon Studios

In May 2018, while speaking with International Business Times about the 15th anniversary of “The Even Stevens Movie,” LaBeouf’s former co-star, Christy Carlson Romano, explained how it’s easy for child stars to get lost in the limelight if they don’t have the right support systems in place. While she said she was lucky in that department, the same couldn’t necessarily be said for LaBeouf.

“Even my co-star Shia had a mental trauma after he, you know — I mean, he was abused while he was on the set, by his father,” Romano told IBT. “And, not to mention, his father was — I guess he was on probation for some sort of assault, and he was 20 feet from me, every day of my life, and I didn’t even know that. I don’t know if that was great to have around your 16-year-old daughter. I mean, I’m sure if mine would have known that, he’s passed away since, but, he would’ve been really, really upset.”

She continued: “The producers knew that he was on probation. They agreed to some sort of a program, from what I’ve read, that he would be there and be [LaBeouf’s] sort of, I don’t know, guardian or something. And I had no idea about any of this. Let me tell you, a lot makes more sense. After reading it, there’s a lot of things that equal up now that didn’t equal up back then. And you just kind of write it off ‘cause you’re like, ‘Well, it’s the entertainment industry, everything’s crazy around sets.’ But then you’re like, ‘Wait a minute, no, that makes sense now.’”

To learn more about LaBeouf’s childhood, his relationship with his father and his earlier experiences with acting, fans can check out “Honey Boy,” which is now in theaters.

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