Shia LaBeouf didn’t knock out Tom Hardy, but the truth is even weirder. Since making his feature film debut in 1998 at the age of 12, LaBeouf has gone through what is arguably one of the strangest, yet most interesting transitions for an actor.
Having struggled with substance abuse issues as his career began to take off, the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull star has repeatedly been in the news. Unfortunately, many of the stories that have been filed about LaBeouf over the years have had more to do with his off camera behaviour than with his actual credibility as an actor. In early 2014, LaBeouf turned up at the Berlinale Film Festival premiere of director Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac wearing a paper bag on his head, scrawled with the phrase “I’m Not Famous Anymore”. The incident kicked off a bizarre performance art campaign in which the then 27-year-old star occupied a Los Angeles art gallery for six days with the bag over his head, crying silently for bemused spectators. In 2018, it was revealed that while filming 2012’s Lawless, LaBeouf knocked out Peaky Blinders star Tom Hardy during a scuffle.
At the time of the news being revealed about LaBeouf and Hardy, it seemed hard for many to believe that LaBeouf could take out someone the size of Hardy. The story has persisted, however - that is, until LaBeouf sat down as a guest on the YouTube series Hot Ones with Sean Evans. Over the course of the 30-minute interview, LaBeouf samples some truly spicy chicken wings, and reveals that Hardy fell down a flight of stairs while the two actors were wrestling, hurting his back but not knocking himself out. Oh yes - LaBeouf was also buck-naked at the time. You can check out the full interview below, with the wrestling story coming at the 17:40 mark:
According to LaBeouf, there were no ill feelings between himself and Hardy prior to the wrestling match. Rather, he and Hardy typically got into wrestling matches for fun and during this particular time in question, LaBeouf was with his girlfriend when Hardy burst into the room and kicked off an impromptu wrestling match. Calling the story of knocking out Hardy “a bunch of bulls***t”, LaBeouf further clarifies the tussle by explaining that Hardy had picked him up and that the battle gradually moved along until the actors were out in the hallway and Hardy accidentally fell down the stairs. From that point onward, said LaBeouf, Hardy told everyone on the set of Lawless that LaBeouf had knocked him out.
The story is certainly an amusing one, but it does also go to show how drastically the truth can be altered when it comes to celebrities. Exactly why Hardy told people that LaBeouf knocked him out is unknown, though it does seem as though he simply thought it a funny story to tell. Perhaps it even seemed better to admit to than having to tell people that he hurt his back while wrestling a naked man. One thing is for certain, however - this particular warped and blown out of proportion LaBeouf story makes for some decent food for though with regard to other rumours spread about the star over the years.
Source: Hot Ones