LWLies: Tell us about your new movie…
LaBeouf: Well, I play Jerry Shaw who is an underachiever in an over-achieving family. He’s the black sheep and he isolates himself by moving away from his family to Chicago. He’s a grifter who works at a coffee store. He’s definitely not the poster boy for any kind of saviour; he’s just getting by until his brother – who works for the government – dies and this whole story kicks off for him. He’s framed for something he didn’t do and he’s arrested and taken to jail.
Monaghan: And me? I play a single mother who has an eight-year-old son. Jerry and my character, Rachel, come together under some pretty stressful circumstances…
LWLies: What happens?
LaBeouf: We meet each other as possible enemies. I think Rachel is the woman who’s bringing all this demise into my life and Rachel thinks I’m the person who’s taken her son. There’s a mysterious woman who has the power to control all of our technology – she can get through to any cell phone, she can change traffic lights and she can alter virtual billboards. She is the person who forces our two unsuspecting characters into a deadly conspiracy. By the time we figure out who this woman is, we realise it’s an assassination plot that only we have the power to stop.
LWLies: How do your characters meet?
LaBeouf: The mysterious woman tells my character to jump into Rachel’s car when Jerry is on the run. We meet as people trying to survive and we’re very wary of each other. It’s a forced camaraderie. It’s fight or flight survival stuff – and we’re forced into this relationship on the run.
LWLies: Are you fans of the thriller genre?
LaBeouf: Very much so. Lately I’ve been all over The Parallax View, which is very good thriller.
Monaghan: And I love the Bourne movies. You know what? I think this movie’s great because it’s very real. It deals with technology, which affects us all – especially when it looks at the way technology can be turned against you and used against you. I think that’s frightening and that’s what’s great about this movie. Everything is so real. It honestly could happen.
LWLies: Do you agree, Shia?
LaBeouf: Definitely. I don’t think this film is very far from reality. The fact that people can tap into your car wherever it is with the service called OnStar in the States – plus the way they can record your phone calls. This isn’t a crazy idea. It is something that could happen should technology fall into the wrong hands. This is very real. It’s happening now.
LWLies: What sort of stunt work is involved in Eagle Eye?
Monaghan: This is the most physically demanding role I’ve ever done. There’s a lot of running involved and some precarious situations. A lot of the locations are pretty dangerous, but it’s fun, too. There’s also a lot of driving, which is great because I get to be the one behind the wheel. It probably unnerves Shia a bit, though.
LWLies: How many bumps and bruises have you suffered during filming?
LaBeouf: We haven’t had a day without stunts, but I couldn’t tell you which one was the most difficult. It’s been tough. Arnica gel is the key. That’s the stuff.
Monaghan: Yeah, I’ve used a lot of that gel recently.
LWLies: Haven’t you two worked together before?
Monaghan: We’d met each other very briefly on a movie called Constantine, but I don’t think we ever had a proper conversation back then. I think we shook each others’ hands and that was it.
LaBeouf: But we had about three weeks of rehearsal before we started shooting Eagle Eye.
Monaghan: And I guess it was there that we got to know each other properly. Now we’re inseparable.
LWLies: Didn’t you want to take a break from acting and go to college, Shia?
LaBeouf: I still want to go to college, but it’s the Steven Spielberg aspect of my life pulling me back. You say, ‘Hey Steven, I really want to go to college.’ He says, ‘Yeah, that could be cool. What about this film, though?’ I realise there’s always time to go to college but there’s not always a Steven Spielberg trying to get you to do movies. He’s a pretty good professor anyway.
LWLies: So what’s next for you two?
Monaghan: I’m going to take a break and hang out.
LaBeouf: What’s next for me? After Transformers 2, I’m going to college. Well, probably…
Eagle Eye is in cinemas on Friday
Shia LaBeouf is so hot and cruely named. Oh and poorly educated. Yum!
Written by Carla on October 17th, 2008 at 12:09
I saw this film recently and his charachter worked in a photocoping store not a coffie shop, how could he not know? It was his role?
crazy people
Written by Paolo Verdolini on October 28th, 2008 at 08:53
I think Shia just doesnt want to go to college. Hope is not gonna quit filming anyway
Written by Marvin on February 25th, 2009 at 14:17