Following in the footsteps of the likes of Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus (seriously, was Justin Timberlake the only one spared?), actor Shia LaBeouf certainly gave the Berlin Film Festival media something to talk about at the premiere of his new movie Nymphomaniac.
The former Even Steven actor abruptly got up and stormed out of a press conference when asked by a journalist about the film’s explicit sex scenes – but not before he offered an enigmatic quote from French football player Eric Cantona, “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.” Right.
His surprising departure from the press conference turned into mass confusion when he later showed up at the red carpet premiere wearing a paper bag on his head with the words “I am not famous anymore” written across it. This time the quote was LaBeouf’s own, taken from his Twitter account where he’s posted it several times recently, suggesting to his followers that he’s done with his high-profile life and will be “retiring from all public life”.
Just about everything about the cast and crew from Nymphomaniac caused a stir at the Berlin Film Festival, including Uma Thurman and Christian Slater’s awkward jokes about LaBeouf’s reference to sardines, as well as director Las Von Trier’s no-show at the press conference, which was perhaps no surprise in light of his 2009 remarks at the Cannes Film Festival that he “understood” Adolf Hitler.
Despite his protests about the media spotlight, LaBeouf has been doing a pretty good job of attracting attention recently due to his increasingly bizarre behaviour, including several run-ins with the law in the US as well as accusations he plagiarised a comic book for his 2013 short film HowardCantour.com.
Nymphomaniac is scheduled to open in the UK in March.
Image credit: Getty
