Like Harrison Ford in the past, Spielberg is treating LaBeouf like a son, latest film “Eagle Eye”
By Jeffrey Jolson
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 8/15/07 — Steven Spielberg is treating actor Shia LaBeouf like a son, not just by giving him the reported role of Indiana Jones’ son in “Indiana Jones 4,” but is casting him in every other movie he’s got a piece of. Spielberg and pal George Lucas have not done this since they “adopted” a young Harrison Ford.
The latest LaBeouf-starrer is “Eagle Eye” a thriller from DreamWorks, which is part owned by Spielberg along with David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg. Spielberg is executive producer, the same position he had at other films he brought Shia in for, the $80 million surprise hit “Disturbia” and the $303 million (US) mega-hit “Transformers.”
If Indy 4 and the reported Transformers 2 (he’s not officially attached — yet) do as well as expected, Shia, 21, will be in the billion-dollar boy’s club by the time he’s 23. That refers to movie gross, his last reported salary was just $500,000, though it’s safe to assume he’s earning a lot more after proving his worth on his last two releases.
Shia will star in “Eagle Eye” with Rosario Dawson and Michelle Monaghan (“Mission Impossible 3″) Rosario Dawson, 28, who recently appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s “Death Proof,” will play a law enforcement officer pursuing the couple.
Filming is due to begin soon for the project which will be directed by D.J. Caruso, who scored a surprise success with “Disturbia” that also featured LaBeouf.
LaBeouf will play a young man whose brother dies under mysterious circumstances — and then he and his mother are framed as terrorists. Sounds pretty cool, actually. “Forced to become members of a cell that has plans to carry out a political assassination, they must work together to extricate themselves.”
The movie script is based on an original idea by Steven Spielberg.
Spielberg knows a good thing, and sticks with it. If Ford and now LaBeouf are like sons, Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise are nephews, having made three or more major motion pictures with each.