For us, the blame for 2008’s crappy Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has always fallen somewhere between George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and those obnoxious knowledge-treasuring aliens. But yesterday at Cannes, after disowning Transformers 2 last week, Shia LaBeouf claimed full responsibility for Skull’s badness: “I feel like I dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished … You get to monkey-swinging and things like that and you can blame it on the writer and you can blame it on Steven [Spielberg]. But the actor’s job is to make it come alive and make it work, and I couldn’t do it. So that’s my fault. Simple.â€
Also, you know who else hated Indiana Jones 4, according to Shia LaBeouf? Harrison Ford. “We [Ford and I] had major discussions. He wasn’t happy with it either. Look, the movie could have been updated. There was a reason it wasn’t universally accepted.â€
And won’t Steven Spielberg, the guy who gave LaBeouf his career, be upset to hear all this? Yes. But! “I’ll probably get a call. But he needs to hear this. I love him. I love Steven. I have a relationship with Steven that supersedes our business work. And believe me, I talk to him often enough to know that I’m not out of line. And I would never disrespect the man. I think he’s a genius, and he’s given me my whole life. He’s done so much great work that there’s no need for him to feel vulnerable about one film. But when you drop the ball you drop the ball.â€
Anyway, it’s nice to be able to finally put the fault where it belongs. Still, though, LaBeouf is being pretty hard on himself this week. Crystal Skull and Transformers 2 were stinkers, yes. But were they really so much worse than Disturbia, Eagle Eye, or the original Transformers? Debatable. We just hope this doesn’t mean he’s no longer interested in doing Mutt Williams and the Search for Elvis or Something.
Cannes 2010: Shia LaBeouf: We botched the last Indiana Jones [24 Frames/LAT]