(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Shia LaBeouf is inspired by Dustin Hoffman because he never stops fighting in his movie roles.
The 24-year-old star has emerged as one of the hottest actors in Hollywood and has starred in a string of box office hits including the Transformers franchise and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Even though he has established himself as a bankable movie star, Shia refuses to become complacent about his success.
He insists he will continue to challenge himself, unlike Robert De Niro who he claims has become too comfortable in his career.
"I am not where I want to be at. And I hope I will never go to the De Niro stage where I've gotten there and I am comfortable. Because that's the death of an actor, Shia said in an interview with British newspaper The Sun. Look at Hoffman, he is still striving, pushing and fighting. Comfort is the end. I have goals that are tangible, but they are way distant, and I created them so that they are distant.
"You want a dream you can never reach. You don't want to buy the dream car, because what do you do then?"
Shia went on to discuss his latest movie role in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. In the sequel to the Oscar-winning 1987 movie, Shia plays Gordon Gekkos apprentice Jake Moore. He was thrilled to work with Michael Douglas who plays Gekko and be directed by Oliver Stone.
Shia felt an immediate connection with Oliver, revealing he learnt even more from him than he did working with the legendary Steven Spielberg on the Indiana Jones movie. The young actor has revealed Oliver helped him to deal with the personal problems he was battling at the time.
"I met Oliver at a very, very dark place. And I needed Oliver to get me out, Shia explained. Steven couldn't help me. Steven had never gone through the things I was going through.
"There are different routes in life. Steven is very innocent. I love him but he couldn't give me guidance because he could not understand." (C) Cover Media