At the Cannes Film Festival premiere of Megalopolis last week, the atmosphere seemed cursed. The film, billed as a “sci-fi epic”, marks Francis Ford Coppola’s first film in thirteen years, and was hotly tipped to be one of the most talked about releases of the festival. Talked about, it was. Several people walked out, others booed, some hailed it as a work of genius. It was also described as “totally nuts”, and branded an “audacious, self-financed gamble.”
A tough reception, sure, but Megalopolis’ ability to cause division helped distract from another controversy: a sneaky appearance from the once-disgraced Shia LaBeouf. Walking the red carpet with Coppola and his fellow actors — Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza and Giancarlo Esposito to name a few — LaBeouf looked right at home while promoting a multi-million dollar blockbuster at one of the most prestigious film events of the year. Though his appearance seemed to prompt little reaction other than, “Oh, that’s Shia LaBeouf.”
Just three years ago, LaBeouf was accused of “relentless” domestic abuse by his ex-girlfriend, the singer FKA Twigs. There were claims of sexual battery and assault, and in her 2021 lawsuit, Twigs claimed that LaBeouf threw her against a car, woke her up by choking her, and threatened to crash a car they were both in.
In response to the allegations being published by the New York Times, LaBeouf wrote that “many of these allegations are not true.” But, he accepted, he owed her “the opportunity to air their statements publicly and accept accountability for those things I have done.”
Years beforehand, when LaBeouf was first dating his now-wife Mia Goth, he was caught leaving an altercation with her and saying “I would have killed her” as paparazzi filmed him entering a car. The pair are now back together and share a child, a two-year-old daughter named Isabel. The FKA Twigs lawsuit is ongoing and will go to court in October of this year.
Following the Mia Goth incident, LaBeouf garnered some sympathy after people learned that he was abused himself, as portrayed in the semi-autobiographical film Honey Boy. However, LaBeouf later said that this was based on a lie. “I wrote this narrative, which was just f***ing nonsense,” LaBeouf told the Independent. “My dad was so loving to me my whole life. Fractured, sure. Crooked, sure. Wonky, for sure. But never was not loving, never was not there. He was always there… and I’d done a world press tour about how f***ed he was as a man.”
Now, his red carpet return at Cannes seems to be proof of a conveniently short memory in Hollywood when it comes to domestic abusers and controversial men. The road was already well-paved for LaBeouf. Just last year, Johnny Depp returned to cinema for the first time in three years with the Cannes opening night film, Jeanne du Barry. This came after Depp’s numerous libel trials in 2020 and 2022, in which he refuted claims that he was abusive to Amber Heard. In the UK, this allegation was proven to be “substantially true” and Depp lost his defamation case. In the US, Heard was proven to have defamed Depp and ordered to pay $10 million in compensatory damages. Depp was also found to have defamed Heard.
How is it that LaBeouf is involved in an active domestic abuse lawsuit and still promoting films on the French Riviera? Condoning him appearing in major projects is one thing — as is the willingness of his castmates, Plaza, Driver and Esposito, to star alongside him (a reality I would like to see them forced to acknowledge) — but to be suited and booted promoting his movies feels even more shocking. The man can have a livelihood, sure, but are we really so quick to allow men involved in active lawsuits to parade around in a tuxedo while their alleged victim awaits justice?
LaBeouf’s appearance at Cannes should have been what demanded the booing and walk-outs, but tragically, this is all too commonplace in Hollywood. A bad film is easier to confront than ongoing bad behaviour from popular actors. And so we continue to roll out the red carpet for those who should have never been invited in the first place.
