Biography projects can be touchy because the screenwriter, Shia LaBeouf, takes a subjective look at his own traumatic experiences.
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Alma Har’el, Honey Boy journeys the life of the young actor’s mean-spirited childhood, including his fledging adult years.
He struggles to reconcile with his father, played by LaBeouf, and deal with his mental health, fictionalizing his ascent to stardom and subsequent crash-landing into rehab and recovery.
Noah Jupe plays the young actor, with Lucas Hedges playing the older version of Otis Lort.
Har’el navigates the different stages in LaBeouf’s frenetic career. LaBeouf takes on the therapeutic challenge of playing a version of his father, an ex-rodeo clown and a felon.
Enter dancer-singer FKA Twigs makes her feature-film debut, playing neighbor and kindred spirit to the younger Otis while living in their garden-court motel home.
Har’el’s feature narrative debut is a one-of-a-kind collaboration between filmmaker and subject, exploring art as medicine and imagination as hope through the life and times of a talented, traumatized performer who dares to go in search of himself.
The trailer shows hardline misery, though Jupe is hardcore and shows committed acting skills.
Learning about LaBeouf’s traumatized childhood and knowing he worked for Disney studios in Even Stevens, what role did the studios play in helping him overcome, clearly, a bad upbringing?
