Shia LaBeouf to Be Replaced by Ben Foster in Orphans Following Bizarre, Tweet-Laden Exit

Beleaguered production casts The Messenger star a day after parting ways with its former leading man due to "creative differences"

By Alexis L. Loinaz Feb 21, 2013 9:13 PMTags
Shia LaBeouf, Ben FosterAlberto E. Rodriguez/Theo Wargo/Getty Images

The curtain is once again ready to rise on Orphans.

A day after star Shia LaBeouf dropped out of the highly touted Broadway play the due to "creative differences"—a cryptic explanation that spurred LaBeouf to fire off a hail of bizarre tweets hinting at a deeper drama involving costar Alec Baldwin—the production has now signed The Messenger star Ben Foster to replace him, per The New York Times.

Foster, 32, had reportedly auditioned for the role—one of two titular brothers left to fend for themselves in a run-down Philadelphia row house—that eventually went to LaBeouf, and it will mark his Broadway debut.

On Wednesday, the production underwent a shakeup after it was announced that LaBeouf was bouncing from the project. "Due to creative differences, the producers of Orphans and Shia LaBeouf will be parting ways and he will not be continuing with the production," producers said in a statement.

The 26-year-old actor, however, had a less succinct take on his exit, and he immediately posted a flurry of tweets that cited a series of emails between him, the play's director, Daniel Sullivan, and costars Baldwin and Tom Sturridge. (Apparently, parts of those emails lifted heavily from an essay published in Esquire back in 2009.)

"Alec, I'm sorry for my part of a dis-agreeable situation," he wrote in one email, to which Sullivan responded: "I'm too old for disagreeable situations. You're one hell of a great actor. Alec is who he is. You are who you are. You two are incompatible. I should have known it."

Baldwin, for his part, chimed in and told LaBeouf: "I don't have an unkind word to say about you. You have my word."

With Foster onboard, hopefully now the drama will remain onstage and not behind the scenes. Orphans begins previews on March 19.