Shia LaBeouf Is a Cannibal in Performance of 2012 Dark Comedy Musical Song, Featuring Children's Choir—Watch the Video!

Plus, find out what the actor thought about the theatrical piece, which was created by Rob Cantor

By Corinne Heller Oct 22, 2014 3:20 PMTags

Don't worry Shia LaBeouf, nothing happening here is personal. This is just about a hunter who, at the end of the day, has gotta eat.

The 28-year-old actor, who has made headlines over the past year over bizarre behavior and personal turmoil, including an arrest at a Broadway musical, is the focus of a pretty strange theatrical performance created by Los Angeles artist Rob Cantor.

As seen in a video posted on YouTube on Tuesday, LaBeouf is depicted as an "actual cannibal" in the dark, comedic and dramatic theatrical piece, which features music by the West Los Angeles Children's Choir, the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles and the L.A.-based Argus Quartet and dancers dressed in black, including acrobats performing with red ribbons and shirtless men wearing giant "Shia LaBeouf" masks. The performance is based on Cantor's 2012 song.

Sample lyrics include the lines, "Running for your life from Shia LaBeouf/ He's brandishing a knife, it's Shia LaBeouf/ Lurking in the shadows/ Hollywood superstar (Shia LaBeouf)/ Living in the woods (Shia LaBeouf)/ Killing for sport (Shia LaBeouf)/ Eating all the bodies/ Actual cannibal Shia LaBeouf."

Cantor, who made headlines this past summer with a viral hoax video that appeared to show him performing celebrity impressions, serves as the narrator. 

"I'm very proud to present this BRAND-NEW VERSION of my ode to the actual cannibal," Cantor said on his Facebook page on Tuesday. "Directed by my remarkable friend Scott Uhlfelder, it took four months to plan and one day to shoot. I was lucky to have the help of 161 talented people, many of whom I will now list in the comments!"

And what does LaBeouf think about the performance? Watch the video above to find out.

Cantor also shared on his Facebook page a behind-the-scenes video of a rehearsal for "Shia LaBeouf."

Cantor's song was released more than a year before the actor got involved in a plagiarism scandal that spurred a slew of bizarre public appearances and the declaration that he is "retiring from all public life" and is "not famous anymore." Amid his turmoil, LaBeouf continued his acting career and appears in the World War II movie Fury, which was released last Friday, also stars Brad Pitt and is, as of Wednesday, No. 1 at the U.S. box office with more than $26 million in sales.

Cantor told The Washington Post in 2012 that he is not a LaBeouf superfan. So why did he depict the actor the way he does in the song?

"It was more that his name, when whispered really intensely, just made me giggle," he said.