Shia LaBeouf Says Playing A Priest In ‘Padre Pio’ Converted Him To Catholicism

Shia LaBeouf is ready to end his he said, she said battle with Olivia Wilde. The stars have been publicly at odds over the narrative surrounding LaBeouf's exit from the Wilde-directed. LaBeouf was originally cast opposite Florence Pugh in a role that eventually went to Harry Styles and, while conducting interviews to promote the project, Wilde has said that LaBeouf was fired.

Honey Boy, The Peanut Butter Falcon, and Pieces of a Woman until various allegations put him at the lowest point of his career. With all of the trouble that has followed the former Disney Channel star’s reputation in recent years, he’s been trying to earn forgiveness. He was almost ready to throw in the towel until he was approached about a new film opportunity that would get him out of his acting exile called Padre Pio.

[VENICE] It’s Saturday afternoon at the Tennis Club on the Lido, and American director Abel Ferrara chats on camera to an Italian television host before some of his customary swearing sets in, courtesy of a few brave souls wanting a photo with him next to the courts. He’s hungry.

Reviews of Olivia Wilde’s psychological drama “Don’t Worry Darling” premiering at the Venice Film Festival are now out. And while it’s a little too early to land on a consensus (our review is mixed), unless you’ve been living under a rock, the film and the spectacle surrounding it have threatened to become one of the biggest, nosiest dramas of the year.

Olivia Wilde is making it clear she's strictly at the 2022 Venice Film Festival for business and not gossip. During a press conference for her new film,, on Monday, the 38-year-old director briefly debunked rumors of a feud with Florence Pugh, who stars in the movie, but was absent from the event. Pugh is expected to walk the red carpet at the premiere later today.While Wilde was joined by the film's stars Chris Pine, Harry Styles and Gemma Chan, a reporter told her it was a «shame» that Pugh wasn't there, according to.

Naman Ramachandran Shia LaBeouf was in a reverential frame of mind at the first public screening of Abel Ferrara’s “Padre Pio” at the Venice Film Festival, as befits a film about a monk in a Capuchin monastery in post-WWI Italy. LaBeouf, who is embroiled in controversy after being accused of abuse and sexual battery in a bombshell lawsuit filed by his former partner FKA Twigs, made a rare public appearance at Venice. He isn’t doing any press at the festival, but the actor was present in the cinema before the screening where he obliged fans with selfies and participated in a Q&A after. “I feel super blessed to have worked on this movie — this movie kind of saved my life,” LaBeouf said during the Q&A. “But I didn’t enter the process as a God guy — definitely not a Catholic. And this movie just found me at a time when I was very willing and open to the process.”

Apart from the few but mighty completists of renegade filmmaker Abel Ferrara, the primary draw to watch “Padre Pio” is star Shia LaBeouf making his first on-screen attempt at a comeback after facing domestic abuse allegations. The star credits the film with prompting his conversion to Catholicism and helping to begin the process of repairing his life.

Shia LaBeouf plays the title character in this period piece, and his face dominates the promotional material, but the latest film from the ridiculously prolific Abel Ferrara, now into his 70s, is really more of an ensemble with a supporting cast that’s near-unknown outside Italy.

Shia LaBeouf has been the subject of intense controversy over the past several years. From his multiple arrests and reports of erratic behavior to the more recent allegations of physical abuse from one of his ex-partners, the actor is seemingly always in the crosshairs.

“Real Ones” podcast, the 36 year-old Emmy winner denounced that depiction, according to People.“Here’s a man who I’ve done vilified on a grand scale,” he said. “I wrote this narrative, which was just f—ing nonsense,” LaBoeuf said. “My dad was so loving to me my whole life. Fractured, sure.

Shia LaBeouf has given a candid, two-hour interview about the abuse allegations that have been made against him, admitting that he has been unfaithful to every woman he has been with. In December 2020, LaBeouf’s ex-girlfriend, the musician FKA twigs, sued him for “relentless abuse” including sexual battery, assault, and infliction of emotional distress. LaBeouf later denied causing twigs “any injury or loss”, saying that she was not “entitled to any relief or damages whatsoever”.

As Olivia Wilde ramps up press for her upcoming sophomore directorial effort “Don’t Worry Darling,” starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles—and co-starring Wilde herself—the actor/director has asked to relitigate the origins of the film and her claims that Shia LaBeouf was let go from the film. In a Variety interview this week, while Wilde did not use the word “fired” when asked about the behind-the-scenes LaBeouf drama, the director suggested the actor was let go to “protect her crew.” Variety previously released a December 2020 piece outlining the story, explaining through unnamed sources that LaBeouf was let go because of a “zero asshole policy.” Now, LaBeouf himself is pushing back on those allegations, claiming that he was not fired from the film but quit because there would not be a rehearsal period given to the actors involved.

Shia LaBeouf makes his acting comeback at the Venice Film Festival this year in Abel Ferrara’s “Padre Pio.” That makes LaBeouf’s term as persona non grata in the movie industry after his ex-girlfriend Tahliah Barnett (aka FKA Twigs) sued him for sexual battery and assault less than two years.

Variety directly after the publication of their cover story with Wilde and shared emails that he allegedly sent to Wilde claiming that he ultimately left the film on August 17, 2020, over a “lack of rehearsal time.” “You and I both know the reasons for my exit. I quit your film because your actors and I couldn’t find time to rehearse,” he said in part in the emails. “Firing me never took place, Olivia.