The headline would almost suffice. Would there be something expansive to report, word of––I’ll repeat––Shia LaBeouf writing a film about Auschwitz for Abel Ferrara establishes a tone, an idea, a response, though the truth is that we don’t have much deeper information. Except that our soon-to-be-published interview with Ferrara, on the subject of Padre Pio, revealed his recent collaboration with LaBeouf was strong enough to engender… well, you can see first signs.
When asked if Ferrara has maintained contact with LaBeouf since Padre Pio, the former told us:
He’s doing real good, man. He’s doing real good. He went off and he did a Coppola movie. So that was, there was one of those films, right? I mean, Padre Pio was 15 days or 20 days and he was in for four so he wasn’t there a long time, But anyway, it was good and he’s working. And we’re working on a film together––he’s writing something about Auschwitz that we’re thinking about doing.
Some context may help. While LaBeouf’s screenwriting credits are scant––his only feature being the autobiographical (maybe) Honey Boy––Ferrara’s long stood among the most collaborative and encouraging directors of our time, often giving actors freedom to shape, improvise material. (Look no further than the King of New York commentary where he calls his own film “fascist” because script changes weren’t permitted.) I also think it’s fair to note (because we discussed it) his past struggles with various addictions; so if that encouragement goes towards a, put no other way, controversial star supposedly seeking penance, helping a script materialize is hardly odd. As for the subject matter: I trust Ferrara, at least, to approach such topics in the wisest sense. We’ll see if this turns into anything.