Last week, the world was invited to watch along as actor Shia LaBeouf revisited his entire film catalogue in reverse order as part of his living art project #AllMyMovies. And we got to experience the The Even Stevens Movie through his eyes. Despite a vast resume of hit blockbusters and acclaimed indie dramas, along with some huge bombs, the actor seem to enjoy watching The Even Stevens Movie the most. And memes of the actor laughing hysterically throughout its 93 minute runtime stormed the Internet last Friday. Now, in an interview with New Hive, Shia LaBeouf shares his thoughts and feelings about watching this TV show finale for the first time in over 12 years.
"The Even Stevens Movie was interesting. It's all of our childhood. It's mine and it's yours. It wasn't just me smiling like that. If you look at the freeze frames, everyone is smiling like wow, I remember Beans. I remember that stupid-ass song. We were all looking at our yearbook together and we're all in the yearbook. It felt like family, we were sitting there like a high school class."
Yes, if you check out the other people sitting in the theater, Shia LaBeouf's joy at seeing his younger self in this venue was contagious. And everyone appeared to be having a good time. Even Stevens debuted on the Disney Channel in the summer of 2000 and ran for three seasons and 65 episodes before coming to an end on June 2, 2003. It follows the life of the Stevenses, a family living in suburban Sacramento, California, mainly focusing on the clashing personalities of its two younger siblings, Ren and Louis. Shia LaBeouf played Louis, the younger of the two brothers. While the show was on for three years, the timeline depicted in the show was one school year. The Even Stevens Movie finally showed Ren graduating and served as a finally for the entire show.
Not all of the films viewed as part of the #AllMyMovies project were greeted with the same kind of adulation. Another set of memes that made the rounds during this art instillation showed Shia LaBeouf's pained and exhausted face as he tried to make it through Transformers: Dark of the Moon. This sequel came late in the film festival, and served as a good place to take a nap for the young actor. About the experience of watching Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the actor had this to say.
"When the movies started getting shit and they knew that I felt it too, it was the shared secret that we all had...not just because I'm in it...I'm in the same boat as you, I'm a viewer in this and this is hard for me to watch too. In fact, I'm gonna go take a nap 'cause I hate myself, not 'cause I'm tired, but because I'm dying right now. And nobody had a problem with that. When I woke up an hour later and watched Transformers 2 they could feel when I sunk in my seat. That's not a performative thing. That's me going through some kind of crisis. And I'm not the only one. I remember right before I fell asleep I looked next to me and the guy next to me was falling asleep. You can see it on the screenshot we're both asleep. And the guy behind us is asleep."
If you want to know more about the experience Shia LaBeouf had with this performance art piece, be sure to read the full interview at NewHive. It goes in-depth behind the scenes of what it was like in the theater, how everyone responded to each movie, and offers plenty of insight into why the artists behind this project did what they did. And there's a fun story about pizza being shared around the theaters. What do you think? Do you love or hate Shia LaBeouf for this? Or do you not have the energy to care?