Shia LaBeouf is confined to his house with a murderer next door

If you were stuck in your house for the summer, what would you do? That's what Shia LaBeouf is facing in his new movie, Disturbia. He plays a kid, who's on house arrest for hitting his Spanish teacher.

In the midst of discovering love for his new next door neighbor, Sarah Roemer, he's also stumbled across a possible murderer in his other neighbor, played by David Morse. He, Sarah, and Aaron Yoo team up to find out the truth.

It's a serious heart-pounding thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat! Check out what Shia had to say about the film:

So, it seems you really got along well with your younger co-stars?{@@@newline@@@}{@@@newline@@@}Shia LaBeouf: We had a lot of fun; they're a good group of people. Aaron showed up and he was always the energy; you feel down working in complete solitude, and you'd get around Aaron and there'd be an explosion of energy. Sarah is mysterious, she's got this criminal side to her; she's very sexy, and you can't figure her out. She's got a shield; she's there, but she's not. And I still haven't figured her out; she had a tough upbringing, which makes her more interesting - she's like wounded.

And what about David; it seems like you would have a tough time breaking that surface.{@@@newline@@@}{@@@newline@@@}Shia LaBeouf: I had no relationship with him; he didn't talk to me for two months. The only time we started talking was during the fight scenes; and the only reason we'd talk during the fight scenes, he would say, 'Duck, cause I'm going to swing now.' And I remember we were doing the fight scenes and he slammed my head into the table - and I remember it was intimidating - this is the third or fourth take; he comes up and this finger is going one way, this finger's going this way, this finger's broken. He's got three fingers broken, he looks at his hand and says, 'I'm good to go, how about you?' And we went again; he never flinched, he never complained. And he's seven feet tall.

This film really mixes genres.{@@@newline@@@}{@@@newline@@@}Shia LaBeouf: Yeah, the way this was pitched to me was, 'We're going to take Straw Dogs and Rear Window, and then we're going to take Say Anything, and we're going to throw it in a hat.'" The more options - it's the best, it's genre jumping. That's the way DJ (Caruso) explained it to me, knowing Spielberg was involved - he was making a film for a different age group; you knew it wasn't going to be trash, and was going to be something interesting. When I got involved, there wasn't any cast; it was me, DJ and Spielberg, and then David came aboard - I knew this was going to be sick to have one of the greatest character actors on the movie with us. And then we got Carrie Anne Moss, who because of The Matrix blew up and now she's in mommy mode; you hugged her and she felt like a mom. DJ started mixing it up a lot. You knew even if there wasn't a lot of scene to chew on, knowing you have all those eyes on you and making sure you were safe, the movie hinges on my performance.

What was it like being confined to that house?{@@@newline@@@}{@@@newline@@@}Shia LaBeouf: The transitions were wild; I'd come out of the bathroom taking a sh*t from eating peanut butter and chocolate. Then the transition is my dad's room is right there, and have to use that transition of being in this reflective state to a father you lost all in five seconds. You'd have to find the timing, and so many emotions for the movie to pull it all off. You make a movie for 15 hours a day, that's living somewhere; I spent more time on that set than I did at my house.

What kind of research did you do?{@@@newline@@@}{@@@newline@@@}Shia LaBeouf: I spoke to people on house arrest, just finding mannerisms, what they're all about; they only watch reality shows - there's a big statement in that. They don't watch any false representations of life, they watch documentaries. It's tough being on house arrest, it's like dangling meat in front of a dog; everything's available, but nothing's available. You can see it all, but you can't have any of it. When you have reality shows, that's your only sense of reality; I remember one of the guys saying, 'I don't watch sitcoms, my life is already f*cked enough.' And they go through this OCD sh*t; all the red stuff has to be in this corner, and all the blue stuff has to be in this corner. Some clean things then destroy it, and they all have the same routine; it's always in that order.

Is it strange playing to a younger audience now? Did you have the freedom to change any of the dialogue?{@@@newline@@@}{@@@newline@@@}Shia LaBeouf: Everyone's involved; that's the type of set DJ creates. When you have 70 minds, everyone's opinion's matters; we would just play around with different things. Being out on the roof with Sarah, me and DJ would work on that for four days prior to when we're shooting something else. If you're professing your love to a girl and it doesn't work, you're in trouble; those are landmarks in the story, especially that.

Are you extremely technologically savvy?{@@@newline@@@}{@@@newline@@@}Shia LaBeouf: Not like Kale, he's like MacGyver; I wouldn't be able to take things apart and put them back together. I have a cell phone like every other person.

Are you at all like him?{@@@newline@@@}{@@@newline@@@}Shia LaBeouf: I'm a voyeur; and most of us here are. There's just different forms of it, it's the human tendency.

Are you looking forward to what's next? Do you want to play some crazy rapist?{@@@newline@@@}{@@@newline@@@}Shia LaBeouf: I'm never going to be 20 again, and I don't want to rush things; I plan to have a 70-year career - that's the goal. Michael Caine can play a rapist, and he'd be really sick; if he'd have played that earlier, when he was 30, he could have played that, but he wouldn't have had these things now. You gotta save certain things, and now I'm in a cool middle ground; I can play the pop world, and go back to the dark world and can jump around. And I can make a Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and Transformers and people don't look at me like, 'Oh, he's trying to reinvent himself.'

This is a busy summer for Shia; first, Disturbia, then Surf's Up, and then Transformers.

And you can see him in Disturbia in theaters April 13th; it's rated PG-13.