Oh, what could have been. Shia LaBeouf revealed in a new interview with Variety that he almost starred in this summer’s blockbuster Suicide Squad.
The 30-year-old actor told the publication that after shooting 2014’s Fury, director Scott Ayer asked him to take on the role of Lieutenant GQ Edwards — the DC comic book character that Scott Eastwood went on to play.
“The character was different initially,” the Even Stevens alum told Variety during a cover story interview published Tuesday, September 6. “Then Will [Smith] came in, and the script changed a bit. That character and Tom [Hardy‘s] character [later played by Joel Kinnaman] got written down to build Will up.”
According to LaBeouf, Warner Bros. — the studio that produced the high-grossing film — shut down the idea of his participation. “I don’t think Warner Bros. wanted me,” he said. “I went in to meet, and they were like, ‘Nah, you’re crazy. You’re a good actor, but not this one.’ It was a big investment for them.”
Though he lost out on a spot among Suicide Squad’s star-studded cast — the film featured names such as Viola Davis, Ben Affleck, Margot Robbie and Cara Delevingne — LaBeouf told Variety about another part he was more upset about missing out on: Robert Ford in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
“The guy is f–king brilliant,” LaBeouf enthused, referring to Casey Affleck, who nabbed the role. In 2008, the younger Affleck brother, now 41, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards.
“You look at it and you go, ‘No way I could have pulled it off.’ But I wanted it so f–king bad. We all chased it,” the Transformers star shared. “The whole generation went after that. Ben Foster is in the room. Casey. Everyone did.”
