• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Shia LaBeouf had to endure real-life pain while filming army movie to ensure it was as real as possible

Home> Entertainment> Film

Published 16:40 13 Oct 2024 GMT+1

Shia LaBeouf had to endure real-life pain while filming army movie to ensure it was as real as possible

Shia LaBeouf starred in the gripping psychological thriller alongside Jai Courtney, Gary Oldman and Kate Mara

Anish Vij

Anish Vij

Shia LaBeouf is no stranger to bringing as much realism to a movie as possible.

The Transformers actor, 38, whose on-set antics left Jon Bernthal stunned, once again took things to the edge on the set of a 2015 army movie.

Directed by Dito Montiel, the psychological thriller centres around Gabriel Drummer (LaBeouf), a marine who comes home from a traumatic tour in Afghanistan.

Advert

The movie hit screens in 2016 (Lionsgate)
The movie hit screens in 2016 (Lionsgate)

Returning with severe PTSD, Gabriel is forced to go on a desperate search for his estranged wife, Natalie (Kate Mara), and their young son.

Coming back to a post-apocalyptic landscape, the father is joined by his best friend and fellow Marine, Devin Roberts (Jai Courtney), to help find his family.

Gary Oldman also stars as the hard-nosed Captain Peyton.

Titled Man Down, you can take a look at at the trailer below:

Now, during one scene, LaBeouf said he wanted it to feel as real as possible by getting sprayed in the face by actual pepper spray.

"I'm scared I'm not good enough," he explained to Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet in 2016.

Advert

"It's like when you go bowling, [and] you put up the bumpers.

"You might be able to hit a strike without the bumpers but why not put the bumpers up?

"The guy who did it to me, this guy named Nick Jones Jr., who is my heart, he is the Marine I went through this whole thing with.

"He knew how to do it in a safe way, so it just seemed like an easier thing than to have to conjure it.

(Mike Marsland/WireImage/Getty Images)
(Mike Marsland/WireImage/Getty Images)

Advert

"We just did it twice real quick. Just really fast.

"It wasn't really that crazy… every Marine does it."

His co-star Courtney said she remembered the pepper spray scene, and claims LaBeouf took it very well.

"He's a trooper. He just went for it but I'm sure it sucked," she said.

"I think he'd been worked up a little too much and he was a little too prepared. He was prepared for it to be worse than it was, but he's a tough dude."

Advert

Despite the promising cast, it seems Man Down was not very well received, scoring just 16 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

One critic said: "Man Down attempts to cram a murky mass of plot and emotion into an hour-and-a-half of screen time. In the process, little of its meaning survived, and we're left with an appalling film."

Featured Image Credit: Mike Marsland/WireImage/Getty Images/Lionsgate

Topics: Shia LaBeouf, Celebrity, Film

Anish Vij
Anish Vij

Anish is a Journalist at LADbible Group and is a GG2 Young Journalist of the Year 2025. He has a Master's degree in Multimedia Journalism and a Bachelor's degree in International Business Management. Apart from that, his life revolves around the ‘Four F’s’ - family, friends, football and food. Email: [email protected]

X

@Anish_Vij

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

13 hours ago
15 hours ago
16 hours ago
18 hours ago
  • Getty/Leon Bennet
    13 hours ago

    Dave Grohl and wife Jordyn Blum make first appearance after cheating scandal where he fathered secret baby

    The Foo Fighters frontman announced he had become a father for the fourth time last year

    Entertainment
  • Shudder
    15 hours ago

    New study claims horror movie slammed as ‘painfully boring’ is actually one of the scariest films ever

    The study takes biological factors into account to decide the scariest films ever

    Entertainment
  • Netflix
    16 hours ago

    'Best show on Netflix’ has viewers discovering true story as Pentagon bizarrely slams series

    It comes as part of Pete Hegseth’s continued rebrand of the US Department of Defence as the ‘Department of War’

    Entertainment
  • Vertigo Films
    18 hours ago

    Intense one-shot film from Adolescence creator has ‘most incredible 30 seconds of cinema’ ever

    The creator of Adolescence also created an intense one-shot film which has gone viral on Instagram

    Entertainment
  • Shia LaBeouf left Jon Bernthal in shock with his horrific method acting while filming movie
  • Shia LaBeouf spoke out about rumours he 'knocked out' Tom Hardy on set of movie
  • Megan Fox confirmed 'romantic' relationship with Shia LaBeouf after he revealed what happened on Transformers set
  • Shia LaBeouf explained argument that led to him 'coming to fist fight' co-star and not talking to him for years