If we’ve learned anything from the latest phase of Shia LaBeouf’s career, it’s that the former Disney Channel star does not want to be a traditionalist. This is an actor who reportedly ripped out his own tooth and refused showers on the set of the Brad Pitt–starring World War II movie Fury; walked a red carpet with a paper bag over his head; cried for strangers; dove down a bizarre plagiarism rabbit hole of his own design; cage fought a 12-year-old for art; and was arrested for disrupting Cabaret on Broadway (after buying a few strangers souvenir-mug drinks, no less).
So should it surprise us that LaBeouf resurfaced publicly on Thursday wearing an elaborate haircut that might best be described as “the Davy Crockett?” No, no it should not.
The actor made his red-carpet return at the Tribeca Film Festival, where he was helping promote Love True, a documentary from director Alma Har’el that he produced and bankrolled. Although the film itself does not seem to have gathered much traction yet, LaBeouf’s inventive haircut has. The Daily Mail engineered a post immortally titled “Shia LaBeouf Takes His Rattail on the Red Carpet.” A site called Sugarscape published “Get the look: Shia LaBeouf’s super-cute boho braid of dreams.” A wise woman named Cynthia Greenburg responded to Deadline’s report about LaBeouf’s remarks with the most truthful of tweets: “All that matters is the hair.” The Debrief prophesized, “Shia LaBeouf’s new hair is here, and it's the future.”
Struggling to describe this plaited vision, The Daily Mail calls it part “bizarre curly mohawk and braided rattail.” Apparently the outlet has been doggedly chasing the Shia LaBeouf hairstyle beat before all of us, providing a hard-hitting news item several days ago about LaBeouf’s last hair-salon visit. (Related: professionals were involved in the creation of this hairstyle!) The paper documented that Shia had “taken his unique look to another level, shaving the sides of his head to further emphasise his mohawk and rattail.”
Getty has photographic evidence that LaBeouf has been working on this do for over a month now—with photos of the actor taken in early April, ambling through Los Angeles with a plastic jug of water in hand and that peculiar fur creature on his head. Back in early March, the actor was spotted getting Coffee Bean and running a few errands, with the same look—although the side-swung braid was not quite as long.
Even those small-minded individuals who can’t appreciate this hairstyle aesthetically should respect that LaBeouf seriously cultivated this look for weeks! (This is not just some 11th-hour attention grab.) This achievement in hairstyling took tremendous patience, care, and determination, especially during that agonizing in-between phase when the hair was not quite long enough for a ponytail. This is a look that LaBeouf believed in and committed to.
Although the actor tragically did not explain the motivation behind the hairstyle in any Tribeca interviews thus far, he did discuss his appearance in broader terms with Variety.
If LaBeouf sees his body as being enslaved, he is certainly doing his best to dress it up.
To the “LaBeouf”! You may not appreciate it, but in the year 2100, when humans are zipping around in space cars with braided rattails whipping around in the galaxy dust, they will think back on the man courageous enough to pioneer this style, and appreciate LaBeouf for being the creative visionary that many of us could not.
Related: Vanity Fair’s 2007 cover story on LaBeouf, “Landing in Hollywood”
