Shia LaBeouf is setting the record straight when it comes to his relationship with Timothée Chalamet.
The 38-year-old actor made headlines after a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter sparked speculation of tension between the two. In the interview, Shia reflected on how his perspective has changed over time—particularly in light of his Catholic faith.
“It changes the way you work, for sure,” he said. “Me and Alec [Baldwin] would never have these problems now. But I was in an island. Then I hear Timothée Chalamet get up and he says something like, ‘I want to be great.’ I so know the feeling. On him, it’s cute. On me, it wasn’t cute. You know what I’m saying?”
After those comments circulated, Shia took to Twitter (aka X) to clarify where things stand with Chalamet. He opened with a line from Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If,” writing, “If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken, twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools.”
Then came the praise: “Timothée Chalamet is doing better work than anyone alive – we been good.”
To further prove his point, Shia shared what he claimed was an email exchange between the two from 2023. In it, Chalamet appears to be responding to LaBeouf’s stage performance in David Mamet’s Henry Johnson.
“Absolutely blown away by your work the other night,” Chalamet allegedly wrote. “Totally electric, totally present at every turn, king of your kingdom even if that kingdom is a miserable 4×4 prison cell. What a fantastic play. I hope you guys take it to New York. And I hope this is the beginning of your work on stage and not an anomaly !! Timothée.”
Shia’s reply? “Thank you doggy / Every blessing to you / Fun watching you evolve / Take ownership / Bang bang.”
The two nearly shared the screen years earlier. According to screenwriter James Ivory, Shia was originally considered for the role of Oliver in Call Me By Your Name before Armie Hammer was cast.
“Shia came to read for us in New York with Timothée Chalamet, paying for his own plane ticket, and Luca and I had been blown away,” Ivory wrote in his memoir. “The reading by the two young actors had been sensational; they made a very convincing hot couple. But then, too, Shia was dropped.”
Despite the missed opportunity, it seems the mutual respect between them remains intact.
