Shia LaBeouf claims he was sleeping in New York City’s Central Park during his feud with former Broadway co-star Alec Baldwin.
The “Transformers” actor recalled spending his nights outside before showing up to his tense “Orphans” rehearsals with Baldwin in a new interview with the Hollywood Reporter, published Thursday.
“When [Baldwin] came in, I’m living in the park and I’m on steroids and I’m not in a good way,” LaBeouf recalled. “They keep horses there at this little fire basin. And there’s a whole lot of room around there where you can just chill.”
He continued, “You got to move every three or four hours and the guy comes around, but you can spend most of your time there.”
The “Even Stevens” alum, 38, told the outlet that he was sleeping at the park “for most of the prep.”
He recalled Baldwin stepping in after Al Pacino dropped out of the play.
“By the time Baldwin got there, it was almost unfair,” he remembered. “So he’s dealing with both my fractured little weak ego, right? All this hard prep that I’d done for two years, and my desperate need to show him all my prep, or that he would accept me somehow. I was so insecure.”
LaBeouf alleged that he and Baldwin “got competitive” as things grew “contentious” on set, noting, “That’s just what our relationship turned into.”
The actor — who had been prepping for the role for years — explained that he was already “off book” during rehearsals while Baldwin was still referring to the script since he was a last-minute addition.
“I’d be off book, he’d be on book, and he didn’t want me to look at him be off book,” he claimed. “That makes it hard to play these scenes out or block this thing even. And no fault against him, he had two weeks to come in because Pacino [dropped out].
“I had built the whole thing based on my relationship with Pacino. And that’s gone. So I was kind of heartbroken.”
LaBeouf claims tensions heightened when Baldwin started teaching an acting course at NYU while they were in their rehearsal period.
“I was like, ‘How? You’re still not off book!’” he recalled telling his co-star. “So then I started taking his class. It got insane.”
LaBeouf ended up exiting the 2013 project due to their feud. However, despite their past animosity, the two have since buried the hatchet.
“Me and him are good because he’s gone through a lot. I’ve gone through a lot. We’ve both been able to send each other love and make it right before all the madness happened on both sides,” he shared.
“We made it right. He’s a good guy. He’s just like me. Fear will make you move different. I found it came from having absolutely no spiritual life.”
Page Six has reached out to Baldwin’s rep for comment.
Last February, LaBeouf also made headlines when he was confirmed into the Catholic Church, nearly three years after he was accused of physically and emotionally abusing his ex-girlfriend FKA Twigs. LaBeouf has denied the claims.
Meanwhile, Baldwin was charged with involuntary manslaughter last year after accidentally killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins when a prop gun he was holding went off on set of his film “Rust” in October 2021.
Baldwin pleaded not guilty, claiming he didn’t pull the trigger and had no idea the gun was loaded with real ammunition instead of dummy rounds. His case was dismissed in July 2024 and Baldwin has since suffered from PTSD over the harrowing incident.
