Shia LaBeouf’s (Fury) next project will be English filmmaker Andrea Arnold’s first US-based feature, American Honey, according to Variety. Backed by Protagonist Pictures, the film will be shopped to distributors at the Cannes Film Festival next month.
Arnold’s story—which she also penned—will follow a runaway teenage girl selling magazine subscriptions around the U.S. as she subsequently falls into a life of reckless partying, run-ins with the law, and young love.
Though not yet a well-known name, Arnold already has several impressive credits under her belt. Her short film Wasp won an Oscar in 2003. Her last feature was an indie adaptation of the novel Wuthering Heights that featured the up-and-coming British actress Kaya Scodelario (The Maze Runner). Her first two features, Fish Tank and Red Road, won her two BAFTAs and two Cannes Jury Prizes. Her past success at Cannes will most likely be a helping hand as she introduces this project to backers at the festival.
LaBeouf’s role has not yet been divulged, but it would be a good guess to place him as part of the group of misfits that the girl travels the country with. LaBeouf fits that description perfectly, both in his controversial public life and in some of his latest roles in films such as Lawless, Charlie Countryman, and Nymphomaniac. Those roles, among others, have also revealed his passion for artistic storytelling—not to mention his offbeat roles in music videos by Sigur Rós and Sia—and consequently, for working with art-house directors such as Arnold. LaBeouf will next be seen in Man Down with Kate Mara (Shooter) and Jai Courtney (Divergent), a film directed by his former collaborator in 2006’s A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, Dito Montiel.