Shia LaBeouf Will Not Be 'Y: The Last Man'

Our long national nightmare is over. Shia LeBeof has been talking to Wizard about his role in Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen and during the course of discussion they bring up his previously purported involvement with the Y: The Last Man film adaptation. A few years ago this was touted around the trade press as being just this side of a sure thing but now LeBeof has his doubts and said he would pass on the project.

Specifically, LeBeof feels that Yorick Brown, the main character of Y, is too similar by far to the Sam Witwicky character he plays in the Transformers movies.

“You take Sam and you put a monkey on his shoulder. I don’t know if it’s that big a differential. It seems like he’s the ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation again…I’m not willing to play that movie currently, and may be too old to play the role by the time it does come around.”

Y: The Last Man, of course, is the seminal Vertigo series by Brian Vaughn and Pia Guerra concerning the last male survivors (one human and one unhelpful helper monkey) of a catastrophe that instantly and mysteriously killed every other man on the planet. The series showed Yorick’s quest to stay alive and find his girlfriend while bearing the responsibility of the world literally on his shoulders and while it could be sensationalistic at times the series was notable for the maturity and complexity brought to the premise without devolving into an extended sexual escapade. The film is currently in the hands of Carl Ellsworth and D. J. Caruso. Since being attached to Y, LeBeof and Caruso worked together on last year’s Eagle Eye.

I don’t care for Mr. LeBeof for a lot of reasons but I respect that others feel differently. That’s fine and all but I still think you have to admit this is something of a dodged bullet. Remember, a few years ago (pre-Crystal Skull, pre-Transformers, I think even pre-Disturbia) LeBeof was still a kernel waiting to pop and a lot of people had high hopes for what he might achieve. This was also around the time of a wave (one of a series of waves) of young celebrities snatching up comics film roles and talking about how much they love “the original graphic novel.” Statistically speaking, a lot of the people in these movies who talk about being such superfans are probably liars but hey, that’s fine. It’s Hollywood and spin comes with the business.

LeBeof certainly talked a good game about loving Yorick and Y as a series but I’m beginning to wonder if he saw the project as anything but a potentially star-making vehicle. Dismissing the character as too similar to his Transformers role because they’re both regular guys in extraordinary situations? That’s about 80% of movies there, Mr. LeBeof. If it’s not the farmboy challenging an empire it’s a wedding planner who falls in love with the groom. If it’s not reporters fighting to expose the crimes of the President it’s a man who ages backwards. Oh shit, Sam and Yorick both have brown hair, too! I’m seeing double!

Just come out and say “I’ve gotten famous enough that I don’t need to do Y any more so I’m going to make a safer movie where I get a huge pile of money instead.” We won’t hold it against you.