Having announced that the third “Transformers” film will be his last, LaBeouf recently told us that he’s leaving the franchise on a high note. “For me, I feel vindicated for having guilt on my shoulders for the second movie,” he said. “There is vindication in this one being successful and people enjoying it.”

Since finishing up the international press tour for “Dark of the Moon,” LaBeouf has been collaborating on a music video with Marilyn Manson and doing postproduction work on John Hillcoat’s “The Wettest County in the World,” a drama about Prohibition-era bootleggers.

“That’s probably the biggest, coolest opportunity I’ve been allotted so far,” LaBeouf said of Hillcoat’s follow-up to “The Road.” “It’s the most colorful character I’ve been able to play, the most depth I’ve been able to show as an actor.”

READ MORE

“Marilyn Manson to me is an indelible figure,” LaBeouf told MTV News, speaking exclusively about the collaboration for the first time. “He’s a big deal to me, and in my childhood, I don’t know of a scarier figure in art. He, in my teenage years, was the scariest thing in the world, so part of me has always been intrigued.”

They’ve also posted some info about the video and book (and how you can go get a copy + see the clip)

To celebrate the LaBeouf-directed video, which is much more short film than standard clip, LaBeouf and Manson will be appearing together at a one-time-only book signing and screening Thursday at Hennessey + Ingalls bookstore in Los Angeles from 8 to 10 p.m. The 18-and-up event is private and limited to 150 attendees on a first-come, first-served basis. In order to receive tickets, those who wish to attend must purchase the limited-edition “Born Villain” photo book at the Hennessey + Ingalls website, which also comes with a copy of the short film.

READ MORE

LaBeouf is good company, garrulous and intense, with an appealing touch of the angry young man about him. He spits constantly when he’s outside (“I have a wet mouth”) and is given to reciting poetry, reading me Charles Bukowski’s “Bluebird” and “B as in Bullshit” off his iPhone. He drives an enormous black Silverado pickup and a Thruxton Triumph 900 motorcycle, carries a folding Kershaw knife, and displays a Holden Caulfield—esque allergy to phoniness that makes one wonder how he can stand Hollywood at all.

READ MORE