Shia LaBeouf reveals he was almost in 'Suicide Squad,' but the studio rejected him

Shia LaBeouf sat down with Variety for a revealing new profile that explores the 30-year-old actor's bizarre behavior over the past few years and the comeback he's having with an Oscar-worthy performance in the upcoming movie "American Honey."

Though he says in the story that he's no longer on the wish list for the big Hollywood titles like he was as a kid starring in "Transformers," he did admit that he was almost in "Suicide Squad."

LaBeouf had worked with "Squad" director David Ayer on his previous movie, "Fury." The actor told Variety that Ayer asked him to play the role of Lieutenant GQ Edwards, which eventually went to Scott Eastwood.

But the studio apparently vetoed the casting.

"I don't think Warner Bros. wanted me. I went in to meet, and they were like, 'Nah, you're crazy. You're a good actor, but not this one.' It was a big investment for them."

LaBeouf also said that when he was vying for the role, the parts of Edwards and Rick Flag (at one time to be played by Tom Hardy and later played by Joel Kinnaman) were more substantial.

"Then Will [Smith] came in, and the script changed a bit," LaBeouf said. "That character and Tom [Hardy's] character got written down to build Will up."

LaBeouf is currently having something of a return to form after a period of heavy drinking that led to strange behavior that ranged from him causing a drunken disturbance at a Broadway performance of "Cabaret" to plagiarizing the work of cartoonist Daniel Clowes for a short film he directed in 2013. LaBeouf says he hasn't had a drink in a year.

Read the entire profile here.