Shia LaBeouf quits Broadway play over 'creative differences'

Shia LaBeouf quits Broadway play over ‘creative differences’

By David Ng

Feb. 20, 2013 11:35 AM PT

Shia LaBeouf won’t be making his Broadway debut this season after all. The 26-year-old actor has quit the upcoming revival production of the play “Orphans” in New York over “creative differences,” according to a news release sent Wednesday.

LaBeouf has left the show a month before preview performances are set to begin. “Orphans” is still scheduled to open at the Schoenfeld Theater on April 7, with previews commencing on March 19. The production, directed by Daniel Sullivan, also features Alec Baldwin, in the role of a powerful man kidnapped by two brothers.

Wednesday’s announcement did not elaborate on the nature of the creative differences that led to LaBeouf’s departure, and no replacement for the actor has been announced.

“Orphans,” by Lyle Kessler, debuted in 1983 at the Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles and is often revived at regional theaters across the country. Director Alan Pakula turned it into a movie in 1987, with a cast that included Albert Finney, Matthew Modine and Kevin Anderson.

In 2005, Al Pacino appeared in a workshop production of the play, alongside Jesse Eisenberg, at the Greenway Court Theatre in L.A.

LaBeouf rose to fame starring in the “Transformers” action movies and the most recent “Indiana Jones” installment. But the actor made waves earlier this year by saying that he is swearing off Hollywood blockbusters in favor of riskier, indie-flavor projects.

He had virtually no theater experience going into “Orphans.” He began his career doing stand-up comedy, eventually landing a role on the Disney Channel program “Even Stevens.”

His next movies include Robert Redford’s “The Company You Keep” and Lars von Trier’s “Nymphomaniac.”

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