Famous actor playing Padre Pyo in the new movie The Transformers

The transformation of the famous American actor Shia LaBeouf, after playing Padre Pio in the soon-to-be-released Hollywood movie, came in a completely unexpected way, removing the preconceived notions and mechanisms that have long been associated with the American star system. .

However, this was not the first case of its kind, and his words had truly opened a rift in a world often made of darkness.

American actor Shia LaBeouf actually converted to the Catholic Church while filming the movie in which he plays Padre Pio, directed by Abel Ferrara, which will soon be shown on the big screens. This was revealed by LaBeouf himself in an interview with US Archbishop Robert Barron, a well-known figure in the American Catholic world thanks to his Youtube World on Fire broadcast, followed by nearly three million people.

The unexpected transformation of a well-known actor

LaBeouf began his film career at a very young age, in Holes, then with Fury, Transformers, Indiana Jones. However, his life was definitely not a great one, due to the various drugs and disorders he faced along his path. In fact, LaBeouf has ended up in trouble multiple times due to quarrels and harassing behavior, and at least two have reported him for abuse and violence. That is, his behavior has become out of control. But When he was asked to play the Capuchin saint, his life completely changed.

The actor claimed that he was He was amazed by Padre Pio’s life and the Catholic faith when he learned to pronounce the Mass in Latin. He’s not the first Hollywood actors of a certain weight who switched straight to the set, becoming believers and practitioners. Among them are Mel Gibson, Mark Wahlberg, Gary Sinise, but also Jim Caviezel, a convert in Medjugorje, even Mickey Rourke who declared in an interview that without faith in Christ and conversion he would have already killed himself.

Before them came the roles of John Wayne, Buffalo Bill and Kate Carson. A precedent similar to LaBeouf’s, Rhino Camilleri writes in La Nuova Bussola every day, and is represented by Sir Alec Guinness, Academy Award winner for The Bridge over the River Kwai and Obiwan Kenobi in the Star Wars saga. Guinness was transformed after impersonating a Catholic saint in 1955, Cardinal Medzenty, the president of Hungary imprisoned and on trial by the Soviets after the invasion, in The Prisoner, which came out with different names due to pressure from the Soviet Union.

His life changed inside the monastery

Indeed, Hollywood has long been a fulcrum of anti-Christian thought, atheist and politically correct, fascinated by world fashion, which is often launched first. In this case, however, the filmography of Abel Ferrara, expected at the Venice Film Festival, reached the heart of the actor. who previously declared himself a Jew. So it wasn’t the success of Hollywood, but his stay at the Capuchin Convent on the outskirts of Los Angeles, to prepare for the part, that changed his life.

There he found the peace he had been searching for for some time, having had the opportunity to deal with people more desperate than him who had found comfort in faith. So everything changed. “When I decided to make the movie, I didn’t think about God, I thought about my career”, He said. “It was the last stop on the train, I didn’t know where to go. Now I know that God was using my ego to take me to Him, and take me away from the greed of the world. I wouldn’t have gone to the monastery if I had only thought of saving my career ».

In a conversation with Archbishop Barron, the actor revealed that he came very close to suicide, before impersonating Saint Petersina. “I had a gun on the desk, I didn’t want to live anymore. I felt ashamed as if I had never felt it before, the kind of shame that makes you forget to breathe.” I don’t know where to go anymore. Then it all happened, and I felt a great desire to make it happen.”