“He’s one of the best actors I’ve worked with, and he’s the most committed to body and soul,” Ayer told /Film (via Newsweek). “He had a tooth pulled on Fury, and then on Tax Collector, he got his whole chest tattooed. So he kind of goes all in, and I’ve never known anyone that committed.”
The Tax Collector sees LaBeouf play “Creeper,” the right hand man and best friend of Bobby Soto’s protagonist, David. One of the tattoos on LaBeouf’s torso reads “Creeper,” which sparked much speculation whether it was real when paparazzi photos of a shirtless LaBeouf surfaced online last year.
In The Tax Collector, David and Creeper collect debts owed by local gangs to the crime lord Wizard. Their lives and business are upended when Wizard’s old rival returns to L.A. from Mexico looking to take over. As you can see from the trailer below, LaBeouf appears very steely and intense in the role.
Heavily tattooed characters are nothing new for a David Ayer film, as most notably seen in his adaptation of DC Comics’ Suicide Squad that featured Jared Leto’s Joker and his infamous “damaged” forehead tattoo.
In recent months, Ayer has revealed morsels of new info about Suicide Squad, such as whether Joker intended to push Harley Quinn out of a helicopter, if an “Ayer Cut” of Suicide Squad would be easy to complete, that most of Jared Leto’s Joker footage “remains unseen,” and how Deadpool turned Suicide Squad into a comedy.
Check out the world premiere trailer for The Tax Collector! In Theaters, VOD and Digital August 7th and Oct 26th for the rest of the world! #thetaxcollectormovie @cedarparkent @rljefilms pic.twitter.com/pZkgKRy49Q
— George Lopez (@georgelopez) July 2, 2020
Shia LaBeouf, meanwhile, explored what makes him tick as a human being and an actor in last year’s autobiographical film Honey Boy, which won him rave reviews. LaBeouf both scripted and played a version of his own father in the indie drama.
Viewers can see more of Shia LaBeouf’s Creeper (and his real tattoos) when The Tax Collector — which also stars Cinthya Carmona and George Lopez — debuts in theaters, on digital, and On Demand on August 7.