Honey Boy

BY: Amanda Jane Stern

Honey Boy follows a young child-actor named Otis Lort through his childhood and early adulthood as he tries to reconnect with his father and take care of his own mental health. The script for Honey Boy was written by Shia LaBeouf of Even Stevens, the Transformers series and wearing a paper bag over his head fame, and is based on his own ascension to stardom at a young age and subsequent stint in rehab as a young adult.

LaBeouf has said that the title of the film comes from his childhood nickname, and that he wrote the film as part of his own rehabilitation program. From the trailer it looks like this will be a bit of an experimental film. Pulling from one’s own pain to create art is what many artists do, and LaBeouf is no different here, but instead of using his past to create an entire piece of fiction he is laying his past out in a fictionalized version. It will be interesting to watch a movie that is such a piece of catharsis and healing for its filmmaker.

Lucas Hedges stars as the young adult Otis, with Noah Jupe playing Otis during his childhood years. In addition to Hedges and Jupe, the film also stars Shia Labeouf in the role of Otis’ father, James, an ex-rodeo clown and felon, FKA Twigs in her feature-film debut, Maika Monroe, Natasha Lyonne, Martin Starr, Byron Bowers, Laura San Giacomo, and Clifton Collins Jr. The film was directed by Alma Har’el. Honey Boy had its world premier at the Sundance Film Festival. It is scheduled to be released November 8, 2019, by Amazon Studios.