Summer is the traditional season for action films, but Shia LaBeouf, the star of the super-sized sequel “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” isn’t worried about the competition.
“Our first 10 minutes of action trump all action movies this year,” Shia LaBeouf told Access Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson at the film’s junket on Friday. “It is a lot of movie.”
The star said that the stakes were raised after the success of 2007’s “Transformers,” which took in over $700 million worldwide.
“We kinda blew the load in terms of the spectacle of these robots the first time,” LaBeouf said. “So the reintroduction of the ‘Wow’ factor — it has to be bigger, stronger, faster, and so that’s exhausting.”
And also dangerous. While LaBeuf sustained a hand injury off the set last year, he also came close to an even more serious injury during filming.
“I mistimed something and impaled my face. I had a spike in my eye,” LaBeouf said. “I had blood coming down my face and it was the dark, dark purplish kind, which is actually a great thing, because if it had been reddish and clear, that means my eye popped.”
But though he came inches from blindness, LaBeouf said he didn’t shirk from the stunts.
“You’re deep in adrenaline,” he said. “It’s almost insane. The closest thing I’ve ever come to being on a football team or being a boxer.”
Of co-star Megan Fox, who has made headlines during the run-up to the film with a number of incendiary statements, LaBeouf said she leaves the best lines on the set.
“She says so many ridiculous things, it’s hard to keep track,” he said. “None of it I can mention on TV without getting in trouble for it … She’s a very outspoken, very powerful woman.”
And looking ahead toward future projects, LaBeouf sounded most excited to work with Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas on the sequel to “Wall Street,” which is sure to be a less physical role.
“They’re superheroes to me,” LaBeouf said. “I haven’t made a movie on that level ever in my career. It’ll be a different challenge.”
Still, the star will be back in action soon enough as Indiana Jones’ son, Mutt, in the fifth film in the Harrison Ford franchise.
“The story’s making progress. It’s all up to them,” he said of “Indy” authorities George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. “Whenever that kill squad says yes, I wouldn’t have any reservations.”