Scott Caan bags Shia LaBeouf’s vacated role in ‘Rock the Kasbah’
Shia LaBeouf may be taking his whole “I am not famous anymore” thing seriously.
The unpredictable actor, who has recently attempted to distance himself from his own celebrity, has exited the upcoming Bill Murray comedy “Rock the Kasbah,” to be replaced by Scott Caan, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
LaBeouf, 27, departed the film under “amicable” but undisclosed circumstances, THR said.
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Directed by Barry Levinson from a script by Mitch Glazer, “Rock the Kasbah” stars Murray as a washed-up rock manager who takes his last remaining client on a USO tour of Afghanistan, only to find himself abandoned, broke and without a passport in war-torn Kabul. He then discovers a young girl with an exceptional voice and shepherds her through “Afghan Star,” the local equivalent of “American Idol.”
Caan, taking over for LaBeouf, will play an arms-dealing con man who works with his partner (Danny McBride) to swindle Murray’s character.
“Kasbah” also stars Bruce Willis, Zooey Deschanel and Kate Hudson.
LaBeouf’s egress follows a series of bizarre events in which he has sought to disassociate himself from the Hollywood machine.
After being embroiled in a plagiarism controversy in December, LaBeouf announced he was “retiring from all public life” in January. The next month, he donned a paper-bag mask that read “I am not famous anymore” at a red-carpet premiere in Berlin and staged a quasi-apologetic art installation in Los Angeles.
Having starred in Lars von Trier’s “Nymphomaniac,” LaBeouf has one more film in the can at the moment: writer-director David Ayer’s World War II drama “Fury,” starring Brad Pitt.
Caan meanwhile stars as Danno on the TV show “Hawaii Five-O.” Safe to say he won’t be staging any bag-themed art exhibits in the near future.
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