Shia LaBeouf has a lot of explaining to do today after it was discovered that his directorial debut, a short film that debuted at Cannes in May 2012, was almost entirely plagiarized from a 2007 graphic novel. And he may have plagiarized his apology for that misdeed, too.
BuzzFeed reports that LaBeouf's film, "HowardCantor.com," lifts entire passages of dialogue and duplicates multiple scenes from Daniel Clowes's comic "Justin M. Damiano," about an online film critic. The striking similarities were not discovered until LaBeouf posted "HowardCantor.com" online on Monday, and someone forwarded Clowes the link; the clip has since been password protected.
Clowes told BuzzFeed that LaBeouf had never once spoken to him or reached out to him about his work.
"I was shocked, to say the least, when I saw that he took the script and even many of the visuals from a very personal story I did six or seven years ago and passed it off as his own work," Clowes said. "I actually can't imagine what was going through his mind."
In previous interviews about the film, LaBeouf indicated the idea was entirely his own, telling website Short of the Week that he wanted to "come to terms with my feelings about critics" after falling victim to negative reviews.
"As I tried to empathize with the sort of man who might earn a living taking potshots at me and the people I've worked with, a small script developed," LaBeouf said at the time.
But by Monday night, the actor knew he was caught, and posted a series of messages on Twitter apologizing for ripping off Clowes.
"Copying isn't particularly creative work. Being inspired by someone else's idea to produce something new and different IS creative work," LaBeouf wrote in one tweet.
In an unfortunate twist, BuzzFeed points out that those remarks bear a striking similarity to comments about plagiarism posted on Yahoo! Answers a few years ago. Did LaBeouf seriously plagiarize his apology for plagiarism? It certainly seems so.
The rest of his comments appear to be genuine, though -- and his own. LaBeouf went on to say that it was indeed Clowes's "Justin M. Damiano" that inspired him, and he was "embarrassed" by his faux pas.
"In my excitement and naiveté as an amateur filmmaker, I got lost in the creative process and neglected to follow proper accreditation," LaBeouf wrote. " ... I was truly moved by his piece of work & I knew that it would make a poignant & relevant short. I apologize to all who assumed I wrote it."
He apologized directly to Clowes, and added one final comment on the subject: "I f--ked up."
Indeed.
[via BuzzFeed]
from The Moviefone Blog http://news.moviefone.com/2013/12/17/shia-labeouf-plagiarism/
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