A celebrity meltdown for the ages: the wild rise and spectacular crash of Shia LaBeouf’s acting school
Slauson Rec doesn’t hold back, showcasing LaBeouf’s volcanic temper, physical altercations, and psychological warfare against his own acting students.
In 2018, a heartbroken and spiritually lost Shia LaBeouf took to Twitter with an impulsive idea: an open invitation to join him at the Slauson Rec Center in South Central L.A. for what he vaguely called a “class.”
No acting experience required—just a story to tell and a commitment to raw, unfiltered truth.
Among those who showed up was Leo Lewis O’Neil, a struggling 21-year-old Texan who saw it as a shot at creative salvation.
What began as a freewheeling, electrifying experiment in artistic collaboration quickly spiralled into something far darker.
O’Neil, armed with a camera, became the group’s unofficial archivist, capturing every high and low.
Years later, that footage would become Slauson Rec, a documentary so brutally honest it exposes LaBeouf’s descent into rage, manipulation, and outright abuse—revealing a man who started with noble intentions but couldn’t outrun his own demons.
From berating actors to firing a grieving devotee for attending her mother’s funeral, the doc paints a harrowing portrait of unchecked ego.
Yet amid the wreckage, there are fleeting moments of raw humanity—like LaBeouf’s tearful admission of guilt and O’Neil’s own emotional breakdown behind the camera.
Premiering at Cannes to stunned applause, the film isn’t just a cautionary tale about fame and artistic obsession—it’s a cathartic reckoning.
LaBeouf set out to change the world.
Instead, he gave us one of the most unflinching celebrity implosions ever captured on film.
Watch the trailer to the gripping documentary below.
