Shia LaBeouf is starring in a movie about himself, but TWIST — he’s not playing Shia LaBeouf

Ready for some news that will make your head spin? Shia LaBeouf was just cast in a movie about his life, but he’s not actually *playing* Shia LaBeouf. A different actor was cast to play Shia LaBeouf in a movie about Shia LaBeouf’s life that Shia LaBeouf is also in. Yeah, that’s a lot to take in, so let’s break it down a little slower.

LaBeouf wrote Honey Boy, a movie loosely based on his own life and his complicated relationship with his father. The movie tells the story of a child star attempting to mend his relationship with his law-breaking, alcohol-abusing father over the course of a decade. Manchester by the Sea breakout Lucas Hedges will play LaBeouf in the family drama, and Variety reports that LaBeouf will actually play his own father.

That’s pretty trippy, but it honestly sounds about right for Shia LaBeouf.

This is a deeply personal project, so it makes sense that he would be in it and hopefully exorcise some demons he may still have from his turbulent relationship with his father. The former Disney Channel star recently opened up to Esquire about that father-son dynamic, and how he wrote the screenplay for Honey Boy under the pseudonym Otis Lort (which means “Wealthy Turd”) while in rehab.

"My dad handed me a lot, and his legacy was an emotional one," LaBeouf said. "And it wasn’t scarring. He handed me texture. My dad blessed me that way."

Now that LaBeouf is bringing his story to life on the big screen, hopefully this can be a turning point for his turbulent career. And with his stark honesty in the recent Esquire profile about all his extremely public ups and downs paired with what’s sure to be another career-defining role for him, this has all the makings to be the start of a new LaBeouf-aissance.