Shia LaBeouf quits news conference, wears paper bag in Berlin

“Nymphomaniac” star Shia LaBeouf continued his recent bizarre behavior, this time at the Berlin International Film Festival on Sunday, first walking out of a media conference after cryptically responding to a single question, and later showing up for the film’s red-carpet premiere wearing a paper bag with the words “I am not famous anymore” written on it.

About 10 minutes into the media session for “Nymphomaniac: Volume I,” the first of two installments of Lars von Trier’s tale of a woman recounting her extensive sexual history, LaBeouf was asked about being in a film with so many sex scenes, according to an account in the Hollywood Reporter.

The actor, 27, slowly and deliberately responded, “When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. Thank you very much.” He then got up and left the room. The quote is from French soccer player Eric Cantona, who said it at a 1995 news conference.

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Sunday evening, at the film’s gala premiere, LaBeouf showed up wearing a black tuxedo and bow tie, accessorized with the aforementioned bag on his head. The bag’s message repeated a common refrain from the actor’s Twitter page. LaBeouf was the first cast member to arrive and went in before group photos were taken.

LaBeouf has been a tabloid mainstay, first being accused of plagiarism in his short film “HowardCantour.com,” which bears a significant resemblance to Daniel Clowes’ 2007 graphic novella “Justin M. Damiano.” In response, LaBeouf apologized via a series of tweets, some of which appeared to be sincere and some of which sarcastically plagiarized from other celebrity mea culpas.

In January, LaBeouf announced on Twitter that he was “retiring from all public life,” though he made headlines a week later after getting into a fight at a London pub.

If LaBeouf keeps up this behavior, he may find himself looking to his director, Von Trier, for his next bit of sartorial inspiration. At the “Nymphomaniac” media conference, in reference to an infamous Cannes appearance in which Von Trier joked that he was a Nazi, the director wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “persona non grata.”

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