Shia LaBeouf says John McEnroe’s ‘screaming rage’ made him an artist
Shia LaBeouf has described US tennis champion John McEnroe as an “artist”.
The 31-year-old said McEnroe had earned the title through his use of “screaming rage” as a tactic while playing the sport back in the day.
LaBeouf plays the sportsman in new film, Borg/McEnroe, which tells the story of the showdown between McEnroe and Swedish tennis star Bjorn Borg (Sverrir Gudnason) at Wimbledon in 1980.
Speaking about McEnroe at the Toronto International Film Festival, LaBeouf said: “When he entered the game it was baseliners, it was a power sport, and Borg was the king of that.
“McEnroe bought touch and feel and sensitivity to the game that wasn’t there before.
He continued: “It’s not just screaming rage – he used rage as a tactic to throw people off and he manufactured his intensity to hype himself up. In that way he is an artist.”
LaBeouf described taking on McEnroe as “cathartic” as he feels the two have a lot in common.
“It was just a really cathartic thing,” he said. “A lot of the words he’s saying, I feel. It just hit me.
“Me and him have a lot of similarities, a lot of parallels in our lives.”
Directed by Janus Metz, the film also stars Stellan Skarsgård, David Bamber, Tuva Novotny and Robert Emms.
Borg/McEnroe is slated for UK cinema release on September 22.
