Alma Har'el interview: Digging deep with 'Honey Boy'

Photo courtesy of Marco Cerritos

Director Alma Har’el knows what she wants. In her prolific career making documentaries and music videos, she has always executed a precise vision and shown fierce independence. Best known for her 2011 documentary “Bombay Beach”, Har’el is now tackling her first feature film, the Sundance sensation “Honey Boy.”

The film tells the fictionalized version of actor Shia LaBeouf growing up as a child actor and cohabitating with his abusive father. LaBeouf dug deep into his soul to write the screenplay and exorcise his inner demons, but that catharsis wouldn’t have been possible without Har’el’s guidance and encouragement. The duo created one of the biggest hits at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, and Har’el couldn’t be prouder of the film getting a theatrical release. She recently travelled to San Francisco to promote “Honey Boy” and we discussed Sundance, the movies, and how she got Shia LaBeouf to trust her with his life story. The following is a transcription of that conversation.

Q: I first saw “Honey Boy” at Sundance and caught it again at a recent press screening. I didn’t notice any changes between the two cuts but did you change anything between the time Amazon bought it at Sundance and this final edit?

Har’el: I did another pass on the sound mix and I had to change one of the songs.

Q: Did you only have a festival license for that song?

Har’el: I only had a festival license for a Neil Young song I used in the movie. But it worked out because we ended up getting a Bob Dylan for the final version of the movie. If you’re ever going to give up a Neil Young song it better be for a Bob Dylan song.

Q: This story is obviously very personal to Shia to the point where he’s playing his own father in the film. How did you work with him to make him comfortable enough to want to tell his story?

Har’el: When Shia was court ordered to go to rehab and was urged to write something about this period of his life, which seems to be tied into his diagnosis of PTSD, he wrote something from rehab and sent it to me. At the time I don’t think he thought it could ever be a film since he also felt nobody wanted to work with him again. He was just sending it to me to get some feedback but I could tell there was something there. When I told Shia he had to play his father it became real to me but I think for him it took more convincing. It was very challenging and almost dangerous to his psyche but also really cathartic. It was very much an act of courage to do it and I’m thankful that I got to film that kind of rawness.

Q: The movie opens with a lot of personal moments for Shia. People who watch a lot of movies will know exactly what you’re hinting at in those scenes.

Har’el: (laughs) There’s a lot of hinting in those scenes and it’s cool because we wanted to make a movie that was as authentic as possible. As a filmmaker I also couldn’t help myself and not wink at all the people who grew up on “Even Stevens”.

Q: There are also shots that hint at him on the “Transformers” set.

Har’el: Yes.

Q: Was anything ever off limits for you when it came to depicting Shia’s personal life? Did he ever come to you and say, “I’m OK doing this but I’d rather not do that”?

Har’el: Shia is one of the boldest artists out there today and it’s very hard to get him to a place where he doesn’t want to do things. But we had our fair share of clashes about certain things that were quickly resolved because we always convinced each other of what’s best for the movie. We trusted each other’s instincts.

Q: In the film you have two different actors playing different versions of Shia. I know Lucas Hedges (“Manchester By the Sea”) was cast first as the adult Shia and did that decision sway you toward casting Noah Jupe (“A Quiet Place”) as the younger version of Shia?

Har’el: Yes. We saw over 300 people for that part and the possibly was on the table to cast an unknown for the child’s part.

Q: Had you seen Noah in “A Quiet Place” before casting him?

Har’el: Yeah. Lucas and I went to go see “A Quiet Place” at the Arclight and after we cast Noah the three of us sat down to watch one of Shia’s movies, “Borg vs. McEnroe”.

Q: What was your biggest obstacle on set?

Har’el: The biggest challenge on a movie like this is not having enough time.

Q: Is there something about this film that you haven’t been asked yet that you’d like to talk about?

Har’el: I think it was moving to see Shia’s mother on set every day. We decided to not have his mother in the movie because this was a story about Shia’s life without a feminine figure, living with his father and the masculine expectations that were created. But the relationship that Shia has with his mother is one of the most interesting relationships I’ve ever seen. Shout out to Shia’s mom, she’s one of the best hippie Jewish women I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

“Honey Boy” is now playing in limited release.