A better grade of beef

In the past, interviews with Shia LaBeouf have yielded fascinating soundbites. We've learned that he was raised by hippies who had an open door policy about drugs or drifters and got into acting so he could eat. So, yeah, he's been pretty forthcoming in the past.

So what's different about his interview in the April issue of GQ magazine? Everything. From the inside out, both literally and figuratively, Shia is a new man. On the literal front, he has a new hand.

Turns out that his 2008 car crash not only damaged his paw, but rendered it useless. "My fingers are in the street, they're off, they're under the truck," Shia recalls of his first sight upon regaining consciousness. "This is fake," he adds holding up his new left hand. "This is hip bone and the skin that was left over."

But it's not only this newly reconstructed hand that makes 2010 Shia a superior model. "I'm not some AA angel preaching bulls***, but I have changed," he says. "My war stories are crazy, man. We'd just go to house parties and get in brawls. That was my crowd, this Valley Armenian gang-ridden Toonerville-Mexican-Mafia thing. But there's no way I could hang out with the same people and sustain this path. I'm not willing to trade in feeding my family for f***-around time with Joey the head case."

The one thing I was surprised to find Shia extremely willing to trade is money. Since filming "Wall Street 2," the actor has become obsessed with financial trading. "I trade in my boxers now. I'm up early for the markets. It's my favorite hobby."

In fact, the article reveals that his Schwab Active Trading account had grown close to $450,000 by the day of the interview! Looks like Shia found the one thing he's willing to trade to keep the LaBeouf's in grade-A beef!

For more of Shia's GQ interview, click here -- and pay particular attention to the passage about director Oliver Stone's techniques for getting the best out of actors. I was riveted!

Photo: Nathaniel Goldberg/GQ