Is Shia LaBeouf Hollywood's new Pamela Anderson?

In a respectful act of valor, Shia LaBeouf has publically announced his breakup with big budget films, in hopes of escaping his all too familiar, Transformers-constructed identity and undergoing a metamorphosis of sorts that will eventually bloom into a respected, mature acting career. The path he's chosen so far is certainly an intriguing one, as he has posed nude in a Sigur Ros video, worked along side Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman in the prohibition era drama Lawless, and expressed his desire to have real, on-screen sex in Lars Von Trier's experimental film Nymphomaniac.

Perhaps LaBeouf, who has perfected the art of facial hair throughout his recent exploits, is trying out the indie version of the sex sells route of the industry. On Chelsea Lately, LaBeouf added to the controversy surrounding his role in Nymphomaniac by saying he got the part by sending in a sex tape of him and his girlfriend. Whatever he's doing, it's at least entertaining, in a very non-Even Stevens kind of way. Either way, LaBeouf is playing the extremes, and extremes in the creative world usually create two types of people, the maniac or the genius, and perhaps, every so often, a comfortable balance of both. Where's James Franco when you need him?