Shia on Working with His 'Pal' Robert Redford

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Shia LaBeouf teams up with acting legend Robert Redford in the upcoming film The Company You Keep and we sat down with the stars for a preview of the political thriller.

In the movie hitting theaters this Friday, LaBeouf plays a hungry young journalist on the hunt for a former Weather Underground anti-Vietnam War militant (Redford) wanted for a bank robbery and murder, but who successfully eluded the FBI for more than three decades.

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"Well, Robert sort of held my hand. If I didn't have him in my corner I'd have been quite intimidated," LaBeouf said about working with Redford and the rest of the star studded cast, which includes Stanley Tucci, Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Anna Kendrick and Terrence Howard.. "Because I'm still a fan at the end of the day. You know, Stanley, he's not Stan, you know what I'm saying. Even when they're friendly to you, I have an extreme reverence and respect for everybody on that list."

The 26-year-old Transformers actor adds: "Bob's like my pal. But with everybody else, I kept distance. I was friendly with Bob in a director-actor way, but even when me and Bob would have scenes, there was distance."

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Redford -- 76, who has directed himself many times, said the job is always a bit challenging because he has never liked looking at himself on screen. "Directing yourself requires you to go to the monitor... and you have to look at yourself, and I don't like that. So that's why directing myself has been hard." 

Tucci, 52, said he was thrilled to work with Redford, who lived up to all of his high expectations. "It was actually exactly what I thought it was going to be, which was perfect. He's so accomplished as an actor and as a director, and he's such a nice guy," Tucci said. "He knows what he wants and he gets it in very few takes -- his shots are very straightforward and deceivably simple." 

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Watch the video to also hear what impressed Tucci about working alongside LaBeouf and to get The Hunger Games star's reaction to the recently released character portraits!