Shia LaBeouf was an emerging teen actor, fresh off his breakout role on the Disney channel’s Even Stevens when he starred opposite Amy Smart in The Battle of Shaker Heights. Smart became his unlikely love interest in the film – and his first on-screen movie kiss.
Smart recently recalled working with 15-year-old LaBeouf on the film, which was born from the reality TV series, Project Greenlight. Created by actors Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, the series explored if creatives outside of Hollywood could succeed at making a feature film with a $1 million budget. Project Greenlight had four seasons and The Battle of Shaker Heights was the focus of season 2.
Amy Smart recalls being Shia LaBeouf’s first on-screen kiss in the movie ‘The Battle of Shaker Heights’
The Battle of Shaker Heights follows two high school boys who study historic battle strategies to deploy against a bully. While the goal was to take down the bully, one of the boys falls for his friend’s older sister.
Smart played the “older” sister, Tabby who was pursued by Kelly (LaBeouf). Tabby is engaged but in a vulnerable moment, Kelly sees an opportunity for romance and kisses Tabby. Smart laughed, recalling the moment because the kissing scene was done in front of LaBeouf’s mother. “It was like a fun acting class. It felt like a big playground. All these new experiences,” she recalled to Showbiz Cheat Sheet. “I know that I was his first on-screen kiss. And the fact that his mom had to be there, I think I was 25 and he was I think 15. So it was just weird, but it was fine.”
‘The Battle of Shaker Heights’ movie was also a ‘Project Greenlight’ reality series
Smart loved the Project Greenlight concept but recalled how the reality show concept paralleling the making of a feature film was designed to create on-set drama.
“It was a cool idea,” she said about Project Greenlight. “I also felt like it was meant to build the drama, you know, the way that they collected the writer with the directors. And I feel like now, looking back, they weren’t meant to be simpatico.”
“I feel like they tried to orchestrate a bit of that drama within the casting and the creating of it as any TV show would do,” Smart said. “But, working on that was really fun. It was sort of the beginning of reality television. And I remember just being like, ‘I’m just not going to say much when I’m on camera, so I don’t want to draw attention to that. I just want to do the acting.’”
Amy Smart could tell Shia LaBeouf was ‘so talented’
Smart balanced her job as an actor while being submerged in this world of reality television. “I knew that they were going to film behind the scenes,” she said. “But you know … Shia was so cute. I mean, he was like, I think 15 or something. His mom was on set and I could feel that he was so talented. He’s just got such a wealth of talent and you kind of never know what’s going to come out of him. And, even then, he was just like … spark plugs.” She added, “It was fun though. It was a really fun project. I had a great time on it and it turned out to be a sweet movie.”
LaBeouf recalled being in awe of getting to work with Affleck and Damon. “Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were heroes from my generation. It was a level that I didn’t think I would ever attain,” he told Interview Magazine. Adding, “My mother was so impressed with Ben Affleck being at the premiere. Ben is a really charming dude. He was the first guy who really took me off to the side and made me feel like I could do it.”
He also recalled advice Affleck gave him. “’Keep your head on straight, kid, and don’t let all this get to you,’” LaBeouf said. “He knew that I had cameras in my face and that there were expectations to perform. I think that’s always been my issue. I’m prone to theatrics in my life.”
