This is a photo of Shia from last week. He arrived to Jimmy Kimmel’s show in shiny, pink spandex pants. The pants were officially a gift from Ellen DeGeneres (as part of pink month), but we know Shia loves his neon workout ensembles. I have been slacking on Shia coverage, so this will be a lengthy roundup.

Shia embarked upon a grand redemption tour for Fury. He’s behaved badly for several years, but he always catches a break and lands prestigious roles. Brad Pitt talked up Shia’s skills to GQ by saying, “He’s full-on commitment, man.” But Shia is always one step away from popping off. He’s holding it together at the moment, but you never know when he’ll start punching holes in doors again. Oh, and speaking of that bitchfight that made Alec Baldwin look sane: Shia covers the new issue of Interview magazine. He says (via Page Six) that everything — including the Alec incident and the Cabaret meltdown — was a result of method acting:

Hollywood bad boy Shia LaBeouf blames method acting for the wacky antics that got him fired from a Broadway play and tossed in the slammer.

The drama-prone actor was simply role-playing when he clashed with Alec Baldwin on the set of Orphans and also when he smacked actor Alan Cumming’s butt at a performance of Cabaret, he claimed in Interview Magazine’s November issue.

“Alec and I butted heads hard. I was sleeping in the park … At the time, I was out of my mind,” he revealed about preparing for the brutal, street-smart character, Treat.

“My whole goal was to intimidate the f— out of Baldwin. That was the role. And it wasn’t going to be fake. I wanted him to be scared … So I went about doing that for three weeks of rehearsal,” he said.

The 28-year-old actor was arrested in June after drunkenly slapping Cumming and later spitting at a cop.

“I was reading about performance art of the ’60s and ’70s and so I thought … we’re all involved here. It’s not just your stage. We’re all in here and we’re all part of this,” he said. “I was wrong.”

[From Page Six]

According to this logic, method acting is to blame for everything. For slashing one’s own face on set, for repeated plagiarism, and for chasing homeless men. Sigh. I should have sympathy for Shia. He is clearly very ill, but he’s making a mockery out of mental illness. Daniel Day Lewis is one of the most notorious method actors, and he’s admitted that he’s tough to live with during filming. But DDL’s not spitting on cops and urinating in public, you know? It’s also hard to buy that Shia is serious abot his recovery when there’s nothing anonymous about his AA visits. He prominently displays the Blue Book for the paps.

Shia’s story also keeps changing. He’s appeared on two recent talk shows to discuss his arrest. Shia told Ellen the Broadway meltdown was “an existential crisis.” He said, “jail was quite scary. I was there for, it felt like forever, I think 24 hours, 25 hours.” Shia laughed the whole time he talked about jail. He thinks this is funny. He claims to be keeping himself together with daily 12-mile runs. He’s full of it. Shia is not running that much. This is a guy who sustained stress fractures after jumping rope. No way is he running 12 miles a day and staying uninjured.

Shia also chuckled his way through his Kimmel interview. He gave a “humorous” account of “drinking a lot of whiskey” for “the World Cup,” which caused him to buy ladies drinks after they turned down his offer. Then he talked about sexually assaulting Alan Cumming: “I slap and grabbed him. Like, I grabbed a whole cheek because I wanted the party right here in my pants.” Everybody laughs. Kimmel. The audience. One person who didn’t think it was funny: Alan Cumming. Alan recently told the NYT that Shia is “a dangerous menace. I guess similar to dealing with my [abusive] father.” But you know, Shia tells a cool story, bro.

Here are clips of Shia’s Kimmel and Ellen appearances.

Photos courtesy of Interview magazine, Fame/Flynet & WENN