Shia LaBeouf in Variety. Picture: Jiri Turek/Variety

The 30-year-old actor told Variety exactly what he thinks of the legendary director who he’s worked with on films including Disturbia, Eagle Eye and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

“You get there, and you realise you’re not meeting the Spielberg you dream of,” LaBeouf said in the interview.

“You’re meeting a different Spielberg, who is in a different stage in his career. He’s less a director than he is a fu**ing company.”

The actor told Variety that Spielberg’s movie sets are quite different and don’t allow for much freedom.

“Everything has been so meticulously planned,” LaBeouf said.

“You got to get this line out in 37 seconds. You do that for five years, you start to feel like not knowing what you’re doing for a living.

“I don’t like the movies that I made with Spielberg. The only movie that I liked that we made together was Transformers one.”

Shia LaBeouf in Variety. Picture: Jiri Turek/VarietySource:Supplied

The troubled star has made headlines for all the wrong reasons over the past five years, thanks to several arrests and public outbursts.

LaBeouf’s well aware that his behaviour has hurt his career, including missing out on a role in Suicide Squad that eventually went to Scott Eastwood.

“The character was different initially,” LaBeouf said.

“Then Will [Smith] came in, and the script changed a bit. That character and Tom [Hardy’s] character [later played by Joel Kinnaman] got written down to build Will up.”

But the movie studio weren’t willing to take a gamble on the volatile star.

“I don’t think Warner Bros wanted me,” he said.

“I went in to meet, and they were like, ‘Nah, you’re crazy. You’re a good actor, but not this one’. It was a big investment for them.”

LaBeouf will next be seen on the big screen in American Honey which received rave reviews when it premiered at Cannes. He’s currently filming a movie about tennis legend John McEnroe.

Shia LaBeouf is on the cover of Variety magazine. Picture: Jiri Turek/VarietySource:Supplied