Tattoo artist reveals Shia LaBeouf's giant 'Tax Collector' chest ink

Nobody can doubt Shia LaBeouf’s commitment to his craft and, for his latest role, he has got his entire chest tattooed.

LaBeouf is portraying crook Creeper in Suicide Squad director David Ayer’s new crime movie The Tax Collector.

Along with Bobby Soto’s David, Creeper is responsible for collecting “tax” from gangs on behalf of the crime lord Wizard.

Read more: Dakota Johnson has serious praise for LaBeouf

Creeper boasts an impressive array of tattoos all over his torso — including his character’s name — and LaBeouf got the ink for real, working with his long-term tattoo artist Bryan Ramirez, who shared video footage of the process last year.

Writing on Instagram this week, Ramirez thanked LaBeouf for providing him with the opportunity to carry out the extensive job.

He added: “Shia grew up in [Los Angeles neighbourhood] Echo Park and came back here to give back to his community by getting this tattoo.

“He could have gone anywhere to some of the biggest names but he decided to keep it real and took his time to work with me.”

Read more: David Ayer calls for release of his Suicide Squad cut

Ayer spoke to SlashFilm earlier this year about LaBeouf’s incredible devotion to the role and their previous collaboration on war movie Fury, saying the 34-year-old is “one of the best actors I’ve worked with”.

“He had a tooth pulled on Fury, and then on Tax Collector, he got his whole chest tattooed,” Ayer said.

“So he kind of goes all in, and I’ve never known anyone that committed.”

LaBeouf’s role in The Tax Collector has provoked controversy elsewhere this week over claims he is deploying “brownface” in order to play a Latino character.

Ayer defended the casting on Twitter, stating that LaBeouf is playing “a white boy who grew up in the hood” and not a Latino man.

Read more: Why has it taken so long for comedians to say sorry for blackface?

The filmmaker was also criticised for perpetuating unhelpful stereotypes around Latino people and their involvement in crime with the movie.

The Tax Collector will be released in the USA in August, with no UK date currently on the slate.