Shia LaBeouf was in a film in the Transformers franchise.
Shia LaBeouf . The same year he was cast in Michael Bay 's science fiction film Transformers as Sam Witwicky , the main protagonist of the series . LaBeouf later appeared in its sequels Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen ( 2009 ) and Transformers : Dark of the Moon ( 2011 ) , both also box office successes . Transformers (film) . It was produced by Don Murphy and Tom DeSanto , and is the first installment in the live-action Transformers film series . The film stars Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky , a teenager who gets caught up in a war between the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons , two factions of alien robots who can disguise themselves by transforming into everyday machinery , primarily vehicles .