Shia LaBeouf wants to play a young Karl Rove in an upcoming comedy?

Despite starting his career at the ripe age of 10 as a raunchy stand-up comic (seriously – he describes it as, “I was a little kid with a Lenny Bruce mouth. That was the act.”), LaBeouf hasn’t starred in a comedy since leaving “Even Stevens” on the Disney Channel (though that depends on whether you laugh at TRANSFORMERS 2 enough to consider it a comedy). That may change though as LaBeouf is eyeballing COLLEGE REPUBLICANS, a comedy about the early days of political strategists Karl Rove and Lee Atwater.

The project is currently floating around Hollywood and has attracted a bunch of interest from young actors. The most prominent is LaBeouf who is said to be very interested in starring as Rove in the film. The script from Wes Jones is set up independently but LaBeouf has the clout to get the project made and perhaps prove that he’s more than just the kid running from stuff in big action films.

It’s also an interesting time for LaBeouf because once he finishes TRANSFORMERS 3, he doesn’t have another project lined up. He may be planning to take some well-needed time off that will allow him to select his next role wisely. INDIANA JONES 5 has been talked about but that would just be more of the same. While peers like Jesse Eisenberg are earning raves (and possible Academy Award nominations) for branching out, LaBeouf needs to do the same, but quick.