--- title: Shia LaBeouf as Tennis Star John McEnroe Biopic description: The 'American Honey' actor is taking on the role of tennis legend John McEnroe in an upcoming movie—although he's never met the star. canonical: https://time.com/4520003/shia-labeouf-borg-mcenroe-photo/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-05T19:06:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:37:21.610Z og:title: Here's Your First Look at Shia LaBeouf as John McEnroe og:description: The 'Transformers' actor is taking on the role of the famous tennis player. og:url: https://time.com/4520003/shia-labeouf-borg-mcenroe-photo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Your First Look at Shia LaBeouf as John McEnroe twitter:description: The 'Transformers' actor is taking on the role of the famous tennis player. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here's Your First Look at Shia LaBeouf as Tennis Superstar John McEnroe for _Borg/McEnroe_ > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 5, 2016 7:06 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 5, 2016 7:06 PM UTC Fresh off his unconventional turn as a [rough-edged, down-and-out youth](http://time.com/4455860/watch-shia-labeouf-american-honey-trailer/?iid=sr-link2) for _American Honey_, [ Shia LaBeouf has resurfaced](http://time.com/4503609/shia-labeouf-weird-behavior-timeline/?iid=sr-link1) in the first images from the set of _Borg/McEnroe_. The new movie, which follows the infamous rivalry between the two tennis [legends John McEnroe](http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/06/18/top-15-tennis-player-outbursts/slide/john-mcenroe-1981/?iid=sr-link1) and Björn Borg and culminated in their epic 1980 Wimbledon showdown, features LaBeouf as the outsized character of McEnroe and Sverrir Gudnason as Borg. > [](https://twitter.com/PiFiZone/status/783399082102558720) In an [interview last spring with _Variety_](http://variety.com/2016/film/global/qa-shia-labeouf-on-his-next-big-acting-challenge-playing-john-mcenroe-1201783517/), LaBeouf called the story “truthful, tangible, anchored, human” and noted that he cried the first time he read the script. He added that he was “eager” to meet McEnroe before shooting (which started in August). “I got nothing but love and respect for him,” he said. As for similarities between the two men? “Everything in common. Passionate. Perfectionist. Narcissistic. I’m a bit of a caricature also.” > [](https://twitter.com/domatkins/status/783573851322089472) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4520003/shia-labeouf-borg-mcenroe-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4520003/shia-labeouf-borg-mcenroe-photo/"},"headline":"Here's Your First Look at Shia LaBeouf as Tennis Superstar John McEnroe for Borg/McEnroe","datePublished":"2016-10-05T19:06:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:37:21.610Z","description":"The athlete and actor have never met, but LaBeouf will play him in a new movie","url":"https://time.com/4520003/shia-labeouf-borg-mcenroe-photo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","movies","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4520003/shia-labeouf-borg-mcenroe-photo/","name":"Here's Your First Look at Shia LaBeouf as Tennis Superstar John McEnroe for Borg/McEnroe"}}]}] ```