You can never go wrong making a movie about counterfeiters or gangsters. They could make a hundred of these movies a year and studios would still make money. The reason is simple: people love to watch others reap financial rewards through illegitimate means as long as the criminals don’t take the money directly from average, good-hearted Americans.

Making the latest entry in the popular counterfeiter/gangster subgenre, Chris Pine (Captain Kirk) and director D.J. Caruso (”Eagle Eye”, “Disturbia”) are in negotiations with Paramount Pictures to make “The Art of Making Money” next year. The movie would be based on a 2005 Rolling Stone article by Jason Kersten, who turned his reporting into the book “The Art of Making Money: The Story of a Master Counterfeiter”. More after the jump:

Shia LaBeouf and I have some history. That’s because back when he was promoting “Surf’s Up” in Hawaii, I surprised him with an “Indiana Jones” question on a red carpet and his reaction was priceless. Here’s the interview. Since then, he’s always remembered me and been extremely friendly. He’s never acted like the movie star he is.

So when I walked into the interview room to speak with him about “Transformers Revenge of the Fallen” as a reporter for our partners at Omelete, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Would he remember me? Would he tell his publicists to escort me out? Or would he be the same Shia that is willing to talk about anything.

Thankfully, it was the Shia that I’ve always encountered and he greeted me like a friend. Before the cameras rolled we talked briefly about his hand (he said it’s doing well) and caught up a bit. I then told him I had a few surprises to ask him and he said he not only expected them, but was ready for whatever I could ask.

What he didn’t know is…I’m friends with someone he grew up with, and the first two questions came from our mutual friend Bo Barrett. Once again I surprised Shia and his reaction is great. Same with his answers.

So after the jump watch Shia talk about his childhood, Michael Bay, traveling the world to promote the movie, and “Y: The Last Man”.

For the last few years, director D.J. Caruso has been trying to bring Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra’s “Y: The Last Man” to the big screen.

D.J. has always said he wanted Shia LaBeouf to play the series’ protagonist Yorick Brown. But recently, Shia has said the character is too close to his “Transformers” role and that led to everyone speculating the project wouldn’t happen.

Not so fast, says Shia.

You see, yesterday I sat down with the in-demand actor as a reporter for our partner website Omelete. Shia is out doing a lot of press for “Transformers Revenge of the Fallen” and I got some time with him on camera. In the next day you’ll be able to see the entire interview, but after the jump you can see Shia explain his love for “Y: The Last Man” and how the project might still happen.

He also says one of the reasons they’re not making it is, “the script is not ready to be shot. DJ is making a different movie right now. He’s making “Jack and the Beanstalk”.

Interesting. More after the jump:

In a recent interview with Wizard Magazine, Shia LaBeouf has taken himself out of the running for the role of leading (and only) man in the planned adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra’s  brilliant comic series “Y: The Last Man”.  LaBeouf tells Wizard, “You take Sam and you put a monkey on his shoulder.  I don’t know if it’s that big a differential. It seems like he’s the ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation again.”  I understand that LaBeouf doesn’t want to be pigeonholed and do roles that seem repetitive but I’ll say that A) The dramatic material in playing Yorick would far exceed anything that could come out of a “Transformers” movie; and B) if that’s his new criteria for judging which films he will and won’t do, he’s basically ruled out about two-thirds of all Hollywood movies.

LaBeouf continues, “I’m not willing to make that movie currently, and may be too old to play the role by the time it does come around.”  Clearly not a lot of faith in director D.J. Caruso and writer Carl Ellsworth to make it happen in the near-future and with Caruso currently in negotiations on Masi Oka’s “The Defenders”, it looks like we won’t be seeing the adventures of Yorick Brown and Ampersand any time soon.