Elvis Mitchell/INTERVIEW

Shia LaBeouf is seriously NO BULLSH*T. He may have been bullsh*t before, but he isn't now ... and he's doing lots and lots of press to prove it.

The actor spoke with film god Elvis Mitchell for Interview magazine and Elvis got the notorious bad ass to actually open up a little ... starting by having Shia admit he's been "running" from himself his whole life and that he's been "going through an existential crisis."

So that's a start ... but LaBeouf, the star of the upcoming film Fury, with Brad Pitt, also opened up about finding God, with the help of his co-stars:

    "I found God doing Fury. I became a Christian man, and not in a f***ing bullshit way - in a very real way. I could have just said the prayers that were on the page. But it was a real thing that really saved me. I had good people around me who helped me. Brad [Pitt] was really instrumental in guiding my head through this. Brad comes from a hyper-religious, very deeply Christian, Bible Belt life, and he rejected it and moved toward an unnamed spirituality. Whereas [Fury writer-director] David [Ayers] is a full subscriber to Christianity. But these two diametrically opposed positions both lead to the same spot, and I really looked up to both men."

LaBeouf told Elvis that, despite the media's portrayal of Brad as a good-looking, but not-so-amazing actor, that they've all got it wrong:

    "People don't know this about Brad: He's a very thoughtful actor. That's not a motherf***er who just shows up and does the job. He puts a lot in, so you get a lot out. He's hard on himself, very hard."

Shia also says Ben Affleck tried to help him way back in 2003 after seeing LaBeouf party too hard at a wrap party:

    "'[He told me] Keep your head on straight, kid, and don't let all this get to you. He knew that I had cameras in my face and that there were expectations to perform. I think that's always been my issue. I'm prone to theatrics in my life. Ben saw that I turned reality up to 11. I was a wild man at that wrap party. Ben saw that and was trying to curb it before it became an issue. He was unsuccessful."

But perhaps the craziest bit of info Elvis pulled out of Shia, was some dirt on the actor's dad. Read this quote and ask yourself if Shia doesn't seem to be implying his dad is his dealer ...

    "The only time my dad will ever talk to me is when I need him at work. He knows to pick up the Skype phone call, and he knows what I'm looking for. It's not to say 'Hey, Dad.' We manipulate each other. We service each other. I use him when I go to work. It's not a real conversation; it's just an excuse to rev up. He's the marionette puppeteer."

Daaaaang! Right?!

Still, Shia says he's just focused on getting his life on track and staying straight: "I'm trying to find a way to have some control over my actions, my behavior, my ideas, my thoughts, my path in life. But it's very new for me."