Shia LaBeouf gives grim outlook on future: 'It's like world war three, right?'

Shia LaBeouf during a press conference for 'Man Down' at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, on Sept, 15, 2015. (Marta Iwanek / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

TORONTO -- Actor Shia LaBeouf expressed a bleak outlook on the future at the Toronto International Film Festival.

At a press conference for the post-apocalyptic war thriller "Man Down" LaBeouf was asked by a reporter for his thoughts on the future of our world.

"We're in a tough spot. The world is in a tough spot," he replied. "It's like world war three, right?

"You're in the middle of something really wild going on right now -- more so than ever, in my life, I think."

The question was also posed to co-star Kate Mara, who simply replied: "I hope that the future of our world is not as pictured in this picture.

"Man, I don't know, I'm just an actor."

"Man Down" stars LaBeouf as a former marine named Gabriel who's dogged by memories of the battlefield as he searches for the whereabouts of his son.

Jai Courtney plays his best friend and fellow soldier alongside Mara as his wife and Gary Oldman as a military psychiatrist.

LaBeouf said, as an actor, Oldman "is very intimidating," and such a dynamic worked during their scenes together.

But off camera they bonded.

"He's like this father figure for me. It's more than just an actor. He's a really tender, sweet man -- and that's not to naysay the hard Gary because there's a hard Gary too," said the former "Transformers" star.

"But he's not hard with me. He's really sweet with me and always has been. So I look up to him, but he's not shy about throwing love around, you know. He's in my corner. It feels like that. It's not just some actor-actor relationship thing."

Dito Montiel directed the screenplay by Adam G. Simon, who said he was living on the streets when he first started writing the story.

"In fact, there's a letter that Gabriel writes to his son Jonathan in the film, was a letter that I wrote to my son in a parking garage where I slept, where I stayed the night.

"So I wrote that and a few other scripts and was just trying to hustle for about six to eight months."