Shia LaBeouf may face legal action for plagiarism over a short film he made.

The Transformers actor could be taken to court after being accused of the "blatant" borrowing of another artist's story for his project Howard Cantour.com without giving proper credit. Shia's project, which debuted online on Monday follows the story of a troubled internet film critic, and is extremely similar to a 2007 graphic novella by artist Daniel Clowes called Justin M. Damiano.

According to the New York Daily News newspaper, Clowes declined to comment, but his publisher Fantagraphics' Eric Reynolds claims the artist "is exploring his legal options." "LeBeouf changed the name of the main character, but he used the comic as a direct script and storyboard. Clowes has a real melodramatic voice that is very idiosyncratic and LaBeouf just used the dialogue word for word. There is no ambiguity. There is no way that anybody wrote this but Dan Clowes. It just defies any kind of logic or good sense. This was so blatant and inexcusable that it was as baffling as it was appalling," Eric told the publication.

Shia has since apologized for copying ideas from Clowes in a heartfelt statement posted online, admitting how "embarrassed" he feels about the situation. Howard Cantour.com has since been taken off the internet.