Shia LaBeouf has revealed how he looks to "darker" character actors such as Gary Oldman, Sean Penn and Joaquin Phoenix as role models, because they remind him of his father.

The 28-year-old former child star revealed to Interview magazine that he struggles to relate to "squeaky clean" heroes played by stars such as Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks, citing his difficult relationship with his father for drawing him to "wounded heroes".

Shia said: "The guys who I looked up to were far darker."

The Fury star recalled being told by Steven Spielberg that "Tom Cruise never picks his nose in public".

But Shia revealed: "The guys who I looked up to were guys that my dad looked up to. I looked up to my dad. And he doesn't have a Tom Cruise or a Tom Hanks kind of sensibility. He's in the Mongols biker gang. He's cut from a different kind of fabric, a different sensibility, a Vietnam veteran who came home disgruntled."

The actor - who is snapped stubbing a cigarette out on his tongue in the magazine - went into detail about his relationship with his father.

He said: "The only thing my father gave me that was of any value to me is pain. 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.

"My dad is the key to most of my base emotions. My greatest and my worst memories are with my father, all my major trauma and major celebration came from him. It's a negative gift. And I'm not ready to let go of it, because anger has a lot of power. You look at Mel Gibson, you go, 'He knows that there's a lot of magic in that rage that he has.' I've been scared for a long time to let go of the anger that I have.

"The thing with my dad and the Skype call, that's a technique. We have an unspoken agreement, a secret. We can't really tell each other that we're manipulating each other, but we both know it. And I love my dad. I'd love to be closer to my dad. But we've got something going on between us that's really valuable to me right now - more valuable to me than having a father. And I financially support his whole lifestyle. I pay him to be my marionette puppeteer."

Shia also revealed he found religion while shooting Fury, crediting co-star Brad Pitt for his transformation.

Shia said: "I found God doing Fury. I became a Christian man, and not in a f***ing bull**** 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."