Last weekend, Mario Licato got punched by a random stranger while emerging from a subway station in New York City's Lower East Side. While falling down the stairs, all Mario could hear was "This is because you look exactly like Shia LaBeouf!" Days after the incident, which left him with a black eye and some stitches, Mario, an art director in digital advertising, received a voicemail from the real Shia LaBeouf. Cosmopolitan.com spoke to Mario by phone about the ordeal and what the real Shia had to say about being Shia LaBeouf.

How are you feeling?

Good. Starting to feel a lot better today. This is the first day it's not killing me. And it's healing up pretty … it looks terrible but I guess that's how black eyes work. It's very weird.

Tell me about the voicemail.

He [Shia] left me a voicemail yesterday morning, but he left it on my work phone and I don't even know my work phone number. I've been on a shoot so I couldn't see it. And today he commented on one of my Instagram posts and said, "Hey, I left you a voicemail." And that's how I ended up finding out that he left me a voicemail. I looked and was like, "Oh shit! He left me a voicemail yesterday morning."

It was a pretty long voicemail. He was like, "Hey, this is Shia LaBeouf … I just read an article that you were punched in the face because you look like me?" And he was like, "Aw, man. That sucks. I'm so sorry. But I get it. It's happened to me before." And then he was like, "I don't know. I wish I was in New York. I'd come bring you soup." He was just like, "This sucks. I don't even know what to say. I'm sorry. People are just crazy. Just because you look like me?" I was obviously laughing the whole time. And then he was like, "Here's my phone number. Don't give it to anybody. Please, please, call me back. Call me back if you want to. We could chat. Let's giggle over this. Maybe there's a silver lining in all this. But call me back." And then he was like, "And once again, this is Shia LaBeouf, the guy you got hit for looking like. And yeah, man, I'm sorry. I'm just really sorry." And he was like "Keep your head up, G." And that was it.

How did he sound?

He sounded bummed and genuinely really bad. Like he just felt like shit. Like I can't believe this happened. This sucks. And he was just like, "I wish I was in New York but I'm not." I thought it was really funny that he wanted to bring me soup.

How long was the message?

Around two minutes. But it was mostly just him being like, "Aw, man, that just sucks. I'm just sorry."

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How did he get your number?

A bunch of other publications had been calling too. I don't even know my work number so I don't know where they got it from.

How many times have you listened to the voicemail?

Like five times already

Have you let anyone else hear it?

I haven't let anybody hear it because it has his phone number in it. I haven't let anyone listen to it. Yet. I'm going to call him back first.

When are you calling him back?

I'm waiting until the shoot's over. Maybe I'll have a glass of wine. Then relax. Then call him back.

Do you know what you're going to say?

I'm just going to be like, hey, what's up. Have a conversation. I don't have anything prepared. Like, yeah, that was fucking crazy. This guy must really hate you. I'm going to ask him what he did to him. What did you do to some random bro in New York that he needed to punch me for it? Did you steal his girlfriend? Maybe he just really hated you sitting in the movie theater for three days straight watching your own movies?

Has your life changed since this whole experience?

Yeah it's really weird. I've been trending on Facebook for like two days, trending over Ted Cruz's vice president pick. At least eight people have pointed me out on the street, like "Oh my god, you're that guy!" Yep, that's me. It's pretty obvious with the black eye and everything.

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Peggy Truong Entertainment Writer Peggy is Cosmopolitan.com’s entertainment writer, specializing in Leonardo DiCaprio, This Is Us, and the royals.

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