Baseball players may retire while still in their thirties, especially if they have injuries. Olympic athletes often retire in their thirties. But, an actor retiring at 34? It appears that would be so in the case of Joaquin Phoenix. Joaquin, who I loved in films such as Buffalo Soldiers, The Village, Gladiator, and Walk the Line (the last two for which he received Academy Award nominations), attended a benefit for Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall camps last Monday and dropped this shocking announcement on the media.
He told Extra’s Jerry Penacoli “I want to take this opportunity…to give you the exclusive and just talk a little bit about the fact that this will be my last performance as an actor. I’m not doing films anymore.” He followed that up by saying “I’m working on my music.” When contacted by Extra, Joaquin’s reps confirmed the retirement. His “last” film, Two Lovers, has already wrapped and was shown this year at Cannes. It will open in the U.S. in February 2009.
Of course, this is also the same Joaquin Phoenix who said in one interview “I never prepare. I think that’s completely overrated. It’s a very simple job. All you have to do is…stand in the right spot and say the line,” then asked another interviewer “Do I have a large frog in my hair? … Something’s crawling out of my scalp,” so stranger things have come out of his mouth. Personally, I hope this is just a phase he is going through and he will eventually return to acting.
Meanwhile, two other actors are very happy to be in the business it seems. Jon Favreau and Robert Downey, Jr. have announced that not only will they team up again for the Iron Man sequel,” but they will also work together in another Marvel Studios film, The Avengers.”
Iron Man 2 is slated to open on May 7, 2010 while The Avengers should be hitting theaters July 15, 2011. Favreau directed Iron Man and will serve as the director for the sequel and the executive producer for The Avengers. Earlier, I blogged about how Terrence Howard’s character Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes will be replaced by Don Cheadle.