Last year, I blogged about one of my favorite actors, Joaquin Phoenix, who had apparently gone off the deep end. The two-time Academy Award nominated actor suddenly started appearing scruffy in public (maybe unwashed is a more accurate description) and acting strangely. He announced he was done with acting. That part, I wasn’t so surprised by. The Phoenixs have always struck me as a family that walks to the beat of their own drummer. But, his appearance along with the announcement he was beginning a rap “career,” caused me to fear the worse for Joaquin.
After all, this was a guy who not only is under the many pressures of Hollywood (see Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan as examples of how quickly THAT can all go wrong), but it was the 19-year-old Joaquin who made the horrifying 911 call when his brother River collapsed and subsequently died outside the Viper Room in 1993. Combine all that with a most unorthodox childhood and I had to cut the guy a little bit of slack.
I saw his appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman last year and it was uncomfortable to say the least. But, then I learned brother-in-law Casey Affleck (he is married to Joaquin’s sister Summer) was filming Joaquin’s journey from acting into raphood. Hum.
As it turns out, it was all just a joke. Well, maybe not a joke, but I’m Still Here, which was released into theaters earlier this month, was mockumentary about the reality of reality so it would seem.
Last night, Joaquin appeared again on the Late Show with David Letterman without the crazy man beard and shades and a few pounds lighter. He apologized to Letterman, saying “I assumed that you would know the difference between a character and a real person” and that he hoped he hadn’t offend him with his appearance.
Letterman said it was no problem, comparing it to batting practice, saying, “Every one of them was a dinger.” Still, Letterman denied being in on the whole thing. One of the best parts was when Letterman told Joaquin he wanted a million dollars for the publicity generated by his appearance on the show and the Letterman show footage used with the movie. Joaquin replied that they had only made .75 cents on the movie so far.