So we all know the Joaquin Phoenix whackness was fake, but the big question this week has been was David Letterman in on the joke when he interviewed Joaquin’s alter-ego last year.

Joaquin appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman Wednesday night to clear the air and to apologize to Letterman for pulling the wool over his eyes.

“You’ve interviewed many, many people and I assumed that you would know the difference between a character and a real person, so – but I apologize,” Phoenix said. “I hope I didn’t offend you in any way.”

Phoenix was clean-cut and shaven Wednesday, without the shaggy beard, unruly hair and sunglasses he wore on Feb. 11, 2009, when he told a befuddled Letterman that he was giving up acting for a rap career. Describing that appearance on Wednesday, Letterman said it was “like you slipped and hit your head in the tub.”

At Letterman’s urging, Phoenix made clear that the talk-show host was not in on the joke. “We’d hoped to come on a talk show,” Phoenix said with a laugh, “and I was looking for a beat down, and I got one … I want to thank you for that.”

On another interesting note; Casey Affleck, the filmaker, told Jay Leno on the “Tonight” show Tuesday, that no one from Hollywood called to express concern about Phoenix when he was acting strangely. “Afterward, the movie comes out, the critics like to say `this is crazy, this is disturbing, this is sick,’” he said. “But while it’s happening, people were happy just to mock him and make fun of him.”

Casey Affleck has come clean. Not than anyone really needed confirmation that “I’m Not Here” was a film project, not our beloved Joaquin Phoenix losing his ever lovin’ mind.

His new movie, “I’m Still Here,” was performance. Almost every bit of it. Including Joaquin Phoenix’s disturbing appearance on David Letterman’s late-night show in 2009, Mr. Affleck said in a candid interview at a cafe here on Thursday morning.

“It’s a terrific performance, it’s the performance of his career,” Mr. Affleck said. He was speaking of Mr. Phoenix’s two-year portrayal of himself — on screen and off — as a bearded, drug-addled aspiring rap star, who, as Mr. Affleck tells it, put his professional life on the line to star in a bit of “gonzo filmmaking” modeled on the reality-bending journalism of Hunter S. Thompson.

Casey admits it was all fake. The rap career, the drugs, the hookers, the David Letterman interview, even the home movies used in the opening sequence was really done by paid actors.

Casey says he never meant to “trick” anyone, that the words “hoax or fake” never entered his mind. He was just trying to ‘create space’ between the real Joaquin and his documentary subject so it was more believable.

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Dying to know if Joaquin Phoenix is really bat-shit crazy and left the acting industry? Don’t care anymore? Yeah, me either. But the Casey Affleck directed documentary is almost upon us.

I’m Still Here is a portrayal of a tumultuous year in the life of internationally acclaimed actor Joaquin Phoenix filmed by his brother-in-law.
The doc follows the Oscar-nominee as he announces his retirement from a successful film career in the fall of 2008 and sets off to reinvent himself as a hip hop musician.

Sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, and always riveting, the film is a portrait of an artist at a crossroads. Defying expectations, it deftly explores notions of courage and creative reinvention, as well as the ramifications of a life spent in the public eye.

So did he really quit Hollywood or was it all a joke? Check your local theaters next month for the truth.

Yep. The crazy, homeless rapper gig that Joaquin Phoenix had going on last year was all done for a mockumentary that he and his brother-in-law Casey Affleck are now trying to sell. Joaquin and Casey secretly met with big-wig buyers including Harvey Weinstein and the rumor is it’s pretty much sold.

Ya’ll didn’t really think that my Joaquin was that bat-shit crazy did ‘ya? I guess he wanted to prove to himself that he could Andy Kaufman better than Andy Kaufman.

Casey Affleck has completed that much-talked about and long-awaited mockumentary he directed about his brother-in-law Joaquin Phoenix’s eccentric metamorphosis from actor to hip-hop musician (or so we’ve been led to believe). I’m told that the film made its debut in a private lunchtime screening at WME headquarters last week for buyers — including Harvey Weinstein – who were sworn to secrecy. WME is selling the film, and it may only take a couple of days to reach a deal. I hear the agency and the distributors intend to keep the mock’s content under wraps for as long as they can for maximum shock value. (So it won’t be part WME Global’s sales push at the Cannes Film Festival.) Presumably, the film answers Hollywood’s bewilderment about whether Joachin was serious about quitting acting – or whether he was just, well, acting. His long months of bizarre behavior culminated in his semi-mute interview with David Letterman that was as surreal as anything Andy Kaufman ever did. And, his musical debut at the Las Vegas night club LAVO where he claimed to be a homeless rapper, jumped around the stage, and fell off.

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