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.”

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.

Source

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.

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.

Source

Thursday night Joaquin joined ex Liv Tyler to tape a promo for To Write Love on Her Arms, a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. (In another promo spot, Phoenix even jokes around with Miley Cyrus, who is also doing work for TWLOHA. She teaches him who Lady Gaga is.)

Joaquin went nuts and  jumped on a heckler while he was performing at the LIV nightclub in Miami. The very bearded Joaquin stumbled onstage at 2:00am…oh did I mention he was supposed to go on at 10:30pm? After a few minutes of mumbling around, the bearded one jumped off the stage and onto a heckler in the crowd. Security had to intervene and escort the crazy man away.

Brain-Fry Noodlestein’s completely brilliant at what he does—or rather, did. Dude’s throwing it all away—friends, family, well-respected career—’cause he’s hooked on the hard stuff. Much harder stuff than Smokey Shooter would ever consider.

Heroin, babes. And lots of it.

Think the well-worn veins of lascivious ladies Fake à La Ferocity and Morgan Mayhem have the hard drug market cornered in H’wood? Please, Brain-Fry’s beating them at their own miserable game, and he’s barely even trying. But his buds sure as hell are:

BFN’s best amigos, understandably, are up all night either worrying about their depressed friend or following his every move, just in case he hits even lower—an overdose? Jail time?

It’s all a likely possibility with Noodle’s don’t-give-a-damn behavior. They thought they’d already seen him at his worst (professionally, at least, as did many others). But it was nothing compared to seeing Brain-F injecting H right in front of ‘em, which is now a matter, of course, for the iconoclast dude.

Makes us seriously suspect how much these so-called friends care about Brainy’s livelihood—or life—when they could easily nab the drugs out of his shaky hands. But knowing BFN, he’d just find it through some other fame hanger-on who doesn’t give an ef. God knows there are enough of those in T-town to go around.

Brain-Fry really should know better, as he’s seen this stuff happen before. Which is prolly what made him so depressed to begin with. Britney’s public meltdown is just gonna seem like a hissy fit by the time B.F.’s done self-destructing. Believe us on this one.

And It Ain’t: Billy Bob Thornton, Jared Leto, Kanye West

Joaquin was on the show to promote to his new movie Two Lovers but did nothing more than make the audience laugh at his obvious disinterest in being there. Dave was on point though, so the interview is really funny. If you have five minutes to waste, watch this now.

Althought JP officially said Bye! Good to the film industry a few months ago, his disastrous three-song show in Las Vegas earlier this month spawned two schools of thought on just what the hell is going on with him. JP, with the help of his brother-in-law/BFF Casey Affleck is either putting one over on us or he has completely lost his mind.

Friends close to the duo say that it’s all fake…but in a good way. “It’s a put-on. I’m going to pretend to have a meltdown and change careers, and Casey is going to film it,’” says one source who recently worked with Phoenix.

“It’s an art project for him,” says a source. “He’s going full out. He probably has told his reps that he’s quit acting. Joaquin is very smart. This is very conscious. He has a huge degree of control.”

Let’s all just humor the “artist” and let him think we believe his heinous rapping is sincere and maybe he’ll get bored and get back to being a hunky movie star.

Source