ScreenCrave.com » Joaquin Phoenix

Roundup: Joaquin Phoenix Teams Up With Paul Thomas Anderson, ‘Mortal Kombat’ Is Somehow An Online Series

traviswoods — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:48:43 +0000

Once again, it’s time for the News Roundup, in which we gather all the little news items we don’t care enough about to actually flesh out in a full post (just kidding, little news nuggets, we love you, too—and we’re sorry we told you that we loved our movie reviews and news posts more, we just had a lot to drink that night and work’s been really rough, lately). From new buzz about Mortal Kombat to Untitled Religious Drama to whatever the hell is happening over at NBC, here’s today’s news in brief:

The Hollywood Reporter digs on Katie Couric and Matt Lauer joining together on the The Today Show to giggle about having NBC by the you-know-whats.
Want to write the punchline to the darkest pop culture joke ever told? Swing by Unreality Mag.
Then, if you want to read what should be an unfunny joke but is apparently completely serious, check out Unreality’s mind-boggling list of best cartoon sidekicks ever. No Milhouse? C’mon!
After that, relax yourself by owning a piece of pop culture in the classiest way possible, courtesy of KULT Studio.
Seriously—Mortal Kombat got an online series?
Looks like Joaquin Phoenix is going to continue to court to controversy, as he’s reportedly in talks to star in Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘I-Promise-This-Isn’t-About-Scientology-(But-It’s-Really-About-Scientology)’ film, Untitled Religious Drama.

What do you think of today’s news?

Will Joaquin Phoenix Join Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

Krystal Clark — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 18:07:12 +0000

Joaquin Phoenix is still a wanted man in Hollywood. Even after his pseudo-retirement for the documentary I’m Still Here, he’s managed to keep producers and directors interested in him. Why, you ask? Because the man has chops! He can actually act. He didn’t get nominated for two Oscars for nothing. According to Deadline, Phoenix is being courted to star alongside Benjamin Walker in the highly anticipated action-horror film, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

The site reports that Phoenix is the frontrunner for the part of Henry Sturgess. He’s a fictional character who teaches the 16th president to kill vampires. Sturgess saved Lincoln’s life when he battled a vampire as a teenager, and the two became fast friends. Sturgess teaches Lincoln about the history of vampires, trains him in combat, and sends the president to hunt and kill evil vampires.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a fictionalized creation of the former U.S President which mixes historical events with fantasy. The book was written by Seth Grahame-Smith, who is known for his ability to blend classic figures and properties with old school horror elements. In the book and the film Lincoln is re-imagined as an axe-throwing, highly trained vampire assassin.

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter is scheduled to hit theaters on June 22, 2012.

Do you think Phoenix should take on the role of Henry Sturgess?

Joaquin Phoenix Won’t Join Leonardo DiCaprio in Hoover

Krystal Clark — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 15:01:59 +0000

A couple weeks ago we reported that I’m Still Here star Joaquin Phoenix was slated to join Leonardo DiCaprio in the Clint Eastwood biopic, Hoover. The actor was rumored to play his right hand man and lover in the film. Could you imagine Leo and Joaquin going at it? It’s an interesting concept (and visual) but it’s not happening. Eastwood has confirmed that the actor has not been cast in the movie.

Eastwood told Reuters (via Washington Post), that DiCaprio is definitely in talks to play the title role in Hoover, but the casting of Joaquin Phoenix is news to him. He actually said, “No. I don’t know where that came from . . . didn’t he become a rapper?” Can you imagine Eastwood saying that in his old man voice? Obviously, he didn’t get the memo that Phoenix’s “rapping career” was nothing but a charade for his movie.

At the time of the interview, DiCaprio was in the middle of negotiating his contract for the part, which he should be confirmed for soon. For those of you wondering what role Phoenix was rumored to play it was of Hoover’s protege Clyde Tolson. Tolson was the associate director of the FBI from 1947 to 1972. He was in daily close contact with Hoover at the office and the pair often dined, socialized in night clubs, and even vacationed together.

Who will they get to do it now?

Who do you think should play the role of Tolson? Are you depressed that Phoenix won’t be involved?

Video: Joaquin Phoenix Back on Letterman And He’s Coherent!

Krystal Clark — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:35:09 +0000

Yesterday we posted a teaser for Joaquin Phoenix’s highly anticipated return to the “Late Show with David Letterman.” To say that his last visit was horrible would be an understatement. It was NOT must see TV, and it was pretty hard and uncomfortable to watch. Thank God, Phoenix stopped taking those crazy pills and is back to his clean shaven, nicely dressed self. We missed him! Watch his full interview on Letterman below…

Part 1:

Part 2:

After watching the interview, Letterman clarified that he didn’t know about Phoenix’s hoax beforehand. He wasn’t in on it despite what reports claim. The actor also spoke about how he and director Casey Affleck came up with the idea of doing the film. They got it from watching really bad reality TV.

Phoenix said that they’re so bad, and the acting is so transparent that he knew he could do a better job. The only difference between reality TV and traditional television and film is that they use their real names.

Can we just sit back and soak it the real Joaquin Phoenix for a minute?

What do you think of Joaquin Phoenix’s return to normalcy? Did you believe his performance in I’m Still Here was real?

Sneak Peek: Clean Cut Joaquin Phoenix on David Letterman

Krystal Clark — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 23:54:36 +0000

He’s back! Joaquin Phoenix has returned to the controversial stage of “Late Show with David Letterman.” The last time the actor appeared on the program was in early 2009 while at the peak of his I’m Still Here insanity. He was heavier, shaggier, and as receptive as a brick wall in conversation but that’s all changed. Now that his movie is in theaters, he’s dropped the act and gone back to his clean shaven, put together self. Here’s a sneak peek at Phoenix on Letterman…

Letterman makes a quip about Phoenix never going out doors and then gets down to the nitty gritty and asks, “What do you have to say for yourself?” Let’s be honest, isn’t that what we all want to know?

Even though it annoys the hell out of us that he wasted so much of his time and career playing a hobo we’re happy he’s back. We can’t take away his talent. The man has two Oscar nominations under his belt for a reason.

You can watch the interview in its entirety when “Late Show with David Letterman” airs tonight!

What do you think of Joaquin Phoenix’s new look? Are you happy to see him clean and together again?

Source: THR

Clint Eastwood Wants Joaquin Phoenix to Play DiCaprio’s Lover in Hoover

Krystal Clark — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:42:46 +0000

Now that the truth is out regarding Joaquin Phoenix’s latest “film” I’m Still Here, we’re ready for him to get back into the real acting game. The two-time Oscar nominee claimed to have retired from his craft back in 2008 while embarking on a hip hop career that turned out to be a hoax. According to Vulture, director Clint Eastwood wants to bring Phoenix back into the acting fold with a role in his upcoming biopic Hoover.

Hoover will cover the head of the FBI and his reign from its creation in 1935 to his death in 1972. Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to play the title role with Phoenix being rumored to star as his protégé, Clyde Tolson. Tolson was the associate director of the FBI from 1947 to 1972. He was in daily close contact with Hoover at the office and the pair often dined, socialized in night clubs, and even vacationed together. Interesting.

The film will be produced by Brian Grazer and has a script written by Oscar winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk). Has Phoenix and DiCaprio ever co-starred in a film together? Could this be their first?

Do you think Phoenix would make a good addition to the cast? Did you see him in I’m Still Here?

Joaquin Phoenix to Join The Odd Life Of Timothy Green?

Krystal Clark — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:55:22 +0000

It was recently revealed by director Casey Affleck that his documentary I’m Still Here that focuses on the wild and crazy life of Joaquin Phoenix was all a lie. That’s right it was fake. Phoenix hasn’t retired from acting, he just put on one, if not the greatest performance of his career. So we’re not surprised that Vulture is reporting that he may join the cast of the upcoming film, The Odd Life of Timothy Green.

According to the site, Jennifer Garner will co-star in the movie that centers “around a child-prodigy musician and his parents.” Garner will play the mother and an offer has gone out to Mark Wahlberg to play the dad BUT if that doesn’t happen do you know who’s next in line? Joaquin Phoenix. Director Peter Hedges sees him as the next natural candidate for the role. Interesting? He wouldn’t have been the second person to pop up in our minds but OK.

At the moment Disney is working feverishly to get the film off the ground within the next years and are currently on the look out for young actors to play the title role. Green is described as someone between 9 and 12 years old, “with longish hair and warm, curious eyes.” Do you know someone who fits that description? It sounds kind of creepy to us.

Who would you rather see in the father role, Wahlberg or Phoenix?

VOTD: Werner Herzog Saves Joaquin Phoenix’s Life

Mali Elfman — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 20:46:01 +0000

In a recent Twitter interview with Werner Herzog for the DVD release of his film My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? David Lynch tweeted in (like he does) asking Werner to “share the story of when Werner bravely saved Joaquin Phoenix‘s life”and Werner so kindly and simply told one of the best, random film stories to date.

Not long after First Look posted the video of Werner answering the question, the very talented Sascha Ciezata approached the company about creating an animated version of Herzog’s incredible tale using the audio from the social media press day.

Check out Ciezata’s animation and Werner’s original response below…

The original interview with Werner below…

Pretty bad-ass Werner. I hope if I ever get in a car accident you’re not far away!

Joaquin Phoenix Returning to David Letterman Show

Krystal Clark — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 22:27:24 +0000

It seems like just yesterday a heavily bearded, sun glass wearing Joaquin Phoenix made his iconic appearance on the “Late Show With David Letterman.” At the time we didn’t realize what the hell was going on with him, but in hindsight we now know that it was part of his new film I’m Still Here. Now in promotion of the finished product, Phoenix will return to the place where it all began…Letterman.

According to THR, Phoenix will appear on the “Late Show” on September 22nd. Not only will this mark his return to the show but it will be his first television interview since his “lost year” began. His previous appearance from 2009 will be re-broadcast this Thursday on CBS, who claims it drew about 8 million views online at the “Late Show” website and on YouTube.

Phoenix is the subject of the documentary that’s directed by his brother-in-law and fellow actor-turned director Casey Affleck. We heard rumors that Phoenix is back to his cleanshaven, normal looking self. He appeared looking rather dapper at this year’s Venice Film Festival for the I’m Still Here premiere. Hopefully, he keeps it up. He’s not a bad looking guy.

Will you tune in to see Phoenix on Letterman? How do you think he’ll act?

Joaquin Phoenix Seeks Advice From Diddy in I’m Still Here Clip

Krystal Clark — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:58:05 +0000

Also check out our I’m Still Here movie review from the Venice Film Festival.

This weekend Casey Affleck’s much talked about documentary I’m Still Here opens in theaters. The film follows a (lost) year in the life of actor Joaquin Phoenix as he attempts to step away from the world of Hollywood and into the world of music. In the first clip released from the movie, he meets with music producer Sean “Diddy” Combs and asks him for advice regarding the next phase of his career. This should be interesting…

A lot of people are still debating whether or not this is real or just one actor’s vanity project. You could call it performance art in a way. Phoenix legitimately puts 100% of himself into this film and it’s kind of scary. He goes to extremes to push the envelope and make you believe his search for new creative expression.

The film 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. Defying expectations, it deftly explores notions of courage and creative reinvention, as well as the ramifications of a life spent in the public eye.

What do you think of Phoenix and Diddy in this clip? Do you think it’s legit or over the top?

I’m Still Here: Venice Film Festical 2010 Movie Review and Quandary

Mali Elfman — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:49:58 +0000

Lets gets down to it. The film just premiered at The Venice Film Festival and much like the people there, the real reason you’re going to watch I’m Still Here is to try and figure it out for yourselves, not because I tell you the score or the cinematography is so good. The question we’ve been asking ourselves since we heard the rumor that Joaquin Phoenix was quitting acting and then humiliated himself on Letterman is, is this real or not? Well, that all depends on what you believe is “real”.

I’m Still Here, takes many of the moments that have been displayed in pop culture of Phoenix’s “life-style choice” for the past year or so and shows us how they came to be and the effects they caused on our dear specimen, Joaquin. Though some of the events that we saw take place (ie. the Letterman interview) were most likely staged, it appears that the story behind the lie is in fact genuine.

The film begins with Phoenix talking about how he, even in his most truthful roles, is always lying and for once he’s going to tell the truth. In a way this possibly makes the film a version of live theater with him actually finding the truth in an obscure predicament that he and Casey Affleck put him in.

It is my humble opinion (and please feel free to argue because this film is meant for that) that what we’re seeing is Phoenix in fact being honest, BUT he is doing so under imagining circumstance, which is then being manipulated into a different perspective by Affleck to form a movie. If this is true, that story might make a better film instead of trying to make it “real” just letting it be real. But that’s just a guess, let’s continue,

Phoenix is a professional actor and a damned good and successful one at that, one could presume (though one could never really know) that embarrassing himself on live TV, getting into fights, being humiliated over and over again, all while staying in character in front of the public eye and even being mocked by fellow colleagues (ie Ben Stiller at the Oscars pretending to be Phoenix), isn’t an easy experience to go through.

So, once again. Is it a hoax? He has put everything on the line for a number of years for this film or rather this experience. For an actor to take that kind of a chance on their career is no small step and it is in fact very real. So let’s think about the “real-ness” of it all….

Is going on live TV and humiliating yourself hard? Yes.
Is singing a hip-hop in front of a massive audience and having the audience hate you hard… yes (especially if you’re not really trying to be a hip hop artist and you know you suck).
Is trying something new (hip-hop) as an artist even if it is somewhat of a joke, spending time, money and energy on it and then being told you have no talent for it hard? Yes. No one likes to fail even if it’s something they didn’t know they were good at.
Is realizing that by taking this leap, whether it be honest, experimental, or a mixture of the two and then finding out that you might not have anymore money or a job to go back to hard? Absolutely.

For all these reasons, I believe that what we saw of Joaquin — though staged — was truthful.

You could easily take all of his rants and instead of relating them to the films thesis which is “him quitting acting and taking on hip-hop” and attribute his break-downs and development on screen to “he’s made a choice to make put himself in an extraordinary circumstance and is having trouble living with it” — Instead of acting on a set, there’s no one to yell “cut!” and at the end of the day he was stuck (at least within the public eye) being forced to live his circumstance. It’s like Borat but he’s not in character, he’s putting his name on the line.

In the beginning of the film he said he wanted truth, and I think he may have found it, even if it was through a lie. On some level you could call it fake, but I would consider it more of an experiment on the human response to the life of a star falling.

To add to the “hoax” theory, the film was “written” by Affleck and Phoenix, and frankly I believe that Joaquin is a good enough actor to fool the world. To me the situation is very obviously not true, but what resulted from it was real, or at least a real experience that is in fact interesting to watch.

My suggestion: Watch this as a interesting FILM shot in a documentary style that is based off of a true experience and not necessarily true events– and if you can understand that, then this movie it perfect for you!

I’m Still Here debuts in theaters on September 10th

And as a big PS to all of this… Joaquin Phoenix was at the Venice Film Festival and he looked great, no beard, the tummy was gone — so take it as you will.

Early Reviews: Casey Affleck, Joaquin Phoenix’s I’m Still Here

Krystal Clark — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:22:38 +0000

***Update: Read full I’m Still Here review now!***

Besides Black Swan, the most talked about film at this year’s Venice Film Festival has been Casey Affleck’s documentary, I’m Still Here. It chronicles a (lost) year in the life of actor turned aspiring hip hop artist Joaquin Phoenix as he steps outside of his comfort zone to try something new. The reviews are in, and here’s a bit of what everyone is saying about the actor, the director, and the film.

Joaquin Phoenix’s Performance:

If it is a hoax, Phoenix is giving one of the greatest method performances of all time. Like its central character, the film is infuriating and provocative by turns.” … “The ridicule that is heaped on him arguably reveals just as much about celebrity-obsessed popular culture as it does about Phoenix himself. The film ends on a mildly redemptive but still mysterious note. [The Independent]

Fiction vs Reality:

“Elements of the film seem a bit too convenient, for instance there are multiple cameras with all the angles covered, leaving it sometimes feeling like a Christopher Guest or Larry Charles faux documentary rather than the real thing. And the film adheres to elements of film-fiction structure (things mentioned always have a plot functionality and are usually a set up for something later).” [Obessesed With Film]

I’m not sure I buy any of it, but the film is certainly compelling. Like a pair of po-faced co-conspirators, Affleck and Phoenix have cooked up an audacious little distraction; a stage-managed Hollywood Babylon that’s at once gaudily entertaining and wilfully self-indulgent. Who cares, finally, whether this is a documentary or not? I’m Still Here paints a convincing portrait of a miserable, frustrated actor who has lived so long in the goldfish bowl that he can no longer conceive of a life beyond acting. [The Guardian]

The Directing:

Affleck (who is married to Phoenix’s sister) catches the most intimate moments in the bizarre day-to-day existence of his subject in the months after Phoenix shocked Hollywood by announcing his retirement from film acting. Affleck is a disarming filmmaker. This seems like straight fly-on-the-wall reportage from the battle zone that is Phoenix’s life. However, I’m Still Here is cleverly crafted and edited and often very funny indeed. [The Independent]

Overall:

Result is an utterly fascinating experiment that apparently blends real and faked material to examine notions of celebrity, mental stability and friendship. Whatever auds may think of Phoenix, there’s no doubting his chutzpah, though biz will depend on the level of voyeuristic interest in his and co-helmer Casey Affleck’s strange, postmodern psychodrama.” … “I’m Still Here” could be read as a more meta version of the filmmaking method deployed by Sacha Baron Cohen in “Borat” and “Bruno.” Except that there might be something more tragic, troubling and weird going on here. [Variety]

We’ll have more on I’m Still Here when we post our complete review of the controversial doc. Stay tuned!

ScreenCrave.com » Joaquin Phoenix

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