Joaquin Phoenix tells Letterman: I hope spoof didn't offend you | Joaquin Phoenix

May 2024 · 3 minute read
This article is more than 13 years old

Joaquin Phoenix tells Letterman: I hope spoof didn't offend you

This article is more than 13 years oldActor apologises to Late Show host for awkward interview that features in new film I'm Still Here

Eighteen months ago it was a distracted, straggly-bearded figure who sat on David Letterman's TV sofa to mumble through an excruciatingly awkward interview. Last night a more familiar Joaquin Phoenix was back – to apologise.

"You've interviewed many, many people and I assumed that you would know the difference between a character and a real person," the 35-year-old actor, now slim, clean shaven and once again resembling a film star, told Letterman. "I apologise. I hope I didn't offend you in any way."

Phoenix's return to the US talk show marks the end of a 18-month odyssey during which the twice Oscar-nominated actor gave a convincing portrayal of a celebrity in public meltdown. He announced his retirement from acting to pursue a career as a rapper. There followed a series of chaotic and inept performances, at least one of which ended with Phoenix wading into the crowd to attack a heckler.

The apparent transformation made news in February last year when the portly, scruffy and seemingly confused Phoenix appeared on Letterman's Late Show. After a series of monosyllabic or mumbled answers the chat-show host gave up, asking: "What can you tell us about your days with the Unabomber?"

Throughout, Phoenix was trailed by actor Casey Affleck, who is his brother-in-law, and a film crew. The result, I'm Still Here, was released this month as an ostensible documentary about the corrosive effects of celebrity and wealth on a now drug-addled actor in the profession since he was a child.

It was Affleck who confirmed what many suspected – that it was all an elaborate spoof – last week, telling the New York Times that Phoenix had given "a terrific performance, it's the performance of his career".

Phoenix is reportedly back to his day job with a rumoured role in Clint Eastwood's biopic of J Edgar Hoover, in which he will play the FBI head's confidant – and, some believe, lover – Clyde Tolson.

Back on Letterman, Phoenix dismissed the notion that the pair had been in cahoots last year. "Did I know anything about this? Was there a script that you and I were working with?" Letterman asked. "No," said Phoenix. Letterman admitted he had been perturbed by Phoenix's behaviour, saying: "It's like you hit your head in the tub."

To the other big question – why spend such a long time trying to fool people? – Phoenix said I'm Still Here was intended to be "a film that explored celebrity, which explored the relationship between the media and the consumers, and the celebrities themselves".

Letterman was gracious about having been deceived, while teasing Phoenix about whether he was legally entitled to use clips from the February 2009 appearance in the film. Affleck's lawyers had argued they didn't need to pay a license fee as it was a documentary, he said. "Well, now you owe me a million bucks," Letterman told Phoenix.

Affleck made his own chat show appearance this week, on Jay Leno's rival Tonight Show. He said there had been no concern from the film industry about the apparent breakdown of a man who only three years before was nominated for an Oscar for playing Johnny Cash in Walk the Line.

Affleck said: "Afterward, the movie comes out, the critics like to say, 'This is crazy, this is disturbing, this is sick'. But while it's happening, people were happy just to mock him and make fun of him."

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