Phoenix was in character

[Deckerd]

All the bizarre behaviour over the past two years was Phoenix acting a role, apparently.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11344198

Time will tell. Apparently he's going back on to Letterman this week to debunk his last appearance which had people doubting his sanity.

 

[Guy Gardener]

This isn't about X-men Comics?

 

[cultcross]

All the bizarre behaviour over the past two years was Phoenix acting a role, apparently.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11344198

Time will tell. Apparently he's going back on to Letterman this week to debunk his last appearance which had people doubting his sanity.

It was a social experiment!

 

[Ayelbourne]

I'm glad he's not really insane.
Would have been a waste of an extremely talented man.

 

[Mr Light]

The moment I heard about that bizarre Letterman appearance I knew it was for a Borat type film.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

The moment I heard about that bizarre Letterman appearance I knew it was for a Borat type film.

Letterman has had a few of these instances: Kaufman, Glover, and Phoenix at least. I'm not quite sure that he isn't in on these.

I hope it was worth it for him, it seems like very little payoff for such an extended episode. Unlike the others he was doing quite well for himself so he certainly is risking more credibility and long-term success. If he had just stopped the joke(?) shortly after the Letterman appearance I think it would have been more effective both as a gag and a statement.

 

[Deckerd]

I'm relieved he'll go back to regular acting again. He's always totally watchable.

 

[firehawk12]

Did anyone watch the movie? I'm surprised at how divisive it's become.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Sounds like he trolled everyone IRL.

 

[Gaith]

Been wondering when this'd be brought up. Seems like the overall public reaction is "meh": a tedious, unfunny film, an equally drab "character", and a single-minded joke without funny accents or catchphrases.

In short, a big-time belly flop, and a sad waste of time and effort for Phoenix and Affleck. I wonder how many friends they've alienated and pushed away in order to maintain the manipulation to the admittedly formidable levels they did.

 

[Ethros]

I read this story the other day. How is this news? I thought this has been known for aaages now, that his crazy stuff was all just show for some film. I heard that months ago


This just in- Man lands on the moon!

 

[SinglePurpose]

I read this story the other day. How is this news? I thought this has been known for aaages now, that his crazy stuff was all just show for some film. I heard that months ago


This just in- Man lands on the moon!

We've known for a while that Casey Affleck was making a movie about this and lots of people suspected that it was all fake but until now they had been treating it like it was real.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Did anyone watch the movie? I'm surprised at how divisive it's become.

I don't know why Affleck let the cat out of the bag because it compromises what limited appeal the movie had. If you're going to go with this kind of thing you should go all the way.

 

[McCoy]

Maybe they were about to be outed. Or maybe, because they had to do press for this, they realized that Phoenix's "persona" doing press would appear inconsistent, or would distract from the film itself.

Either way, I think their experiment failed. A while ago.

 

[Gaith]

^ That, and the movie tanked right out the gate. At this point, any publicity is good publicity, as hardly anyone seemed to want to watch it in the first place.

 

[Mojochi]

Uninteresting movie aside, I guess I should just be grateful it wasn't another celebrity meltdown, given how well that phenomenon has historically affected that family.

Makes me wonder if there was anyone in the family who found this batshit craziness act of his, in poor taste

 

[Deckerd]

In whose family? The Phoenix family? River Phoenix wasn't insane; he was a drug addict. There is a big difference.

 

[Amaris]

I consider Joaquin Phoenix to be a great actor, and I was hoping above all hope that this was fake. I figured it was for quite a long time, but the longer it dragged out, the more concerned I started to get. Plus, if Joaquin wanted to get into music, he'd be fine as a country singer. His portrayal of Johnny Cash was excellent.

 

[Deckerd]

What he said.^

 

[Jack Bauer]

No big surprise here. I knew it almost from the start of his weird behavior.