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Casey Affleck came clean to The New York Times today, admitting that his Joaquin Phoenix meltdown documentary I’m Still Here was in fact a phony piece of performance art. It seems amusing in hindsight that each time Deadline referred to the film in the past few months as a “mockumentary,” the filmmakers and distributor Magnolia Pictures became incensed. This revelation is about as shocking as when Vince McMahon revealed that professional wrestling bouts were prearranged.
More interesting: the NYT unearths an interview done with Late Show with David Letterman writer Bill Scheft in Nuvo.com where he admits that the fix was in on Letterman’s famed interview of Phoenix. ”That was all an act… Think Andy Kaufman without shaving. That’s what he was doing. And Dave knew about it and Dave loved it because he could play along. He could do whatever he wanted with it. And he did, and it was great television. But I will take credit for the line, ‘I think I owe Farrah Fawcett an apology.’ I gave that to him during the break.”
Affleck tells the NYT that “I hope Joaquin gets nominated for all kinds of awards. He deserves it.” But Letterman and Phoenix hosed their respective audiences, and they don’t give awards for that. As for Casey, he’s too good an actor to waste two years following around his brother-in-law to film a joke many feel doesn’t have a good enough punch line.
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My latest piece of performance art was passing by the theater and not watching the movie.
I got you beat…..my latest piece of performance art was passing gas!
Nice…
I watched this movie last night with my fiance – we knew it was fake from the fact that his publicist and Affleck would even allow this type of behavior to be documented for such a big name actor. They would never allow this to be released if it was real. It did show how the media is and how celebrities live in a fish bowl, but they know what they are getting themselves into when they start acting and living in Hollywood! If you don’t want to be noticed, you don’t choose acting as a career.
And it’s still boring.
I reeeally hope something good comes out of this for Casey. Joaquin came out looking like an idiot. How much did this mocku sell for?
hahaha.. do you really think they did it for the money?
Was this ever considered “real”?
The NY Times lost their way years ago.
It was obvious from the jump that they were screwing around. So now they have a movie on the street that’s made $100k, and they’re desperately trying to grab even more free publicity.
It’s kinda funny, and I look fwd to seeing it someday on video. But the hoopla over this is bizarre. They were screwing around, got the thing released, got sued, settled… It’s funny that they’re using the former ‘paper of record’ as a public mouthpiece. What are they on, 25 screens?
Perhaps next week the Times can break the story that “The Apprentices” don’t really do much around the office.
Ladder 49 Sequel?
Mike,
Joaquin is an amazing actor. He was grossly underrated for his performance in TWO LOVERS.
Two Lovers is an amazing film and Joaquin truly gave an one of a kind performance.
That’s what pisses me off about this. Phoenix was on Lettermen that night to promote Two Lovers, which was a good movie and a passion project for the director. The movie was totally overshadowed by this “performance art” meltdown on Letterman and never got the reception it deserved.
This kind of thing only works if we think the actor is cool before it happens. Joaquin quits acting? Who gives a $hit.
Thank you for stating the obvious! Who cares about Joaquin Phoenix outside of LA? This “performance art” was nothing but narcissistic self-indulgence at its worst.
Whether it’s real or fake the whole thing is a bad idea. A well-executed performance art piece can be amazing. But who wants to watch someone embarrass themselves through an entire feature-length documentary? And who wants to pay to see that? Movie tickets cost $15. If I wanna see Joaquim make an ass of himself, the Letterman clip is online for free. And much, much shorter.
“As for Affleck, he’s too good an actor to waste two years following around his brother-in-law for two years to film a joke many feel doesn’t have a good enough punch line.”
That’s silly. Casey Affleck can do what he wants. This basically boils down to “I want Casey Affleck to do what I want him to do and he should only do that because that’s what I want him to do.” That’s toddler talk, and throwing in a journalistic CYA like “many feel” doesn’t fix it.
I couldn’t agree with you more. Thank you for putting it so clearly and eloquently. Seriously.
One of the great things about Letterman is his willingness to play.
I don’t think the Letterman/Phoenix interview was a ruse on his audience, anymore than an outraged “audience member” who stands up in mid show, or a slacker “intern” who barges onto the set.
It’s all for fun. And while it was uncomfortable, it was funny.
Letterman’s still on TV? Wow. So he *did* survive the transition to broadcasting in color. I bet he had to get new suits, though.
Gawd, what a bunch of old fuddie-duddies griping about something cooler than you. Still waiting for the next Jimmy Stewart flick to be promoted on Johnny Carson, folks?
I kind of have to agree with this comment. The people griping sound more like people who got duped rather than people with valid criticism, including Mr. Flemimg.
And it’s not a mockumentary either. A mockumentary is made from beginning to end with everyone, including the public, knowing it’s not real. I’m Still Here was not made in this manner. It used the internet to its advantage to fuel the mythology of Phoenix’s ruin. It’s reminiscent of the Blair With Project, expect the subject is celebrity downfall. People will go to see this documentary still thinking it’s real. (Albeit the multiple takes and editing going over their heads)
Hear, Hear. Fuddies duddies, one and all. I thought the film was hilarious and off-beat. Gasp! Something a little different, for once.
fuddie-duddies is right! what’s the big deal? lost their credibility? you’re not serious….
in my dreams, bob, in my dreams…
I seriously hope this film bombs, it would then show this two wasted a year working on a pointless film.
It opened in 19 theaters this past weekend (according to boxofficemojo.com). I live in Denver and its leaving after one week at the Mayan! This announcement is clearly a last minute publicity stunt.
your wish has already come true
Letterman hurt his credibility? Are you getting a little ahead of yourself?
What a waste of time for all involved. This all would have been much more interesting if he actually lost his mind. Otherwise why do we care that Joaquin is pretending? We could have watched him pretend to be crazy in a movie we actually wanted to see.
Laughable that they are already salivating for awards, may be the only thing to justify bothering us with this for so long. What do they expect to win… let alone be nominated for? Let’s pretend you are a self involved, insufferable douchebag who is boring on top of that then subject them to bad rapping… I’m sorry, this has only hurt his career, not helped it.
btw, Letterman owned him on the late show, accounts for Phoenix barely able to keep a straight face when Dave was zinging him to no end. EPIC FAIL.
“This all would have been much more interesting if he actually lost his mind.”
I don’t know how I feel about this movie yet (haven’t seen it), but I think this statement might be a good example of why the movie is perhaps justified. Our culture so delights in the downward spiral of celebrities, with their drug problems and mental illnesses. It’s not surprising that it seems early reaction to this “hoax” is one of disappointment that Phoenix was not, in fact, self-destructing. The media also went on a frenzy over his odd behavior, covering it instead of the stories that really need to be told, and the public went along for the ride, rubbernecking and relishing in the freak show right along with them.
remind me again, which of the two people who have seen this film (or will ever see it) thought it wasn’t a hoax, or bullshit of some kind?
it was so obviously fake from the start — the genius of Andy Kaufman was that he wasn’t obvious.
How convenient for you to say that now that it’s all out. Don’t worry, we still think you’re smart….
Dom, you obviously have a vested interest in this.
If you doubt it was obvious from the start, look at reader reaction a year ago on the most popular blogs on the Internet. No one was fooled. Phoenix was laughing at one point after Letterman made a joke.
But what made it obvious to my eight-year-old was the simple point that IF HE WAS HAVING A BREAKDOWN/FOOLISHLY TRANSITIONING TO HIP-HOP, HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW WOULDN’T BE FILMING IT.
I love a good hoax, flat out. I faked my death in 1998 for April Fools Day. I thought it would be a fun little prank and I’d get a chance to hear what people really thought about me without the niceties. It turned out to be a life altering hoax for me. I found out that my fans in the comics world cared about me in the really real world. They were emotionally hurt, they grieved for a week over my “death” and while the outpouring of emotion surprised me, I felt horrible over the grief that I had caused so thoughtlessly.
See, that’s the thing you can forget in the limelight. When you live on the big stage, there are real human beings that will grow to care for you. They will watch you and hope the best for you even though you never hear from them, they never post on a website. Everyone complains about the negativity on television or the web while ignoring all the good out there.
There are fans of Phoenix and people that were concerned about him and his “meltdown”. That’s where this prank, while fun for them, is a brutal blow to the true fans of these actors and artists. The damage they’ve done to these fans will show, it will haunt them.
I know I’ve got my regrets over my hoax.
Hart D. Fisher
Who are you?
A lot of you are missing the point completely… The purpose of Art is to hold a mirror to the real world and challenge our preconceptions about life. What these guys have done is Art. It challenges us to consider our attitudes to individuals who make their livings under the constant scrutiny of the public. The idea that an actor of Joaquin Phoenix’s stature has the right to make whatever decisions regarding his career as he sees fit seems to engender a high degree of hostility and anger in some. The fact that a change is somehow an insult to audiences certainly illuminates the odd feelings of ownership and demands for fealty that non-famous people seem to think they are due from the famous. As an exploration of this enviousness that seems to co-exist with hero worship and other aspects of our celebrity obsessed culture, I am sure this movie is going to be instructive on many levels.
It is true that one of the purposes of art is to hold up a mirror to reflect some bit of truth. And to challenge our preconceptions. But aren’t there more interesting and important preconceptions to challenge than our opinions of Joaquin Phoenix as told to us by Joaquin Phoenix and his brother-in-law? Couldn’t you make the argument that in Jackass 2 when Johnny Knoxville dresses up like an old man and intentionally acts like a prick he’s challenging our “preconceptions” about the elderly and “holding up a mirror” to show how people interact with one another? At least “Jackass” has the balls to admit it’s “jackass.” If “I’m Still Here” is “art”, then it comes off like it’s bad art and if it’s just entertainment, it looks like cringe-worthy entertainment. It doesn’t seem worth spending $15 on, whether it’s real or fake — that’s what a lot of people here are saying, I think. I certainly agree with you that audiences are not entitled to “ownership” of a celebrity’s career. But that doesn’t mean we have to hand over our hard-earned cash for everything they do either. If Phoenix or Affleck act in a movie that looks good, I am there. But this effort is one I’m gonna take a pass on.
Agreed, Ben. Plus, I would add that if an actor of MUCH lesser quality/status/ability had tried this stunt – say, Andy Dick, for example – it might have been an interesting project. However, taking an Oscar nominated actor of Phoenix obvious talents and making him look like a fool is just plain idiotic, IMHO.
The thing that makes it kind of not funny is that there were a really people who were worried about the guy. Suckers? The PT Barnum fools born every minute? Sure, I guess. Hoaxes seldom go down well because they take advantage of people at a very visceral emotional level and people don’t easily forgive or forget that kind of emotional manipulation.
I actually think this whole thing is kind of hilarious, although I don’t think the media will find it funny at all. While everyone was quick to shout highjinks when it was first going down, over the past few months many seemed to resignedly admit that it was unlikely for Phoenix to pull off a stunt this big for this long. The narrative which emerged after the film was released, was something to the effect of “It seems to be a mixture of reality and fiction”–although most conceeded that portions of it seemed to genuine to be a performance.
I say give Phoenix the oscar. You might be sick of hearing about his antics, sure, but his performance in the film really is better than most of the people who have won best actor oscars in the past 10 years.
Next in line might be Catfish.
GAAAHHHH!!! I’M SO ANGRY THAT ACTORS I KNOW MADE A DOCUMENTARY THAT WASN’T TRUE!! WHY WON’T THESE PEOPLE ACT IN THE NARROWEST SENSE THAT I’M COMFORTABLE WITH!! THEY’RE RUINING THEIR CAREERS AND THE WORLD!! CAPS!
Well said, Explodedview. Totally. Gotta love the hilarity of it.
This would have been a funny idea for a mockumentary if Joaquin Phoenix was a beloved actor or someone known for his comedic ability. I think he’s a well-respected actor (at least, he was), but that’s not really enough for this to be anything more than some weird artifact that 20 people remember 10 years from now and 1 of them saw it.
I don’t think Casey Affleck’s career is damaged by this, beyond the possibility that he’ll come to regret the time that he spent doing this rather than cashing in on the goodwill that he’s earned with his work recently.
Juaqin wins the “I want to imitate Andy Kaufman the most” contest. Yay! Next!
“Hosed” their audiences? Surely you jest, Nikki. Are you claiming, or pretending, that you’re unaware that ALL interviews on these shows are, to some extent, pre-scripted? They all require “pre-interviews,” in which the guest pitches his or her performance, for which the host feeds the questions, and scripts his own riffs. I’ve done the late-night shows, and the questions I was asked were not surprises. In fact, they were designed to allow me to tell the stories and make the jokes I’d already told a segment producer I wanted to tell and make.
In other words, if we go by your definition, Dave is “hosing” his audience every night. But that’s just what those shows are, whether the general audience knows it or not. I’m guessing you already know it, too.
So he “acted” crazy while making this movie at the same time “promoting” Two Lovers? And his antics effectivly overshadowed the movie, maybe even hurting it?
If I were involved with Two Lovers, I would be pissed.