Joaquin Phoenix documentary: Even buyers aren’t sure if it’s a prank
by John Horn
The Los Angeles Times
May 7, 2010

It”™s far from the Joaquin Phoenix you”™re used to seeing onscreen: snorting cocaine, ordering call girls, having oral sex with a publicist, treating his assistants abusively and rapping badly. And not, apparently, playing a role “” or was he?

Even after seeing the documentary “I”™m Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix” in a private screening earlier this week, film buyers still aren”™t sure of its genuineness. Was the “Walk the Line” and “Gladiator” star, who said more than a year ago that he was quitting acting to become a musician, playing a sophisticated prank, or did he really ditch his Oscar-nominated career to become a disheveled rapper?

Agents at William Morris Endeavor, the sellers of the Casey Affleck-directed film, have started showing the movie to potential distributors, and while some were apparently interested in bidding for “I”™m Still Here”™s” distribution rights, the shoppers left the screening perhaps even more mystified by Phoenix”™s behavior than when they walked in.

Several buyers said the film overflowed with Hollywood debauchery, including more male frontal nudity than you”™d find in some gay porn films and a stomach-turning sequence in which someone feuding with Phoenix defecates on the actor while he”™s asleep.

The documentary “” or is it a mockumentary? “” also includes Phoenix”™s infamous appearance on “The Late Show With David Letterman,” in which the bearded and bloated actor barely spoke, leaving Letterman bewildered if not infuriated and people wondering about Phoenix”™s mental health.

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