Joaquin Phoenix - now officially Hollywood's Most Interesting Celebrity!
There's more trouble for rogue hip hopper Joaquin Phoenix. Director of Phoenix's last film Two Lovers, James Gray, is hip hopping mad! Two Lovers, which co stared Gwyneth Paltrow, has only made $1.63 million after 5 weeks of limited release. The movie has gotten critical acclaim, and picked a Gold Palm nomination at Cannes, but you can't eat prestige. Considering that the film had an A List cast, the returns are an extreme failure.
So some one's got to be to blame. Gray has a pretty clear idea of who's fault it is too. he blames original gangsta Joaquin. The director wasn't impressed with Phoenix's David Letterman appearance, for one thing. JP showed up to hype the film on Latenight looking like he'd spent the past few hours panhandling for loose change. While Letterman took repeated pot shots, Phoenix sat there looking bewildered and getting agitated. When Phoenix was asked what the film was about he replied "I dunno, I haven't seen it". He was unable to introduce a promotional clip that Latenight had set up.
Gray has some ideas about Pheonix's recent personality change too. Rumours are that this is some kind of elaborate Andy Kaufman style hoax. The fact that Phoenix's brother in law Casey Affleck is following him around with a camera seems to confirm this. Gray doesn't know what the whole Affleck angle is, but has called him to say that it's in very poor taste (After the returns on 2 Lover's, Gray should consider himself lucky that Casey took the call). Gray also reveals that Phoenix has a full recording studio in his house. "If it's a hoax then it's an elaborate one," Gray says, and then goes on to state "but even if it's not he still needs help".
Now Gray might be a little harsh in his judgements. Phoenix's colourful late night antics may have actually peaked interest in an other wise bland film. I can imagine some people going just to see if they can spot the exact moment when Phoenix started to crack. As for lack luster returns, no one has been interested in paying money to see Paltrow in some time. Even Gray's assessments of Phoenix's sanity might be out. Phoenix has probably had that recording studio for some time. Though rap is a recent development, his interest in music goes way back. So is Phoenix crazy, or crazy like a fox? The jury's still out on that, but I won't believe he's nuts until I hear complaints about his hygiene and body odor!
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