"I'm Still Here"

August 17, 2010 9:18 AM

In October 2008 Grammy and Golden Globe award winner Joaquin Phoenix announced his retirement from acting in order to make his name in the world of hip-hop, with the help of Sean 'P-Diddy' Combs and brother-in-law Casey Affleck, who documented the effort on film. No word on whether footage from the very strange Letterman appearance is included (previously) although other, odder behavior does play a role. Now watch the teaser trailer for I’m Still Here: The Lost Year Of Joaquin Phoenix.
posted by waraw (53 comments total)

Any word on whether Rick Ross and Eminem are shaking in their boots over JP's hip-hop dominance?
posted by blucevalo at 9:24 AM on August 17, 2010

Wow.
posted by ReeMonster at 9:29 AM on August 17, 2010

Seems a bit too heavily documented to be a LOST year.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 9:35 AM on August 17, 2010 [5 favorites]

I can't wait not to see this.
posted by oneironaut at 9:38 AM on August 17, 2010 [6 favorites]

Well, that was slightly excruciating (but I'm still foolishly fond of the guy).
posted by Jody Tresidder at 9:42 AM on August 17, 2010

I like him better in The Hangover.
posted by chillmost at 9:43 AM on August 17, 2010 [7 favorites]

Emotionally fragile Joaquin Phoenix has a bigger pot-belly than me! Yay for me!
posted by bonobothegreat at 9:47 AM on August 17, 2010

I loved Joaquin Phoenix, partly in memory of his incredibly talented brother, partly because of his superior sneer, until that Academy Awards show where he sat stone faced for all of Jon Stewart's jokes. It is really hard to admire someone who lacks a good sense of humor.
posted by bearwife at 9:50 AM on August 17, 2010

bearwife, that "sneer" is a harelip.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 9:52 AM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm not there redux? The "wreck" of a career? The glasses? The scruff? The "lost" year? First he does Cash, now Dylan. Makes sense to me.
posted by kneecapped at 9:53 AM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm no doctor, and I don't even play one on tv, but by the looks of it, provided it's not all one elaborate prank, he's got a chemical imbalance.
posted by crunchland at 9:54 AM on August 17, 2010

Does it include clips from his performance at LIV nightclub in Miami Beach where he got into a fight with someone in the audience? (careful with the sound on that second link, it's horrid and loud)
posted by dabitch at 9:58 AM on August 17, 2010

So it was all a prank?
posted by From Bklyn at 9:59 AM on August 17, 2010

but I'm still foolishly fond of the guy

Well duh his dead brother was higher up on the Hot Actor Totem Pole than Johnny Depp.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 10:07 AM on August 17, 2010

Oh goodie. I've been looking for an excuse to post this Jaoquin Phoenix / Billy Bob Thornton celebrity nutso interview mashup.
posted by srkit at 10:10 AM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

Seems a bit too heavily documented to be a LOST year.

The other options of "I’m Still Here: Joaquin Phoenix Didn't Die of a Drug Overdose" and "I’m Still Here: Those Years Everyone Forgot About Joaquin Phoenix Because He Wasn't In Any Movies Or Tripping The Fuck Out While On Camera" lacked a certain mystery and touch of class they were trying maintain.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:17 AM on August 17, 2010 [2 favorites]

I propose: Hollywood Cocaine Burnout LXXXIII: This Time With This Guy: The Sequel
posted by atypicalguy at 10:25 AM on August 17, 2010 [3 favorites]

So it was all a prank?

I remember reading a lot of speculation at the time that it was all staged. I can't decide whether I'm interested enough to watch the movie, but watching the public reaction ought to be interesting.
posted by immlass at 10:26 AM on August 17, 2010

Judging from comments, they forgot to close their own tag.

There I did it for them.
posted by eatdonuts at 10:29 AM on August 17, 2010

Whoops... /satire

All closed now. Mefi likes obscure tags too. :)
posted by eatdonuts at 10:30 AM on August 17, 2010

Yeah, Joaquin Phoenix as Vincent Gallo is a very strange career choice and not a wholly original one. For that reason, I hope it's real, because I think JP probably has more talent than it would take to concoct this "prank." I wonder if he owed Casey Affleck money, because this is going to benefit him most of all. The artiste Affleck, the vaguely passive documentarian hipster provocateur.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:35 AM on August 17, 2010

Funny, his name popped into my head yesterday and I realized I hadn't heard anything about him since that Letterman interview.
posted by TrialByMedia at 10:39 AM on August 17, 2010

I could imagine doing this - having enough money and connections to just say "Fuck it, I'm taking a year off to prank everyone in the world."

I don't think I could keep up the charade for that long, though. Eventually I would crack.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 10:46 AM on August 17, 2010

Oh, and is it too much to hope for that he'll sing the title song?
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:53 AM on August 17, 2010

So he took a year to accomplish what Jim Carrey did in five minutes?
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:56 AM on August 17, 2010 [6 favorites]

Is that Nick Nolte talking to him in the trailer?
posted by brand-gnu at 10:57 AM on August 17, 2010

Astro Zombie, thanks, I had missed that.
posted by dabitch at 11:10 AM on August 17, 2010

I don't think I could keep up the charade for that long, though. Eventually I would crack.

Given sufficient funding, I'm pretty sure I could keep up the "lazy guy who does whatever he wants and doesn't work" act indefinitely.
posted by The World Famous at 11:13 AM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

Is Joaquin Phoenix the next Andy Kaufman, or is he the next Howard Hughes?

Or... is he the next Andy Kaufman pretending to be the next Howard Hughes?

IN A WORLD....
posted by tzikeh at 11:31 AM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

Nice.

As we’ve reported before, said “extreme behavior” contained in the Casey Affleck-directed film includes not-at-all-cheap-stunt scenes like Phoenix snorting cocaine off the breast of a prostitute and allowing some guy to take a huge, dimensional dump on his chest, which suggests that when it comes out, Harmony Korine is going to be sitting in a theater pulling a pout face.

If desperate famous-because-they're-famous celebrities start filming gross acts of self-humiliation in order to prove they're artists, I'm all in. It's the real time justice machine that I've always wanted.

Pity about JoPho though. He was in my favorite Vince Vaughn movie.
posted by atypicalguy at 11:36 AM on August 17, 2010

As we’ve reported before, said “extreme behavior” contained in the Casey Affleck-directed film includes not-at-all-cheap-stunt scenes like Phoenix snorting cocaine off the breast of a prostitute and allowing some guy to take a huge, dimensional dump on his chest, which suggests that when it comes out, Harmony Korine is going to be sitting in a theater pulling a pout face.

So it's Rich Man's "Jackass"?
posted by The World Famous at 11:39 AM on August 17, 2010

Yeah, but Jackass probably has higher production costs, and the next one is gonna be in 3D!!!
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:44 AM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

brand-gnu wrote: "Is that Nick Nolte talking to him in the trailer?"

I thought it was Edward James Olmos. He and Nick Nolte seem, to me, unlikely to be confused.
posted by secretseasons at 11:51 AM on August 17, 2010

Wasn't he claiming all throughout his "hip-hop" career that it wasn't for a documentary even though everyone could tell it was?

How lame. Go back to fighting gladiators.
posted by elder18 at 12:02 PM on August 17, 2010

Tangentially: I could see P-Diddy doing this as part of a joke. He was really, really funny in Get Him to the Greek, and delivered his ridiculous lines perfectly.
posted by codacorolla at 1:43 PM on August 17, 2010

He's mind-fucking you right now.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:58 PM on August 17, 2010

Hey, do I need to remind everyone that J-Pho was awesome as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line?
posted by Vindaloo at 2:04 PM on August 17, 2010 [1 favorite]

He's mind-fucking you right now.

I thought that was a mosquito. That devious little bastard.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:06 PM on August 17, 2010

Hey, do I need to remind everyone that J-Pho was awesome as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line?

Irrelevant. Marlon Brando was awesome in most of his films, too.
posted by The World Famous at 2:07 PM on August 17, 2010

I still don't care.

and, yeah, lots of people saw his whole bizarro late-career Jim Morrison act as a publicity stunt way in advance. It doesn't make him Andy Kaufman; hell, it doesn't even make him Crispin Glover.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:16 PM on August 17, 2010

secretseasons: brand-gnu wrote: "Is that Nick Nolte talking to him in the trailer?"

I thought it was Edward James Olmos. He and Nick Nolte seem, to me, unlikely to be confused.

Though I can't speak for Mr. Olmos, I've actually thought that, at least when I've seen him on camera, out of character, recently, Mr. Nolte is actually VERY likely to be confused.

Oh... wait...never mind.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:19 PM on August 17, 2010

Another episode of "Amazing actors can be idiots, too," or as Us Weekly says: celebrities are just like us! (probably fake Wiki-Factoid: this section of Us Weekly was "Inspired by a regular Sesame Street feature about animals.")
posted by filthy light thief at 2:24 PM on August 17, 2010

"Is that Nick Nolte talking to him in the trailer?"

I called Adama immediately. It's one thing to recognize a voice; it's quite another to recognize a voice spewing pseudo-spiritual nonsense.
posted by bicyclefish at 2:49 PM on August 17, 2010

Pffftt, I don't know guys. Judging by atypicalguy's link, this looks....."damaging". I wouldn't want to see it because of that.

*rents stand by me*
posted by captainsohler at 3:06 PM on August 17, 2010

christ, what an asshole.
posted by geekhorde at 3:27 PM on August 17, 2010

Wasn't he awesome in Spacecamp though?
posted by padraigin at 3:40 PM on August 17, 2010

bearwife, that "sneer" is a harelip.

Well, gee, I never knew that! (hamburger)

It is both. And to me, he made the harelip work for him . . . until he revealed his inability to appreciate good jokes.
posted by bearwife at 4:14 PM on August 17, 2010

Casey Affleck has been sued -- twice -- for alleged sexual harassment during this production.
posted by waraw at 5:10 PM on August 17, 2010

mad skills. mad skills.
posted by artof.mulata at 6:52 PM on August 17, 2010

wait...did he record a hip hop album? are there songs somewhere? i am so confused.
posted by janepanic at 6:56 PM on August 17, 2010

The hipster's cheap, missing-the-point Andy Kaufman knockoff.
posted by FormlessOne at 8:33 AM on August 18, 2010

Jesus. I just realized this isn't the first project by this name Phoenix has been involved in. A deliberate comparison between your autobiographical Hollywood dropout film and a film about surviving the Holocaust is hardcore...
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 1:34 PM on September 7, 2010

Man, I've even seen that one, I knew the title was familiar.
posted by dabitch at 1:47 PM on September 7, 2010