Audiences will next see Phoenix in Joker, Todd Phillips’ intense take on take on the origin story of Batman’s nemesis. In advance of the October 4, 2019, United States film premiere, here are the five craziest things Joaquin Phoenix has ever done for a role.
Joaquin Phoenix on brother River and following Heath Ledger as the Joker
1. He pretended to have a breakdown
The weirdest thing the film star has ever done is pretend to leave Hollywood for a rap career (and lose his mind in the process). Of course, we know now it was all an elaborate 18-month ruse that became the mockumentary comedy-drama, I’m Still Here, directed by Casey Affleck.
The two men came up with the idea after discussing the phenomenon of popular actors having mental breakdowns and turning into public train wrecks – and how society is fascinated with soaking up every sordid detail. They decided Phoenix would pretend to have such an epic meltdown, with Affleck filming his every faux pas for a secret “documentary” on the nature of celebrity.
Highlights from the hoax include Phoenix growing a ridiculously bushy beard, rapping (terribly) in public before fighting an audience member and making a shocking appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman, where he was dishevelled, wore sunglasses and spoke unintelligibly (he later apologised to Letterman).
Phoenix admitted to The Guardian the whole act eventually spiralled out of control – and that there was even a point when he wanted out. His antics weren’t very well received by the public or by critics, and it’s truly a miracle the stunt didn’t ruin Phoenix’s career.
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2. While filming the Folsom Prison scene in Walk the Line, he made his crew treat the extras like real prisoners
There’s a key scene in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line in which Cash performs for the inmates at Folsom Prison. Phoenix told The Guardian the inmates were not allowed to eat, drink or use the restroom. He believed this would create an authentically tense environment for the scene.
3. He had his jaw wired shut to create his character for The Master
In The Master Phoenix plays Freddie Quell, a traumatised World War II veteran who joins a cult. The character clenches his jaw, and, to tap into this physicality, the actor had his jaw wired shut. He told National Public Radio: “I actually went to my dentist and I had them fasten these metal brackets to my teeth on the top and the bottom, and then I wrapped rubber bands around it to force my jaw shut on one side.” Ouch.
4. He starved himself to play Jesus
There’s drastic weight loss for a role, and then there’s what Joaquin Phoenix did to play Jesus in the film Mary Magdalene. To achieve Jesus’ emaciated look, he ate only 300 calories per day. To put this in context, WedMD recommends a moderately active male aged 31 to 50 eat 2,400 to 2,600 calories daily. That’s a staggering difference.
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5. He smashed a toilet on the set of The Master
For the scene in The Master in which Freddie Quell and cult leader Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman) are thrown in jail cells, the script called for Phoenix to fly into a rage. In anticipation, Phoenix told The New York Times he studied videos of wild animals in captivity who were desperate to escape.
“You can see that their brains don’t seem to be functioning any more”, he told the paper. “It’s [a] pure reaction, and you see the muscles going. I knew that’s what I wanted to capture – they’re hurting themselves, and they don’t even know [it], but something inside is saying get out, get out.”
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When the cameras started to roll, Phoenix tapped into that physical aggression and ended up stomping on – and breaking – a toilet. It wasn’t intentional, but it was too insane not to keep in the movie.
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