What happens when a respected Hollywood star says he wants to retire from acting to start a hip hop career? Do you believe him? What about when he puts on weight, grows a beard, and appears to lose general coherency? When then? What about when he goes on Letterman and gives one of the oddest and most awkward interviews in years? Do you still believe him? What about when he performs at clubs, and claims Sean “Diddy” Combs is producing his album? At what point do you stop believing it’s a joke, and think that perhaps, just perhaps, this guy is for real?
The answer to that seems to be different for everyone. When Joaquin Phoenix declared his new career path, few people took him seriously. Many assumed he had fallen into substance abuse over the intensity of his role as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line. Others thought he had just “snapped”. Most, though, decided it was one big joke.
Over the next year or so, I for one found it difficult to believe this was all some elaborate hoax. Amateur clips, filmed on mobile phones, popped up on YouTube of Phoenix - looking not unlike a homeless person - rapping badly in a Vegas club, then falling off the stage. Big names in Hollywood made fun of his turn on Letterman. It seemed the once-respected Joaquin Phoenix had become a worldwide laughing stock. As someone who has dramatically changed careers (more than once) I actually felt sorry for the guy, whether he had truly lost his marbles or not.
Then this month came the release of I’m Still Here. Directed by Casey Affleck, I’m Still Here is the documentary of Joaquin Phoenix’s metamorphosis from acclaimed screen actor to failing, mumbling, bum rapper. I was excited; now we would finally learn what had happened to Phoenix. We didn’t have to wonder for long, though, because Affleck announced immediately that it was, in fact, all a hoax. The documentary was a mockumentary, and we’ve all been fooled. Film at eleven!
The confusing part, to me, is why Affleck chose to announce the truth while people were still booking their cinema tickets. After all this time (two years of pretending!) and putting in so much work to keep us believing, why not give the audience a chance to consider that this documentary might be true? Why not allow the mystery to make room for some analysis? Surely this film was made to make us think about something? Taking that away doesn’t make any sense. Which, of course, makes me question what exactly the point of this film is.
In an interview with Jay Leno, Affleck admits, “I wanted them to think it was real while they were watching it, but I assumed, when it was over, they would understand that it wasn’t real.”
Yet without giving anyone a chance to work it out, what was the point of the hoax in the first place?
I can’t help but compare it to the likes of say, Borat or Bruno: there is crass behaviour, moments which make you squirm, but then some genuinely funny scenes as well. More crucially, they also use a hoax protagonist to reveal truths about the people they interact with. (With the exception of those who were in on it, of course). I like this concept, and that was what I enjoyed about Borat and Bruno; the way that an initially-offensive character reveals genuine reactions and honest prejudices in real people. Obviously Sacha Baron Cohen’s movies took this to a higher extreme, but then, I’m not even sure this was what Affleck and Phoenix set out to achieve.
So what then, is the point of it all? Was it a way of showing the insight to the Hollywood world, where you are either embraced or rejected, depending on how you play the game? Was it to offer a message about chasing a dream, and finding self expression? Or was it just for a laugh?
Affleck doesn’t provide any further insight, simply describing I’m Still Here as “a social experiment - if you want to call it that. I would call it a movie.”
Whatever the point, it makes for intriguing viewing... and you have to hand it to Joaquin Phoenix, he really has proved himself as one of the most talented and believable actors in Hollywood. (Which is just as well, really... he's not a great rapper).