As we’re sure you’ve probably heard, beardy goofball Joaquin Phoenix made a “disastrous,†“career-ending†appearance on Letterman last night, during which he chewed gum and pretended to be on drugs, presumably to get people excited for the silly mockumentary he’s making with Casey Affleck about his fake rap career. One thing he didn’t do was talk about Two Lovers, purportedly his last-ever film, and the one he was ostensibly booked to promote.
Letterman tries to talk about the movie a couple of times, as did Vulture when we spoke with Phoenix last week, but to no avail. In fact, he hasn’t done any real, straight-faced promotion for Lovers, which is sort of too bad, since it’s apparently a good movie! It has a Metascore of 74 and New York’s David Edelstein says that in it, Phoenix is “stupendous in a way he has never been before.â€
So how delighted its director, James Gray — who’s made two previous small-budget crime dramas with Phoenix, neither of which lit up the box office — must be that his friend selected this particular publicity tour to debut his new “character,†especially since his co-star, Gwyneth Paltrow, doesn’t seem to be doing many interviews. It’s a good thing smart, modestly budgeted, independent movies don’t need the attention!
Anyway, here’s his disastrous, career-ending Letterman interview:
Earlier: Joaquin Phoenix on His ‘Terrible’ New Rap Career
Casey Affleck to Direct Joaquin Phoenix’s Hard Day’s Night
Related: David Edelstein on Two Lovers [NYM]