Poll: Should Joaquin Phoenix Retire from Acting?

by Erik Davis Oct 29th 2008 // 4:02PM

Filed under: RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Newsstand

In one of the oddest videos I've watched all year, Joaquin Phoenix tells E! that he's retiring from acting in order to pursue his music career. What's weird about the video is that the E! dude kind of laughs off the ultra-serious Phoenix when he claims he's quitting, and by doing so kind of insults the ~~actor~~ musician. As Phoenix walks away, peeved no one took him seriously during a moment that obviously meant a lot to him, the E! host struggles to regroup but it's too late. So then they grab Casey Affleck in mid-stride and he's all like, "Yeah, he's going to pursue this music thing" -- as if it was common knowledge.

Actually Casey, it's not common knowledge. And I'd be totally fine with this if it were, say, Jessica Simpson, but Joaquin Phoenix, in my opinion, is one of the best actors we have working today. What the hell? Phoenix's last completed movie was the James Gray-directed Two Lovers, due out in 2009, and that's it for now. If you want to follow the guy, you'll have to do so by checking out his band The Lady is a Tramp.

But is this for real? Actors with long beards often say crazy things in quiet voices because they want people to listen, and not that they want to be heard. (Don't know the difference? Watch White Men Can't Jump.) So check out the video after the jump and let us know what you think. Is this dude serious? And if he is, do you support his quest to pursue a career in music?

18 Comments

Tags: cinematical, joaquin phoenix, joaquin phoenix retires, JoaquinPhoenix, JoaquinPhoenixRetires, the lady is a tramp, TheLadyIsATramp, walk the line, WalkTheLine

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-29-2008 @ 4:47PM

Paul Arnette said...

BTW, shouldn't that be: 'I couldn't care less'?

10-29-2008 @ 4:48PM

eugene said...

yup.

10-29-2008 @ 5:32PM

Rufus said...

Actually that's an American thing as far as I can tell.

I'm English and we say, "I couldn't care less", as in you do not care, and thus, could not care less. In the US however, they (for some reason I don't know, and I live here) say "could care less".

I know, it makes no sense... weirdo yanks ;)

10-29-2008 @ 5:54PM

Mike said...

I'm not surprised that he would say this. His brother, the late River Phoenix, was said to be much more into his music. And it was quite possible that he would have made this same choice had he lived long enough.

So I do believe that Joaquin will give this a try. Whether it'll stick or not, I don't know. He did a great job in Walk the Line, but I'm not sure of his musical abilities over the long haul.

10-29-2008 @ 7:48PM

Kurt said...

It looks like he was joking tbh...

10-29-2008 @ 6:23PM

Batzarro said...

Well, the music industry right now is in shambles, and if Joaquim Phoenix is the man to do it, then i say "swing away".

10-29-2008 @ 8:59PM

Rus said...

Although I expect to be flamed away here - I have to say that the film industry will not go down in flames without Phoenix. I think that fans tried to worship River vicariously through him, but this dude Joaquin couldn't act his way out of a flaming bag of shit. Look back at the performances again - that high pitch hum you hear is called a FLATLINE.

And for him to get all riled up about not being taken seriously - Get over it. Your departure from the film biz is not like Matt Damon or Brad Pitt leaving. It's kinda like Jimmy Fallon leaving SNL. Big effin' deal.

What if - check this out...what if he left without telling anyone? Would we have noticed the vacancy and then would we have noticed the surge in record sales over there on the music biz side?

Sorry if I'm a little irked - his reaction to not getting a reaction sums up this guy's persona.

10-29-2008 @ 7:50PM

Wilberton said...

Funniest thing Ive seen in days!!!

Serves him right for taking himself so seriously, that was glooorious!! lol

10-29-2008 @ 9:11PM

YouFaceTheTick said...

If you had the correct phrase:

I could NOT care less - I would click it.

I could care less = the capacity to care even less. His career is so utterly meaningless, I can't care any less about him as an actor.

10-29-2008 @ 9:46PM

paul said...

If I had fifteen million (or so) banked I could make statements like this too.
"I think I'm gonna go buy me a pick up and just travel around and take pictures"
Since I don't, I just think it. If I do say it, that and two quarters will buy you a paper.

10-30-2008 @ 8:20PM

Gerard F Keogh Jr. said...

I got the distinct impression that he was either on something or had gone without sleep for three days. Watch it again. It was eeriely reminiscent of Jerry Garcia or Jim Morrison. Bizarre. I don't know whether to take him seriously or be prepared to be jolted by another overdose death in the family. Sadly, I'm not being facetious when I say this...

10-29-2008 @ 11:00PM

MCW said...

Most of what he said was mumbling, so know one could actually translate that, but I think it's funny that he punked the E! guy. E! is the biggest joke of a television channel, so it's good that WahKeen took that opportunity to pull a prank on them. "Why would you laugh at that?" I thought it was pretty hilarious too. He had to put on his sunglasses so he wouldn't give it away.

I picked "Could not care less" because while he may be a "good" actor, he's in mostly horrible films, have you noticed? He makes poor choices for movie roles, so I couldn't care less if he decided to pursue a music career in a non-existent music industry.

Between Phoenix and Affleck, I don't know whose acting was worse in this interview.

10-30-2008 @ 6:54AM

Karla said...

reaction out of belgium:
ever seen gladiator? walk the line? do you really think that those were "poor choices for movie roles"? i'm not his biggest fan, but i think he really is a great actor. but hey, maybe it's because i'm belgian? :)

10-30-2008 @ 4:03AM

Movie_Dearest said...

He's just the latest actor to say he'll retire from films -- remember how Renee Zellwegger did, oh, about ten films ago? I say he'll be back in front of cameras in 2-3 years.

10-30-2008 @ 4:46AM

will said...

Who cares? It's the man's choice of career. Now, if Christopher Walken was retiring from acting, that would be a problem!

10-30-2008 @ 2:25PM

joits said...

great actor... but for me personally, i don't go out there specifically looking for a joaquin phoenix movie... so whether he's there or not won't really make a difference to me. he'll do what he has to do.

10-30-2008 @ 9:02PM

Julie said...

He is a brilliant actor and never dealt well with the press, a lot of baggage with that over what they did to his family when River died--it was savage.

I love his work, his performance are uniformally remarkable, and great film or not, I'll pay to see him in anything. I've always liked him too, he's private, eccentric, but genuinely uninterested in whoring himself out--the farthest thing from the mediocre, over-paid celebrities.

He left acting for five years as a teenager, but never announced it, if he (and his rep) are announcing it, it sounds serious. And he has no interest in being a rock star, he's been writing music for some time now with bands, stuff that he's not really planning on releasing. It's a personal thing for him.
We may have just lost the best actor in Hollywood.

11-05-2008 @ 4:22AM

Keith said...

I can't believe. I really like him as an actor. It's like Health Ledger, I assumed that he would be acting for a long time. I have no doubt that Joaquin is serious about this, but I'm still questioning whether he can completely turn his back on acting forever. Now he's done with his acting career, but will he still feel the same way 5 or 10 years down the line? Is this permenant? It will be interesting to see. For now I guess I can check out his band.