For several months last year, a bearded and bizarre Joaquin Phoenix had everyone wondering, "Has he gone insane?"
Now, there's finally an answer – sort of.
The theatrical trailer for I’m Still Here, the Casey Affleck-directed documentary about the actor, 35, has just been released, and it offers a peek into that strange time.
The preview, which features a man giving Phoenix a lesson about the journey of life (in an analogy that likens life to falling drops of mountain water), shows the unkempt actor partying, performing as a rapper, stressing out and attending church. A night-vision camera even captures him wrestling on a bed.
The most shocking moment? Seeing Phoenix’s giant white gut. In among the other delights of Casey Affleck's forthcoming "documentary" about Joaquin Phoenix's supposed fall from grace are a scene in which a rival musician defecates on the Oscar-winning actor's head while he is sleeping, and another in which he is given oral sex by a publicist. That's according to a recent report in the LA Times, based on comments from someone who's supposedly seen the film, although who knows what will emerge when Affleck delivers his final cut?
It’s still unclear whether this is more fiction than straight documentary, or if he's acting or not. But if that now- infamous 2009 TV interview with David Letterman is any indication, the film, which opens Sept. 10, is bound to be ... interesting. According to that Times report, the buyers for whom the film was screened earlier this year found themselves utterly incapable of deciding whether the movie was the real deal or not. That could either be an indication of Affleck and Phoenix's powerful wind-up skills, or an indictment of Phoenix's worryingly worsening mental state.