And for his next trick, Joaquin Phoenix will attempt to make his career…reappear! The Oscar-nominated actor who infamously “quit” acting while being filmed by brother-in-law Casey Affleck for the documentary I’M STILL HERE is apparently pulling a Brett Favre and unretiring (unclear yet whether Phoenix, also like Favre, will act beautifully throughout most of a movie only to completely blow it in the last five minutes).
While Phoenix hasn’t decided on what his next narrative film will be, he’s been in talks to star in a few projects. It was almost a done deal that Phoenix would’ve co-starred with Jeremy Renner in THE RAVEN but Renner was forced to drop out to star in NOT M:I4 and Phoenix bailed with him (John Cusack recently stepped in to replace Renner but Phoenix now appears uninterested in returning to the project).
Phoenix was also offered the villain role in the upcoming Jonah Hill comedy THE SITTER, where he would’ve played a slightly psychotic drug dealer for director David Gordon Green. Sadly it seems Phoenix passed on the part as it would’ve been a genius bit of casting.
What appears to be the issue for Phoenix at this point is shattering the image he’s cultivated for the past year or so while making I’M STILL HERE. While the film recently screened at a few festivals (read Chris Bumbray’s review from Toronto), it only opens in limited release today and the actor seems cautious about jumping right back into traditional filmmaking so soon (which would make the cries of “hoax!” only louder).
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