The worst secret in Hollywood spilled out last week – the Joaquin Phoenix documentary “I’m Still Here’ is a con.
Most people suspected as much from the very beginning, but director Casey Affleck’s refusal to admit the truth caused a flicker of doubt – at least in my mind. So how are people reacting to the news?
Well, the film debuted badly in its opening week, and as of Sept. 19 it’s made roughly $250,000. That’s not even enough money to pay for Phoenix’s rumpled black suit, beard comb and drugs.
The just-wrapped movie weekend found “I’m Still Here” dropping even further down the box office list. It came in at number 41 on the boxofficemojo.com weekend chart. What movies beat out the Phoenix “documentary?”
“Dabangg” … “Catfish” … and plenty of other fading mainstream entries.
The public is collectively yawning over the stunt, and the film will certainly be of little interest to those who know it’s all a scam. Even David Letterman was in on the act, although he takes the prize for Best Actor in the film given the circumstances.
So let’s recap. Phoenix wasted two years of his life on a stunt that drew precious little money and plenty of unflattering press, and now he’s left with a serious goodwill drain.
He’s still here … but does anybody care?
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ll give Phoenix credit for this: he sold the joke. He committed himself to it completely.
Having said that, though, it was an idiotic joke, and it should have come as no surprise to him and Casey Affleck that nobody gave a rip about their little narcissistic prank.
The fact that two such high-class actors thought this was a good idea is a reminder that just because someone is good at one aspect of the film business (acting), that doesn’t mean that they have a clue about other aspects of it.
Agreed … and where does this leave the film? It’s not very entertaining as a joke – “Borat” was 1,000 times funnier and more revolting. So what’s the point now? Did they wanna prove that the media is invasive in an actor’s life? Duh. That actor’s egos can overwhelm them? Duh.
where does this leave the film?
Perhaps in the “Top 5 Bad Career Choices in Hollywood” right behind Mickey Rourke trying to become a professional boxer? Rourke was at least a really cool guy that people liked …
I can’t speak for the public at large, but there is no goodwill drain here. On one hand, I never went to see a movie because he was in it (and I never will), but on the other hand, I know that if he is in a movie that in the least his character will be interesting and well acted. And I applaud him for taking a risk like this. It probably sucks even more than the box office returns would indicate, but at least he isn’t doing remakes and reboots of long dead movie and TV franchises like the rest of Hollywood. Another Gladiator or Walk the Line will put him back on top.
Considering that he apparently had no other movies in development while he was engaged in this stunt, he’ll likely have wasted more like five years of his career by the time anything else he does is released.