Joaquin Phoenix

Interview By: Rebecca Ford
RebeccaFord@TheCinemaSource.com

Whether it's a hoax for a mockumentary, or really a serious career change, Joaquin Phoenix's decision to retire from acting and pursue a career as a rapper has taken the media and the public by storm.

He announced his retirement from acting in October, and has since fallen off the stage at his rap performance and acted like a homeless space cadet on David Letterman.

If we are to believe the hype, then Two Lovers will be his last film. In it, Joaquin plays a bachelor torn between a family friend his parents want him to be with, and a mysterious neighbor (Gwyneth Paltrow).

We sat down with Joaquin to ask him about the James Grey film, but spent most of the time talking about his unusual change of path. For him, music is his destiny. 'I feel like everything in my life was leading up like this,' he says. 'Acting doesn't seem like that's a big part of my life, or what was important. I imagine that when I look back on my life, acting will be just a very small portion, and I think music will be the dominant thing in my life.'

While the public may have been shocked by the Oscar nominated actor's choice, Joaquin says it has been something he has been thinking about for quite some time. 'I really think it seemed like a flash to other people, seems like it came out of nowhere,' explains Joaquin. 'But it's something that's been brewing for me for a long time. I didn't really know that it was going to be something that I completely walked away from.'

'I've always flirted with the idea of quitting acting and there's been times where I've felt like I've had enough,' he continues. 'But I guess in some ways I've never had anything that I really believed in to replace it in some ways.'

So why music' 'I've always loved music, but I never really said anything,' says Joaquin. 'After Walk the Line and learning to play guitar and have that sense of performing, I think that certainly kind of opened the door for me music.'

Joaquin says he was a little surprised by the public shock. 'I didn't know that anyone was really going to care,' he says. 'I felt I had an obligation to tell my fans what I was doing, that I was moving in another direction. I didn't know whether they would be interested in my music or not. That's why I kind of made that announcement.'

He hopes that now the music can speak for itself. 'I can sit and talk about it all day, but I don't think they'll ever understand,' he says.

Joaquin played Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, so wouldn't that type of music be a better fit for him' We had to ask, why rap' 'I've always loved hip hop since I was a kid. I mean I think everyone in my generation kind of fantasized about hip hop in some ways,' says Joaquin. 'I think that when I got into the actual structure of hip hop, things really started to take off for me as a writer.'

'I don't know how to explain it. It just connected to me,' he continues. 'I never imagined that I'd actually write. I thought that I'd do programming and production and stuff. I never thought that I'd be writing lyrics.'

When Joaquin announced his decision to retire from acting, he says he was not concerned with a problem if he decided he did want to come back to acting. 'I don't know if there's a danger. I'm not thinking about that,' says Joaquin. 'I don't quit something going like, 'Well, I hope I can get back into it.' I guess never say never, but I 'm just not one of those people. When I decide to do something, I do it, and I don't really look back.'

Joaquin says his choice is more about his love of music than any sort of dissatisfaction or dislike for acting. 'I still think movies are amazing, and I respect actors,' he says. 'For me personally, I wasn't interested anymore. The mystery was completely lost for me. I used to read scripts and have this overwhelming desire to experience it, to see it come to life.'

'Recently, when I read scripts, all I thought about was somebody putting makeup on my face, and you know all of the auxiliary, peripheral elements that just, I don't know,' he trials off.

While he continues to be in the limelight even as he pursues his acting career, Joaquin says there is a big difference between the publicity from acting versus rap. 'I think I have much more control,' explains Joaquin. 'It's my story and it doesn't have to be released at a certain time, it doesn't have to have a certain rating. I can do what I want.'

It's at this moment that you can hear the subtle dissatisfaction that he had with acting. 'I think sometimes it gets tiresome having to fulfill someone else's vision, instead of fulfilling your own,' he says. 'I just got to a point or an age where I have something I have to express.'

'I don't know if it's going to be of interest to anyone else, but that's not really the point,' he continues. 'It's something that I feel I have to do. In some ways, I wish I wasn't a public figure. I wish that I didn't have expectations. I wish that I could have the music come out and just speak for itself.'

The main difference that Joaquin emphasizes is that in film he was using other people's words, but in music, it's all his owns. 'It's about experiencing something, and just putting my experiences and thoughts into words,' he says.

'Oftentimes, I'm alone in the studio. It's much more personal,' he continues. 'It's much more intimate. I think that's what was hard about acting, in some ways. Being in a large group of people, I think that was more difficult.'

Joaquin emphasizes that with acting he was using someone else's words, whereas with music, it's all his. 'I think you do try and make other people's words your own, in a sense. But this isn't acting,' he says. 'It's about experiencing something, and just putting my experiences and thoughts into words.'

When asked about the theory that all of his shenanigans are for a mockumentary being made by his friend, Casey Affleck, Joaquin becomes visibly agitated.

'It's hard to not get offended when people are suggesting something that is important to you that you are putting your life and your heart into is not [expletive] true,' says Joaquin. 'It's hard for me to not get pissed off.'

He says that Casey's filming is simply another way for him to promote his music. 'The music industry has changed, and I'm trying to do it independently,' he explains. 'And so Casey thought it was an interesting process and transition. I think that it's not really about me in some ways. I think that it's applicable to anyone who is going through a transition through this under severe scrutiny.'

With all this dramatic change in his life, it was almost possible to forget about the film, Two Lovers completely. But we asked him if he thought his personal change was affecting the press for the film. 'I think [director James Gray] understands that I have to live my life and be true to myself,' he says. 'And I hope that it doesn't affect the film in a negative way. I don't want my personal life to overshadow the work. I'd feel terrible of that was the case.'

But when asked about his role in the film, Joaquin reveals an acting fa'ade that devalues what actors having been saying about their roles for decades. When asked if he was haunted by his role, a phrase many award-winning actors have used in the past, Joaquin laughs it off. 'No, you just say that when you're trying to get nominated,' he laughs. 'And I know that you do these scenes, and you are digging around the craft services table.'

'Making a movie is such a formality,' he continues. 'When it's all put together, it seems real.

For now, Joaquin says he's focusing on the record. He says the first nine songs flowed freely from his brain, but now he has to focus on finishing the album. 'My music is going to be true. I'm not out to sell records,' he says. 'I'm out to experience something. It's what I feel.'

He says it includes a variety of types of music, including dance songs. The work is about his life, but not too specifically any of his film experiences. 'Certainly there is stuff that is about my experience in Hollywood, but there's no Gladiator raps, or anything,' he laughs.

For Joaquin, music is his life now. 'I just kind of followed my heart, and what was true at the time, and that's what I'm doing now.'