Is Joaquin Phoenix looking at a comeback?
He's graced the screen several times since 1984, when he was known as Leaf Phoenix, in "Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia." It was in Gus Van Sant's "To Die For" that thrust him into the limelight. He was also part of blockbuster movies like "Gladiator" and "Signs." The movie "Walk the Line" gained Phoenix a Golden Globe award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
Four years ago, his acting career took a turn for the worse when he went publicly announced his retirement from acting, and his subsequent entry into rap music. He looked thoroughly disturbed at that point in time.
Then, in 2010, came his performance in the mockumentary "I'm Still Here," directed by his brother-in-law Casey Affleck, which showcased his eccentric side.
Phoenix admitted in an interview by the Los Angeles Times that the mockumentary made it difficult for him to return to normal acting.
"For some time, people didn't know if [the gag] was continuing in some way. I would go in for meetings and they were not sure if I was [messing] with them or not," he said. "There was a noticeable drop in quality from things that I had looked at before 'I'm Still Here.' I thought, 'Wow, I've certainly limited myself in terms of the kind of work I can do. I can still get a job, but it's not the job I want to get.'"
Phoenix looks to have finally gotten back in the game with the lead role in Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master." The film won him the Silver Lion and Phoenix Coppa Volpi for Best Actor. It will be released in the second week of September.
The movie also stars Philip Seymour Hoffman playing the role of the charismatic character Lancaster Dodd who casts Phoenix, a drifter, hard-drinker and ex-navy man in a spell for his religious "Cause," Indiewire said. Phoenix said it wasn't difficult for him to move on from his previous project.
"I was so fortunate to make this film after 'I'm Still Here' because in many respects, there were a lot of unknowns that we could discover in the moment," he told the Times. "That was very similar to where we would go in 'I'm Still Here.' With 'I'm Still Here' we threw all the rules out the window. That was so exciting. It was so much fun to make. It was horrible, but it was great. And I was so nervous about what it was going to be like to be back on a movie set."
Apart from "The Master," he is working on two more movies, James Gray's "Nightingale" and Spike Jonze's "Her."
"The Master" will be released in theatres Sept. 14.
