He is a multi-faceted actor. Tortured, talented, committed, but also adventurous. Since the late 90s, Joaquin Phoenix has been an essential face in Hollywood. After small roles when he was a child, the younger brother of the late River Phoenix, made his mark in Walk the Line (2005), in which he plays Johnny Cash. But also in the very beautiful Her (2013), and more recently in Joker (2019) by Todd Phillips – which won him the Oscar for best actor – and Napoleon (2023) by Ridley Scott. And it is to this last director that the actor owes the start of his career. In 2000, he played Emperor Commodus in Gladiator by Ridley Scott, a role for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. But also a completely unique role in his career…
Joaquin Phoenix: an actor who doubts a lot
The extraordinary destiny of this actor who is just as unusual is told in the documentary Joaquin Phoenix: A Possessed Actor, broadcast Sunday May 12, 2024 at 10:55 p.m. on Arte. He looks back on his career, his life away from the media, his humanitarian commitments (notably with PETA) and the decisions that profoundly marked his career in Hollywood. In 2005, after having worked hard to sound like Johnny Cash vocally and perform his hits as accurately as possible, he had a slower period. Then in 2009, he announced that he was stopping cinema to launch… into hip hop. A crazy project on which he will work for a year, refusing roles and film promotions. Joaquin Phoenix quickly changes his mind and returns to what he does best: delivering emotions in front of the camera. It’s difficult to understand these different twists and turns in his career. He will talk about alcohol problems, but also a desire to do something else and to discover oneself humanly and artistically. Explanations which reveal the flaws of an actor who perpetually doubts his talent and his legitimacy, since the start of his career.
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This strange request from Joaquin Phoenix on the set of Gladiator
When he got the role of Commodus, the young actor didn’t really want it. A shame when we know that all of Hollywood was arguing about it… But Martin Howden, his biographer, disputes this version in the documentary. “I don’t believe it. I think he was scared when he got the role. I know that when he saw the gigantic sets and the crowds of extras, he panicked and told Ridley Scott that he didn’t feel capable of doing it. Russell Crowe often said that Joaquin had a lot of self-doubt on set. It was perhaps a form of self-sabotage., he explains. But he fights and delivers a breathtaking performance. This would have been motivated by Russell Crowe, who played Maximus in the film. The actor known for his roles in LA Confidential (1997) and American Gangster (2007), would have been as intimidating on screen as on set. Joaquin Phoenix will admit that his fellow actor humiliated him in front of the whole team… but at his request. True or not, this request will have allowed him to play the inferiority complex brilliantly. If he did not win the Oscar, it was because it was stolen from him in 2001 by Benicio del Toro for the role of Javier Rodriguez in Traffic. But it’s only a postponement, since 19 years later, he inherits the precious sesame by playing one of the most tortured villains in the DC Comics universe, taking over from Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger and Jared Leto . A well-deserved reward.
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