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When Joaquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck met on the set of the 1995 film “To Die For,” they both were young, hot, up-and-coming Hollywood actors. The future Oscar contenders became so close that they lived in the same New York City building, enjoyed the city’s nightlife together and got matching tattoos in Italy.
They also became brothers-in-law when Affleck married Phoenix’s younger sister Summer in 2006.
But their friendship became problematic — personally and professionally — when they teamed up for the experimental 2010 mock-documentary “I’m Still Here.” Affleck directed Phoenix, playing a semi-fictional caricature of himself as a self-destructive actor trying to become a hip-hop artist.
Just ahead of the #MeToo era, the production of “I’m Still Here” became notorious because two female crew members sued Affleck, accusing him of sexual harassment and emotional distress, and of creating an “unprofessional” atmosphere on the set. News of the lawsuits, which were settled for undisclosed sums, surfaced as Affleck was successfully campaigning for the 2016 best actor Oscar for “Manchester By the Sea.”
Affleck’s career has never quite recovered from the ignominy of Brie Larson refusing to shake his hand while presenting him with his Oscar at the 2017 awards ceremony. But even before that, Affleck’s once bro-like friendship with Phoenix had already evaporated, with Phoenix revealing in a new Vanity Fair profile that he hasn’t spoken to Affleck “in many years.”
According to Phoenix, Affleck’s subsequent 2015 divorce from his sister Summer also had consequences.
“My sister and him divorced,” Phoenix told Vanity Fair. “And I haven’t spoken directly to him or indirectly in a long time. Three or four years.”
Phoenix, 44, gave the interview for the Vanity Fair cover story while promoting his much-buzzed about new film “Joker,” which opens Friday. It’s clear he’s also campaigning for his own best actor Oscar, which means he has also had to address the controversy over “Joker’s” depiction of a mentally unstable loner who turns to inhumane acts of violence in pursuit of fame as a stand-up comedian. For some critics and fans, Phoenix’s disaffected, vengeance-filled Joker has far too much in common with recent mass shooters.
When it comes to Affleck, Phoenix told Vanity Fair that his lawyers advised him to not talk about the sexual misconduct allegations.
In their lawsuits, the two women, a producer and a director of photography on the movie, said that Phoenix and Affleck used their bedroom during filming in Costa Rica to engage in “sexual activity” with other women, Vanity Fair and other outlets reported.
One of the women also alleged that Affleck referred to women as “cows,” recounted his sexual exploits with “reckless abandon,” tried to manipulate her into sharing a hotel room with him and once ordered a crew member to take off his pants and show her his penis, the Daily Beast reported.
In a 2018 interview with The Guardian, Phoenix also declined to discuss the sexual harassment allegations, specifically whether he thought Affleck, with him as his buddy accomplice, fostered an anarchic spirit on the set that allowed lines to be crossed.
But Phoenix would talk to The Guardian more generally about whether Hollywood has a sexual abuse problem.
“Obviously!” Phoenix told the Guardian. “It’s rampant and it’s been going on a long time.”
Phoenix also acknowledged that he could have personally done more in certain situations to help female colleagues.
“At its core what we’re talking about is an abuse of power,” Phoenix said. “And sex is a weapon. And I have seen abuses of power all over. There are many things that I either wish I had been aware of at the time or wish that I’d had the strength and conviction to stand up in that moment and say: ‘Hey, stop!’ I feel that I do that at times. But, yeah, there are other times when I probably don’t.”
Over the years, Affleck has similarly declined to address the specific allegations against him — because his lawyers also told him not to. But, he, too, has recently expressed regret and embarrassment for contributing to an unprofessional workplace environment and for being involved “in a conflict that led to a lawsuit.”
In an interview last year with the Associated Press, Affleck acknowledged that he was the boss and should not have tolerated certain behavior.
“I tolerated that kind of behavior from other people and I wish that I hadn’t,” Affleck said. “And I regret a lot of that. I really did not know what I was responsible for as the boss. I don’t even know if I thought of myself as the boss. But I behaved in a way and allowed others to behave in a way that was really unprofessional. And I’m sorry.”
