It was the talk of the Toronto Film Festival, with a harrowing tale of drug use, violence in Las Vegas, hungry searches online for illicit sex, prostitution dabbling and a star falling hard, possibly suffering from mental illness or serious narcissism.
And it was all an elaborate, years-long hoax.
Casey Affleck, brother of Ben and brother-in-law of the film’s subject, came out yesterday with the truth.
Affleck, the director of “I’m Still Here,” a supposed documentary of a year in the life of Oscar nom Joaquin Phoenix as he allegedly spiraled out of control while the cameras rolled, told The New York Times yesterday that indeed the film that has been panned by critics was a deliberate farce.
But he’s standing by the film.
“It's a terrific performance, it's the performance of his career,” Affleck said.
The film was doctored in parts to make it look aged and most of the public debauchery was staged with actors, as were the behind-the-scenes meetings with alleged prostitutes and drug contacts.
The duo and their now contentious cinematographer Magdalena Gorka, who says Affleck harassed her and refused to pay or credit her when she was forced to leave the film due to his behavior, were in Las Vegas last year where they filmed a belligerent Phoenix falling into a crowd after a disastrous rap performance at Lavo inside The Palazzo. The crowd fought back with the punchy Phoenix. That scene is featured in the movie’s official trailer.
Local journalists at the time wondered if it was a hoax. Affleck and Gorka both stood by the film's direction at the time, telling reporters they were filming a documentary. It was hard to believe, say many local journos.
Cameras rolled as a full-bearded Phoenix careened through Las Vegas, leaving a wake of shaking heads and odd behavior behind.
"I think everyone at some point in their life hates their jobs and the people they are around," Affleck says at the opening of the now revealed mockumentary.
Affleck didn’t want the movie to be known as a mockumentary, as that revelation, he said, would take away from the purpose of the movie.
“We wanted to create a space,” he said. “You believe what's happening is real.”
Phoenix and his entourage cut a puzzling public swath through Las Vegas last year, and the odds were he was up to something nefarious, either faking the press and public or making a movie that would tarnish his reputation.
Have Phoenix and Affleck fumbled this "art" project?
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