Hoax Or Not, Unarapper Joaquin Phoenix Is Acting Like A Jerk - Page 4
"He was thrilled," the director said of Cash's reaction to the news that Phoenix would portray him in the biopic. "John was a very trusting man. He was very easygoing, a very cool guy. When you've got someone like Joaquin who, frankly, is very similar, a very cool actor, John knew that we were moving in the right direction." [...]
"It's helpful to go through that process with someone; you don't feel so frightened and alone," [Reese] Witherspoon remembered of their transformative performances. "[Joaquin] related to the character ... he was very committed to the role, and he practiced really hard, and worked that guitar."
But the Man In Black did share an emotional connection with the Unarapper, along with a few similar life experiences which helped shape them:
When Joaquin Phoenix met Johnny Cash about five years ago, the young actor had no idea that one day he'd be playing the music legend. "We were at a friend's place in L.A.," Phoenix says. "We went into the living room after dinner, and he comes in--his hands were shaking really bad by then--and he picks up his guitar, and the moment he touches the strings, the shake is gone." After Cash's wife, June, joined him, the two sang "I Stood on the Banks of Jordan" together. "It was one of the most special moments of my life," Phoenix says. But the big thrill came later, when Phoenix learned that Cash was a fan of his Oscar-nominated performance as the evil emperor in "Gladiator." "I'm leaving, and he says," and here Phoenix's voice drops an octave into Cash's country lilt, "I really loved that 'Gladiator.' I really like the way you say, 'Your wife moaned like a whore as they ravaged her again and again and again'." Phoenix laughs: "That's the duality of Johnny: he was very, very family-oriented, and yet he was also a s---kicker." [...]While "Walk the Line" is ultimately uplifting--Johnny beats his addiction, reaches a peace with his emotionally distant father and finally persuades June to tie the knot--the film is shaded by darkness. Cash was haunted by the loss of his older brother, Jack, who died from a wood-sawing accident at 14; Johnny was 12. It's tempting to see a parallel to Phoenix's life. His older brother, River, died of a drug overdose in 1993, when Joaquin was 19. Last year while Phoenix was filming "Walk the Line," tabloid reports circulated that the actor had had a "breakdown" while shooting a scene related to Cash's brother's death. Phoenix says those reports were "bulls--t." During a scene in which Cash is going through drug withdrawal, Phoenix banged his head on the bedpost, in an attempt to get into his character's emotional state. He was acting, he says, not flipping out. Phoenix does share Cash's addiction problems--he checked himself into rehab for alcohol abuse earlier this year--but, as for any other connection between his life and Cash's, Phoenix is calm but emphatic: he doesn't see it. "That's not the way my brain works," he says. "You know, the press has kind of imposed upon me the title of Mourning Brother, and because I haven't been vocal about it, the assumption is that I'm holding onto it and all this s--t that's just not there. I don't need to pull from my experience for a character, and I've never understood why actors would, except for lack of ability, imagination or research. I had all three things, so this is a little --frustrating to me, because it denies my work and the research that I did." He pauses. "It bothers me that this happens, because it's slightly exploitative. Suggesting that I would use this personal part of my life for a f---ing movie... it kind of makes me sick."
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