Joaquin Phoenix Needs Street Cred, Gwyneth Paltrow Says

With the entire world doubting his career change, Joaquin Phoenix’s rap act is not even convincing enough to make his own co-star Gwyneth Paltrow buy it. In other words, Gwyneth says there must be something else to Joaquin’s turning to rap than what he’s letting out. He could also use more street cred than he has now, as the actress tells MTV News in a recent interview.

Come to think of it, if one was to believe anything about Joaquin’s surprising (but not unexpected) career change, that person would certainly be Gwyneth, since she got to work with him closely for “Two Lovers,” their most recent movie. It’s not that Joaquin’s rapping is not good, Paltrow says, that makes her not buy the crossing-over story, but the fact that he can’t simply just announce that he’s done with acting – and really be so.

“I’m not a hundred percent sure that that’s really going to be the case. I think that there might be some other explanation or something going on. I’m not quite sure what, but I can’t believe that he’s really going to quit forever to become a rapper. It seems odd.” Paltrow tells MTV. And the manner in which Joaquin announced it also seems queer for his co-star, she further explains.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to announce that I’m quitting acting to become a rapper. So, I’m going to write ‘good-bye’ across my knuckles and everything. Do you have a pen?” Gwyneth jokes, referring to how Joaquin announced he was done with acting. Nevertheless, if he is really serious about doing this, then perhaps he should consider getting some street cred first because he cuts a very unconvincing figure as a rapper, Gwyneth seems to believe. “What advice would I give to Joaquin? Hmm... maybe to go live in the projects for a few years to get some authenticity, maybe.” she adds.

With all this, Joaquin’s publicist wants the world to understand that this is the real deal: there will be no more acting from him, just rap music. “The transition from one career to another is never seamless. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Joaquin came from a musical family, in addition to winning a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Johnny Cash. He intends on exploring his musical interests despite speculative, negative, or positive reactions.” Phoenix’s rep said a while back, as a response to speculation building up about him doing a mockumentary.