14 DAY TRIAL // In February last year, during what would turn out to be his last televised appearance in a really long time, Joaquin Phoenix made a fool of himself on David Letterman’s show. He will soon be returning to the scene of the crime.
The actor’s previous appearance came shortly after he’d announced he would be retiring from acting to pursue a career in rap, but that still wasn’t reason enough for behaving the way he did.
At the time, Joaquin was supposed to be promoting “Two Lovers” but, while on Letterman, he barely managed to put two words together – and eventually got up and left.
As the New York Times explains, he will appear on the show again next week and, hopefully, he’ll also provide an explanation for acting the way he did a little over a year ago.
“The physical form of Joaquin Phoenix is headed back to David Letterman’s ‘Late Show’ – will he bring his mind this time?” the NY Times asks.
“It’s the first time that Mr. Phoenix has been booked on that show since his notorious appearance on Feb. 11, 2009, when he gave Mr. Letterman a largely nonresponsive interview that became a viral sensation and left viewers wondering whether Mr. Phoenix was playing an elaborate prank on the host and his audience,” the same publication informs.
Ahead of the actual interview, CBS will also show audiences the difference one year can make by airing the first disastrous appearance first.
“CBS said it would repeat Mr. Phoenix’s earlier ‘Late Show’ interview on Thursday in anticipation of his Sept. 22 appearance, in which he’ll be promoting his documentary, ‘I’m Still Here’,” the NY Times explains.
As we also reported at the time, in February 2009, not much was known about Joaquin’s out of the ordinary behavior, though speculation was already saying he might be shooting for a mockumentary in the vein of Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” and “Bruno.”
What is certain though is that Phoenix hardly uttered one full sentence, regardless how hard Letterman tried to get him to talk.
He also seemed “out of it” for most of the time and ended the interview abruptly by taking his gum out of his mouth and sticking it to Dave’s desk.