After following the development of Casey Affleck’s Joaquin Phoenix documentary over the past year or two, I have been pretty curious to see what the final product will be like. You may remember hearing about some of Phoenix’s strange public appearances last year, including a seemingly awkward interview with David Letterman, and his attempt to quit acting in order to start a rap career. This was all essentially staged for the film I’m Still Here, and while I was fascinated and amused at the time, I think he played it straight for so long that people just stopped caring after a while. The release of the actual film feels like it’s coming a bit late, as if the joke has been dead for some time now.
Magnolia Pictures has finally released a teaser trailer for the film, and it still maintains an air of mystery about the whole thing. It consists of short clips set to a tongue-in-cheek voiceover spouting philosophical nonsense about Phoenix’s situation. Part of me thinks this is trying to be like Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat or Bruno, only using a real person to stage public pranks. But will this actually play for laughs, or is it meant to be a serious meditation on the nature of celebrity? I guess I’m still curious enough to check it out, but I have no idea what the general response will be. Official synopsis and release dates after the jump. Let us know what you think.
Official synopsis:
The directorial debut of Oscar-nominated actor Casey Affleck, I’M STILL HERE is a striking portrayal of a tumultuous year in the life of internationally acclaimed actor Joaquin Phoenix. With remarkable access, I’M STILL HERE follows the Oscar-nominee as he announces his retirement from a successful film career in the fall of 2008 and sets off to reinvent himself as a hip hop musician. Sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, and always riveting, the film is a portrait of an artist at a crossroads. Defying expectations, it deftly explores notions of courage and creative reinvention, as well as the ramifications of a life spent in the public eye.
I’m Still Here starts a theatrical run on the 10th September and will be available on demand from the 24th September.
Originally posted at Film Junk
I don’t know what I think. I think it will be more interesting to me if it was real.
Wrote a few posts on Film Junk about this. Feel very similarly to you. The trailer looks like it could be fun–I especially like the voiceover. Just wish Phoenix would have taken this idea to the writers of Entourage and Casey Affleck would have spent his time acting in THE TOWN instead.
would rather watch a real doc about an artist losing it instead of an actor pretending. didn’t jim carey already do exactly this at one of the mtv movie awards like 10 yrs ago?