BENDIS!
08-22-2005, 07:51 PM
Phoenix Denies Report of Breakdown on Set Mon Aug 22, 5:52 PM ET
NEW YORK - Joaquin Phoenix has denied tabloid reports that he had a breakdown while filming a scene related to Cash's brother's death in "Walk the Line," the upcoming Johnny Cash biopic.
ADVERTISEMENT
Phoenix banged his head on a bedpost during a scene in which Cash is going through drug withdrawal in an attempt to get into his character's emotional state. He was acting, not flipping out, he tells Newsweek magazine, now on newsstands.
His brother River Phoenix died of a drug overdose outside a Los Angeles nightclub in 1993 when he was 23. Cash also lost his older brother at a young age, but Phoenix sees no connection.
"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," he says. "I had all three things, so this is a little frustrating to me, because it denies my work and the research that I did."
Phoenix continues: "It bothers me that this happens, because it's slightly exploitative. Suggesting that I would use this personal part of my life for a (expletive) movie ... it kind of makes me sick."
The 30-year-old actor also says he disagrees with how he has been characterized in the media following the death of his brother.
"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 this (expletive) that's just not there."
"Walk the Line," scheduled for release in November, traces Cash's rise from the son of an Arkansas farmer to the "Man in Black." It co-stars Reese Witherspoon as Cash's wife, June Carter.
___
NEW YORK - Joaquin Phoenix has denied tabloid reports that he had a breakdown while filming a scene related to Cash's brother's death in "Walk the Line," the upcoming Johnny Cash biopic.
ADVERTISEMENT
Phoenix banged his head on a bedpost during a scene in which Cash is going through drug withdrawal in an attempt to get into his character's emotional state. He was acting, not flipping out, he tells Newsweek magazine, now on newsstands.
His brother River Phoenix died of a drug overdose outside a Los Angeles nightclub in 1993 when he was 23. Cash also lost his older brother at a young age, but Phoenix sees no connection.
"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," he says. "I had all three things, so this is a little frustrating to me, because it denies my work and the research that I did."
Phoenix continues: "It bothers me that this happens, because it's slightly exploitative. Suggesting that I would use this personal part of my life for a (expletive) movie ... it kind of makes me sick."
The 30-year-old actor also says he disagrees with how he has been characterized in the media following the death of his brother.
"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 this (expletive) that's just not there."
"Walk the Line," scheduled for release in November, traces Cash's rise from the son of an Arkansas farmer to the "Man in Black." It co-stars Reese Witherspoon as Cash's wife, June Carter.
___