Joaquin Phoenix retired? No way... he is shooting a faux documentary ala THE OFFICE/BORAT!

Joaquin Phoenix - in possibly the most bizarre interview I've ever witnessed - "retired from acting" a few months ago to focus on a music career.

This weekend, Phoenix took part in his first public rap performance at the Las Vegas club called LAVO. He performed three songs in total, one of which we have for you below. All three were said to be awful but I can only vouch for the one below, which I have to say is indeed fucking awful...

The disastrous performance and the odd self-deluded routine from Phoenix once again puts fuel into the fire that this whole retirement thing is just a big elaborate joke to fuck with us, whilst Phoenix takes off a year or two from the big screen. Phoenix told the People Magazine recently...

"This is who I am. This is my story...Are there people out there who think I'm a joke? I'm sure there will be ... I can't worry about that."

But that maybe not the whole truth of it. Where this gets even more bizarre, is that Casey Affleck, brother-in-law to Pheonix and who you remember was present when he made his announcement that he was retiring from acting, is apparently shooting a documentary on Phoenix's transition from music to film. He was there last night and shot footage of Phoenix's performance.

Now excuse me if I'm being insensitive to Phoenix's musical talents (hey, he could have a career as a very good Johnny Cash impersonator after WALK THE LINE) but does anyone else not think that his whole stint is a BORAT situation. i.e. the jokes on the public (or in this case, the press).

Have Affleck and Phoenix sat in a hotel room one night, probably Phoenix pissed off at the roles he has been offered post his Oscar nom in WALK THE LINE and cooked up this absolutely genius plan to make a fascinating documentary, probably in the style of THE OFFICE, where Phoenix is playing a self-deluded version of himself (like Brent or Michael Scott). Phoenix is playing a character here, he is not actually playing himself.

It would possibly be the ultimate post-modern look at celeb/fame culture that we have seen since the work of Ricky Gervais in THE OFFICE. It goes one step further than actors playing themseleves in EXTRAS too because these guys have gone out gorilla style and kept the farcade that this is real. Like BORAT but again, one step further because it's not a Sacha Baron Cohen character, this is a real personality.

You remember Andy Kaufman right?

Can you imagine the press when this movie hits and they think this is the downfall of Phoenix FOR REAL! Just look at the Youtube comments from the video (all un-edited and taken from the first page this video was on):

Go Vanilla! Hahahaha! This is totally going to catch on. Joaquin is the creator of hippie hop! pass the mushrooms, joaquin! this is some funny stuff Is this a great example of self delusion or what? WTF he should of stayed in acting fuckking joke! what the hell is he thinking??? wow thanks for posting ;) Are kids supposed to look up to this or something? What a joke.

And let's hope THEY DON'T BLOW THEIR COVER. Let's hope this keeps the aura of being real. Let's hope they don't tell everyone what they are doing. So when the Affleck & Phoenix documentary film opens worldwide, we aren't quite sure if it's legit or not.

Phoenix's first studio album is being produced by Sean "Diddy" Combs and should be out before the end of the year. Again, it's all part of the big plan! Imagine if it gets to No. 1 in the album charts but it's not even a real effort at an album! lol.

It's fucking genius. The kind of plan The Riddler might come up with. Hey, how's about that for an idea?

Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix as two Riddler's? I could dig that. They are my absolute 1st (Affleck) and 2nd (Phoenix) choice and have been since day one (you can check the OWF archives for that).