10 Movie Interviews That Went Very Wrong
6. Joaquin Phoenix Goes Method On Letterman
In 2010, Joaquin Phoenix made an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman which was at best deeply bizarre if not downright concerning.
Wearing sunglasses and sporting a scraggly beard, Phoenix spent the brutal eight-minute interview mumbling short answers to Letterman's questions, while Letterman attempted to smooth things over with some cheeky jokes, like "What can you tell us about your days with the Unabomber?"
Phoenix then went on to discuss his apparent retirement from acting and new career as a hip-hop artist, much to the audience's confusion, before Letterman chided him for chewing gum during the interview and ended with the hilarious sign-off, "Joaquin, I'm sorry you couldn't be here tonight."
Many expressed concern that Phoenix was in the middle of a mental health crisis or drug-induced spiral, yet the actor subsequently revealed that his appearance on the show was actually a performance for Casey Affleck's secret mockumentary I'm Still Here.
In a subsequent appearance on Letterman later that year, a clean-shaven, talkative Phoenix apologised to Letterman for the deception, who graciously considered the original interview "batting practise."