THE VOICE OF (AN) EXPERIENCE
There’s no method to Joaquin Phoenix’s artful madness, as he’d be the first to tell you.
“I’ve never really understood what ‘method’ was,” the lauded American actor says from L.A., referring to a popular style of all-in acting.
“I don’t know really precisely what that means, so I don’t really have a method that I know of, but I guess you could say it’s not me coming up with ways to say lines, it’s about trying to have an experience.”
He’s had many memorable experiences in his 36-year acting career, which have earned him three Oscar nominations to date — and he’s sure to win one eventually.
Phoenix, 43, has played Johnny Cash ( Walk the Line) and Jesus Christ ( Mary Magdalene). He’s played good guys ( Inherent Vice, You Were Never Really Here) and bad guys ( Gladiator, The Im
migrant and a Joker prequel due in 2019 that he’s not talking about yet).
He’s played strange lovers ( Her, The Master, To Die For) and even played a joke on his celebrity status ( I’m Still Here). And in all of his roles, Phoenix com-
pletely invests both his mental and physical energies, all the more so in his new film Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot.
Directed by Gus Van Sant, who first guided Phoenix in to acclaim in To Die For in 1995, the film is based on the memoirs of the late John Callahan, a quadriplegic cartoonist, artist and musician from Portland, Ore., who made his disability into scabrous comedy, outraging some but delighting many.
Gus Van Sant, a fellow Oregonian and friend of Callahan’s, has long been connected with Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, but Callahan was originally supposed to be portrayed by the late Robin Williams. Is it daunting to take over a role intended for another actor?
No, because oftentimes scripts come to you after going to other people. So it’s just part of acting; you’re accustomed to that. But I was really pleased that it was a project that Gus had been interested in working on for several years. John wanted Gus to direct this movie, and it’s important to me that the subject of a film, when it’s based on a real character, approved of the people involved. Gus had some insights into John that another director may not have had, and he had just captured a lot of footage of John throughout the years, in one particular period that I drew on extensively.
John Callahan really bared his soul in his cartoons, music and public statements. He seemed like a man determined to make the most of every moment, regardless of his disabilities.
It’s wonderful to have such a wealth of information about somebody … so I dug into that thoroughly. And he’s so funny in his writing but also very honest about his own flaws and mistakes and that he spent so much of his life resenting other people in the world and never once kind of looked at his self. There’s something very courageous about that process and something very inspiring about the kind of man he was, and what he was willing to face. He was obsessed with his craft, he was creative and he faced himself.
Like John Callahan, you’ve had experience with being in rehab and you’ve been in a serious car accident. Do your own life traumas inform a role like this?
I didn’t even consider that, that’s so funny. Who knows what happens subconsciously, what you’re drawing from, but in a conscious way, I don’t do that. I try to separate my life, and again, I think when you have so much information about the person and what their experience was, as I did with John, there was so much to draw from. It was his particular way of seeing the world and the events that shaped him that were interesting to me.
I’m certainly not alone in admiring you as an actor, but how do you rate yourself? Have you achieved the things you’ve wanted to achieve in your career to date?
I don’t see anything as an achievement as opposed to maybe being human nature, to never being satisfied or feeling that there’s still something that is yet uncovered. And so I’m grateful for the opportunities that I’ve had. I just want to keep going, but I don’t know how to explain it. It’s not just like beating yourself up through obsessive perfectionism, it’s not that. There’s just a feeling that you have that you’re not finished, that there’s still so much more to do, and that’s all that I want.