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Phoenix Longs For Respect LOS ANGELES — Joaquin Phoenix has a problem. He doesn't like the way audiences are responding to his performance as the warped young villain in Gladiator. It's not good enough for him that film-goers love his scenery-chewing portrayal of the evil scheming Commodus — that they boo his nefarious schemings and cheer his demise. Phoenix wants something more from audiences and critics. He wants respect. "What's it like playing a 19-year-old tyrant?" you ask him and the 25-year-old actor visibly cringes. "Well, there you go!" he explains, sounding peevish about the whole tone of the question. "I hope that's not all you see. I've certainly tried to give him a lot more!" Phoenix has trouble with the fact that essentially he's called upon to play a spoiled young Roman delinquent whose ambition to be emperor leads him to commit murder and lock up his adversaries. To add further spice to the proceedings, he lusts after his sister. Instead, Phoenix seems to think playing Commodus is the equivalent to playing Hamlet. The situation is a perfect example of an all-too-frequent phenomenon — the actor who falls so in love with his character that his perception of the role is out of whack with the opinion of everyone else. "I certainly tried to fill him with a number of shades and emotions," Phoenix says earnestly. "It was a great experience because it was so rare to have that opportunity, to have a character who is multi-layered and where you're able to express so much." The earnestness mounts: "Oftentimes in films you get these one-note characters and they can be so dull for an actor and audience, and I just thought this was a unique opportunity." Phoenix invokes the name of Gladiator director Ridley Scott for support. "I've looked into a lot of his films like Blade Runner and Alien. The characters seem so rich, and I think he values the nuances and intricacies of a character as much as the vastness of his visuals and the large canvas on which he works." But perhaps you can forgive Phoenix for attempting to give a character like Commodus a weight and substance he doesn't really deserve. After all, this is a young actor who has lately yearned to be something more than just a teeny bopper's delight. After substance abuse drove his older brother, River, to an early grave several years ago, Joaquin moved to the forefront of the Phoenix family of performers, and started sending out signals of a new seriousness. For example, his name. He was born Joaquin Raphael but at the age of four decided he wanted to invoke nature with his name: While out raking leaves with his father, he selected Leaf. So, in his earlier film roles, he was billed as Leaf Phoenix, and it wasn't until the early '90s that he reverted to his birth name. He also started taking bigger risks. There was nothing conventional about the black comedy, To Die For, and his performance as a naive, sexually obsessed teenager who falls into the clutches of Nicole Kidman who not only seduces him but goads him into committing murder on her behalf. In Return To Paradise, he played a student whose drug usage during a trip to the Far East brings him to the gallows. And in 8MM, he earned accolades for a darkly witty performance as a young man with inroads into the murkier levels of the porn industry. None of these movies suggest an actor willing to go the easy route and Phoenix is continuing this pattern with an upcoming acting assignment, Quills, a historical piece about the Marquis de Sade. "A lot of scripts come my way and most films that are made don't interest me," he confesses. "So that means that maybe I don't work as much, and that a lot of films I've chosen haven't been particularly successful — for which I blame myself completely. But I have gone out of my way to find projects that were unique and different and offer an interesting perspective." In the case of Gladiator, it would be a bum rap to suggest that the casting of Phoenix as Commodus was the equivalent of asking a boy to play a man's role. Although the movie wreaks havoc with history, it's accurate on one point — Commodus was still in his teens when he became emperor. In discussing Phoenix's contribution to the film, director Scott uses the same word — "courage" — that other filmmakers have used in connection with his work. "He is not the physically imposing type one might have envisioned in the role," Scott says, "but he conveys the complexities of this corrupt ruler in a very courageous way." "I'd never really had this kind of opportunity before," says Phoenix. "It combined everything an actor could want in a film — physical scenes, sword-fighting, the sheer epic dimensions of it all." Now the serious young actor has given way to the enthusiastic kid with a new toy. |