For Joaquin Phoenix, it's all about authenticity
Chicago Sun-Times, October 3, 2004
By Cindy Pearlman
The room looked like a recruiting poster for the WB Network. The men were young, buff, brave and ready to lay it all on the line.
But this wasn't Hollywood — and the idea of being "hot" took on a whole new meaning.
The location was a firefighters training academy outside of Baltimore.
Normally, it's a place of great camaraderie, but this crop of men and women were a bit different. All of their eyes settled on one recruit. There were whispers that he was soft, lame and "just another Hollywood hotshot trying to fake it."
It's a good thing that Joaquin Phoenix can withstand a little pressure. He spent a few weeks at this academy to train for his new movie, Ladder 49.
"I had to earn the respect of this group of 18-year-old kids," Phoenix says. "There was a little bit of 'prove it.' But after a few hours they realized I was just a regular jackass. I knew that it would be fine when I was being teased like the rest of them."
Ladder 49 is just part of Phoenix's five-alarm year.
This summer he starred in the critically lambasted box-office hit The Village, and currently he's filming Walk the Line, the film biography of Johnny Cash. Reese Witherspoon costars as June Carter Cash.
And then there is the firefighter movie, which he says was a project that originally ran hot and cold for him.
"The good news is... I'm happy with it," says the 30-year-old actor who's holding court at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City. "We made a lot of changes from where the film started. To be honest, the original script was written by someone who was just using their imagination. It was someone in Los Angeles trying to imagine what it's like to be a Baltimore firefighter.
"It was really important to me that we capture the specifics of what it is to be a Baltimore City firefighter because each fire department is so different," he says. "And I was pleased with the final cut of the film because a lot of ideas and changes really got in the film and now there is a sense of authenticity."
He cautions that the film isn't a documentary, but it isn't Hollywood's lofty ideal of a fireman either.
"The thing I learned about the fire department is you don't do it alone. It's not about one person being a star. It's really a team that makes it work. But in Hollywood, there's always The Guy who walks around in slow motion with great looking sweat falling off his face and ash in strategic places," he says.
"I just thought that was bullshit. I didn't want scenes where my wife walks me out to the car every morning as if it will be the last time she will ever see me.
"That just doesn't happen in real life. This couple in the movie has been married for 10 years. And although it's in the back of their minds that this might be the last time they see each other, they know they can't think about it all the time or their lives will be destroyed. Firefighting families carry on."
Phoenix became a bit of an expert on this topic during the two months he logged doing research in Baltimore with real firefighters. He trained for a few weeks and then served with an actual fire company.
The research was a necessity for the actor.
"There should be a greater demand on actors to put in the time because it's so beneficial to the film as a whole," he says. "You can't just show up, put on a costume and get it started. It's all about capturing a sense of authenticity."
Phoenix has to live it to act it these days. He wants to sleep in his character's beds, touch the props and drive the cars before cameras roll.
"Inhabiting my space is a big part of my acting technique," he says.
Talking about his techniques for dealing with stardom is a tougher topic. He laughs off all the hoopla, such as having been dubbed one of the "world's sexiest vegans."
"I honestly don't know how to talk about sex-appeal issues or non-sex-appeal issues," he says. "I can say I've been a vegetarian since I was 3."
Phoenix was born in Puerto Rico where his parents worked as Children of God missionaries. Joaquin was the middle child of a group of five that included his older brother River and sisters Rain, Liberty and Summer.
The family finally adopted the last name of Phoenix to signify "new beginnings." There were many of those since they lived all over Central and South America. When Joaquin was 6, they hit Los Angeles where his mother got a job at NBC as a secretary and his father became a landscaper. Eventually, an agent asked to represent the five children, who ended up doing various commercial and television work. At the time, Joaquin renamed himself Leaf to sound as earthy as his siblings.
He made his TV debut on his brother River's CBS-TV series Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1982). Movies followed including Space Camp (1986), Russkies (1987) and Parenthood (1989).
Phoenix became disgusted with teen acting roles and quit to travel to Mexico with his father. He was sadly thrust into the limelight again on Halloween night 1993, when he made the call to 911 outside the trendy L.A. nightclub The Viper Room to say his brother needed help. River Phoenix overdosed that night on the sidewalk outside the club.
"I don't want to talk about that time except to say that reporters were constantly asking me, 'How do you feel about your brother's death?' How do you think I felt?" he says. "I miss him every single day."
Phoenix decided to return to acting with a role opposite Nicole Kidman in To Die For (1995). Other roles followed in Inventing the Abbotts (1997), U Turn (1997), Return to Paradise (1998), Clay Pigeons (1998) and 8MM (1999).
Starring opposite Russell Crowe in 2000's Gladiator turned him into an international star. His choices following that Oscar-winning hit have been eclectic: Quills (2000), Buffalo Soldiers (2001) and Signs (2002).
Currently, Phoenix is deep into Johnny Cash mode for Walk the Line, which will be released next year.
"It starts with [Johnny] at age 10. I won't be playing that part. And then it goes from 1950 to 1968," he says. "The hard thing was getting the voice down. He didn't really have a southern accent. His voice had more of a singsong quality. There was a real melody to his voice."
Phoenix spent three months prepping for the film and had to brush up on some guitar licks.
"Cash was no Jimmy Page on the guitar, but he was all right. He would just go up on stage with his guitar, which was his best friend, and play from his heart. He felt comfortable with the guitar. It wasn't just about his being a guitar genius. He just had this rhythm that was perfect."
Phoenix also sings in the biopic.
"I have three concerts in the film so far," he says. "It was a little bit scary for me. I can tell you right now not to expect notices for my concert tour next year.
"I think I'll stick with the acting."
Phoenix has mostly enjoyed the personal elements of the film.
"We're not making a film about an icon, but a man," he says. "It's about his journey through an amazing rich life. I had no idea that he was so complex. For me, it's been an extraordinary journey."
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