|
Joaquin Phoenix Is No Pigeon Cautious star dodges the uncomfortable questions. Playing meet-the-press is not one of Joaquin Phoenix's favourite roles. He's not shy, just cautious about nosy questions. Joaquin Phoenix gets a lot of them. The inquiries used to be about his brother River's overdose drug death five years ago — which he "doesn't understand but is trying to accept." Now the queries tend to be about whether he'll marry girlfriend Liv Tyler. He'll only say, "We share a great love and understanding." Not surprisingly, when 23-year-old Phoenix enters a Four Seasons Hotel room with Clay Pigeons director David Dobkin, he's fidgety but trying to be friendly. "You stay, too," says Phoenix quickly to Dobkin, who is about to leave. After some awkward negotiating, Dobkin agrees to be the third party. Phoenix seems relieved as he turns to me, unfastens the top button on my shirt, and says, "Loosen up." Good idea. The three of us gather around a table to talk about Clay Pigeons, a comedy about a serial killer opening next week. That's right — a comedy about a serial killer. The intense and brooding Phoenix doesn't play the killer. That role is left to former Swingers playboy Vince Vaughn. Phoenix is the loser who gets framed for the serial killer's murders. It's the second movie for the 5-foot-7 Phoenix and the 6-foot-6 Vaughn, who also worked together on Return To Paradise. They had never met before the Clay Pigeons shoot in Utah last year. Few knew what to expect. "We went to pick him up at this tiny airport," recalls Phoenix. "They were basically trying to pry this Vince Vaughn moose through the door of this small plane." It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship and working relationship, reports Dobkin, who adds that despite their physical differences Phoenix and Vaughn have similar personalities. "He's a big 'tater," suggests Phoenix, "a real sweetheart." Many who work with Phoenix say the same thing about him. Previously, child actor Phoenix had worked with his brother River in the TV series Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, although he was probably best remembered as the troubled adolescent in Parenthood. Three years after the release of Parenthood in 1989, River's death shook him up enough to drive him out of the industry for a few years. He returned to acting for his co-starring part in 1995's To Die For, and for 1997's Inventing The Abbotts where he met Tyler. Phoenix is back bigtime in '98 with Return To Paradise and Clay Pigeons. And he just finished The Yards, which will be released next year. The characters have this in common — Phoenix's peculiar but devoted take on his portrayals. "When they say I work out of a place of fear, I think they mean that I always want to do justice to the role," admits Phoenix, who acknowledges some of his performances have missed the mark. "You invest your time and energy doing a movie, so I invest myself completely. I haven't been pleased with a lot of the things I was committed to, so I can't imagine the result of doing something I didn't care about." |