"I'm Still Here" is "just a movie... a performance"

[PopTodd]

It was a performance, not a real meltdown. Interesting interview.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/09 ... ut_im.html

Looking forward to seeing/hearing/reading interviews with Phoenix about the flick.

 

Now I think that I may have to actually see this.

[bjorn_skurj]

What a horse's ass. No one should pay to see this display of flagrant narcissism and assholianism, nor should anyone waste a single second of their lives on it. I am sorry the kid had parents who thought it was OK to belong to a child sex cult, thus fucking him and his siblings up for life, but honestly, I do not see why hard-working Americans should be bothered with this foolishness.

[Guest Speed Racer]

What a horse's ass. No one should pay to see this display of flagrant narcissism and assholianism, nor should anyone waste a single second of their lives on it. I am sorry the kid had parents who thought it was OK to belong to a child sex cult, thus fucking him and his siblings up for life, but honestly, I do not see why hard-working Americans should be bothered with this foolishness.

 

This.

[embiggen]

I kind of want to see it...then again I'm kind of pissed that it's all a hoax and he isn't really messed up. or is he? I CAN'T DECIDE!!!!

[PopTodd]

What a horse's ass. No one should pay to see this display of flagrant narcissism and assholianism, nor should anyone waste a single second of their lives on it. I am sorry the kid had parents who thought it was OK to belong to a child sex cult, thus fucking him and his siblings up for life, but honestly, I do not see why hard-working Americans should be bothered with this foolishness.

 

Did you read the interview?

[Guest Speed Racer]

It's total crap to bill a film as a documentary when it is staged, claim that you were not deceiving people, and then say that critics were "dully" discussing its veracity.

 

This isn't to say that I think either Joaquin or Casey are malevolent in any way, it's just so clear to me that they created this tepid "controversy" because the film wasn't good enough, or provocative enough, to survive on its own merit as a work of fiction. Hell, even as a work of "art."

[bjorn_skurj]

Did you read the interview?

Yes, and see no reason to alter what I wrote. I will even add that in a country where people are fucking starving to death and facing a lifetime of unemployment, Phoenix should be grateful he gets jobs and maybe bear less of a grudge against the people who keep him famous so he can continue to get jobs. Both he and Casey Affleck think they're making some sort of bold statement against something, but they are just a pair of shallow, poorly educated wankholes.

[u2roolz]

The film is merely a statement on "our" fixation on the nature of celebrity. I remember how many people talked about how Joaquin was losing it after they saw how he was on Letterman. People bought into it because some of us out there want their stars to burn out and it will give them something to talk about and say "there goes another actor losing themselves to drugs".

 

I knew that it was an act as soon as Phoenix talked about doing a hip hop career and then shortly thereafter it was mentioned that Affleck would be filming it for a "documentary". Affleck said that this is indeed not a documentary and that Phoenix is playing a character or an extension of his persona which wasn't really clear beforehand anyway.

 

I have no problem with this project. I find it rather interesting and kind of flipping the middle finger to all of the "Reality" shows that plague our airwaves and their respective audiences. People buy into that or they know that it is mostly fake but watch it anyways to get into it much like the WWF.

 

Art should not take a vacation when we are in a recession. Plus, I'm sure if some actor that you really like did this then you might think that it is brilliant. Also, we are discussing this and that is kind of falling into their trap. I think what it boils down to is the notion that people feel duped. Doesn't anyone remember Andy Kaufman's antics?

[mpolak21]

Now I think that I may have to actually see this.

 

 

Eh... I sat through it last week. Even if the concept of them trying to pimp it as a documentary when it isn't doesn't bother you, the film, itself, is pretty much a clusterfuck. Unsurprisingly I never felt like Affleck mind up his mind whether he was trying to pretend that all of the events that are happening are real or pretend that they are faked, so the narrative falls flat.I won't even start on how unlikable Phoenix is. I felt like the best part of it was the Letterman interview from two years ago that most people have already seen anyway.

 

 

Both he and Casey Affleck think they're making some sort of bold statement against something, but they are just a pair of shallow, poorly educated wankholes.

 

 

After seeing the movie, this is pretty much the same conclusion I came up with also.

 

--Mike

[bjorn_skurj]

Andy Kaufman was fucking funny. Joaquin is a decent actor, but not really funny. (Believe me, I have seen far funnier stoned people than that cat.) I am not saying art should take a vacation during a recession. I am saying shitty art should take a vacation, permanently.

[Guest Speed Racer]

People bought into it

 

people feel duped

 

I knew that it was an act

 

I love this. So far, that's the general consensus of supporters. "People" v. I, in which I am always smarter than the people.

 

I can't believe Casey tried to defend Joaquin's out-of-character smile on Letterman. It's not shameful to admit it wasn't perfect from start to finish - that's another thing that annoys me about all this.

 

Art should not take a vacation

 

Whatever the hell this movie is should, though.

[u2roolz]

Andy Kaufman was fucking funny. Joaquin is a decent actor, but not really funny. (Believe me, I have seen far funnier stoned people than that cat.) I am not saying art should take a vacation during a recession. I am saying shitty art should take a vacation, permanently.

 

People hide behind masks all the time. No one really knows if Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, or Sarah Palin are for real. Stephen Colbert makes a living off this type of entertainment. He's the best at it in my opinion.

 

I can begin a show and take on a completely phony persona and no one would know. Why would I want to do that in the 1st place? Truthfully, I guess I feel that I would want to make a statement that you shouldn't believe everything that you see, read or hear about in the media.

[u2roolz]

I love this. So far, that's the general consensus of supporters. "People" v. I, in which I am always smarter than the people.

 

That's not entirely out of ego, but more out of cynicism from knowing or feeling that you are or have been duped before by people in the spotlight. This seemed like an immediate Giant Red Flag went off for me and I said "OK. I get this." during the Letterman bit. It was the cynic in me that said that that wasn't real. I'm not trying to imply that "those people" are or were naive, I guess my bigger point is that truthfully they don't give enough of a shit about it and just view it on an entirely surface level.

 

Plus, on top of all of that: this guy is an actor. That's his job. And on another side note Jack Benny used to play up his "character" on his television show as cheap, vain and self congratulatory. Did people back then know if he was for real? I don't know the answer.

[Sir Stewart]

Didn't this dude watch his brother die of a drug overdose on a sidewalk?

[Guest Jules]

Yes, that's him.

 

This whole thing seems like a big waste of time to me.

[u2roolz]

In the end of all of this "hype" I hope that people question more things that go on in the "media circus".

This may be the biggest example of that for a lot of people to think about and revaluate certain areas out there that may seem questionable.

I don't know if that was worth risking their careers over.

 

Edit: What I am talking about really is all of the focus on Britney, Lindsay, Paris, Kim, the one with the G implants, and sadly I can't think of any male celebrity. Interesting. Is this pointed focus on these "celebs" to serve as a morality play on a larger scale? I wonder how many parents talk to their kids about drugs when they see ex-Disney folks like Britney or Lindsay with drug troubles. Are they cautionary tales for teens or merely fodder to have with a soda and popcorn?

[Guest Jules]

In the end of all of this "hype" I hope that people question more things that go on in the "media circus".

This may be the biggest example of that for a lot of people to think about and revaluate certain areas out there that may seem questionable.

I don't know if that was worth risking their careers over.

 

Edit: What I am talking about really is all of the focus on Britney, Lindsay, Paris, Kim, the one with the G implants, and sadly I can't think of any male celebrity. Interesting. Is this pointed focus on these "celebs" to serve as a morality play on a larger scale? I wonder how many parents talk to their kids about drugs when they see ex-Disney folks like Britney or Lindsay with drug troubles. Are they cautionary tales for teens or merely fodder to have with a soda and popcorn?

what ha-happened?

[u2roolz]

what ha-happened?

 

I guess to get to the more questionable stuff of late I will use Sarah and Bristol Palin as an example. How many people bought into her "persona" and then she quit her job? Then she wound up with a book, now she has a reality show coming in November and then her daughter is on Dancing With The Stars. Really?! WTF!? At what point do people wake up & start getting cynical and saying stuff like "well, I put my stock into her and now she jumped ship and is out to make money and be less political or so it seems for now until 2012."

 

I don't expect Obama to have a fishing show when he is out of office.

[Guest Speed Racer]

In the end of all of this "hype" I hope that people question more things that go on in the "media circus".

 

Why? People who don't follow it don't care, people who do buy into it either treat it as their version of following pro sports, or follow it out of boredom. For the most part, all of the people you cite have courted their own disasters via Twitter, their own reality shows, "press statements" and the like. They haven't courted the disaster of their circumstance, that is, but the disaster of their exposure.

 

As for Palin, how would cynicism help? Or, who's to say that it hasn't? Lots of people probably jumped off the Palin train when she quit as governor, and about as many people probably jumped on.

[u2roolz]

I also forgot to point out how many people have to change their name so they don't receive prejudice due to their religion or ethnicity. And all of the people who have to hide their sexuality to provide viewer "confidence" and "big" box office receipts. The idea seems like the people "in charge" make the decisions that the mass audience can't buy into a gay man portraying the lead in a potential box office smash of a romantic comedy, so they tell that actor or actress to keep it a secret. I'm sure there are a lot of times when the actor or actress keeps it a secret or ambiguous before the studio gets to them and then the studio builds big buzz off of that ambiguity.

 

Is Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz the person the same as Jon Stewart the tv personality?

Was Rock Hudson in person the same as he was on the movie screen?

 

I even recall stories of old 50s Hollywood taking young men and women off the street (or buses) and molding them into the stars and starlets back then. They told them how to look. They even told them to dye their hair a certain color because they already had a blonde etc. They made them change their name. Now you are in a very interesting hall of mirrors. You are seeing the Hollywood created starlet portraying a femme fatale let's say, but no trace of that innocent & innocence who came from wherever. Or really is that all a myth too?

 

So yeah, certain levels of deception have been around for a long time. The question is which came first: Hollywood creating these "starlets" for the people or the people demanding "starlets" out of Hollywood? And for both of those did the people view these Hollywood "stars" as mythical larger than life figures and not real people that would or could live next door to you.

[Duck-Billed Catechist]

I wanted to let everyone know that I've not yet gotten worked up over this.

 

There, I said it.

[JAK2112]

That letterman interview was boss. The fact that he was a method actor in the public eye for a year and a half is absolutely incredible.

[Lammycat]

I wanted to let everyone know that I've not yet gotten worked up over this.

 

There, I said it.

 

Give it time. It will soon consume your life.