BIOGRAPHY:

Joaquin Phoenix is an American actor who plays in both commercial films (Gladiator) and art films (The Secret Forest). He often transforms into new images, changing greatly in appearance, for example, gaining dozens of extra pounds. He is indifferent to recognition and cinematic awards, but is highly rated among colleagues and directors. Winner of an Oscar for the leading male role in the film “Joker”.

CHILDHOOD IN THE SECT:

Joaquin Rafael Bottom was born in Puerto Rico on October 28, 1974. His maternal grandfather immigrated to the United States from Russia. In his new homeland, he met a native of Hungary. They got married, and the mother of the future actor, Arlene, was born. On November 22, the large-scale historical drama of the cult director Ridley Scott, “Napoleon,” will be released worldwide. The role of the French emperor, revolutionary and commander was played by Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix, who has a reputation as an artist who is not afraid to transform into complex and controversial characters. In the press, Phoenix is often called a reclusive genius and the main eccentric of Hollywood, which is understandable: the actor is no stranger to the dark side of life. He spent his childhood in a sect, buried his beloved older brother, and after becoming famous, he encountered addictions and managed to overcome them. As part of a series of materials about the difficult destinies of celebrities, Lenta.ru tells how the actor was reborn from the ashes over and over again in order to ultimately make an agreement with his inner demons and find happiness.

Tragedy in the club:

Joaquin Phoenix likes to say that he doesn’t need to draw inspiration from his own experiences to act in films. However, it is hardly possible to completely separate oneself from such trials that befell the actor at a very young age.

On October 30, 1993, when the aspiring artist was only 19 years old, he, in the company of his sister Rain, went to the trendy nightclub The Viper Room, owned by Johnny Depp. That evening, the establishment was planning a Halloween party and a performance by a musical group, in which Red Hot Chili Peppers bass guitarist Flea and Depp himself were then playing. Joaquin’s older brother River Phoenix also came to the club – by that time he was already a famous actor, who had an Oscar nomination and an award for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival.

There were no signs of trouble when River went to the toilet. There he took drugs, which he secretly began using during the filming of the film “My Own Private Idaho.” The dose turned out to be lethal, which became clear almost immediately. The actor quickly became ill, and the club security guards pushed him out into the street. He fell on the asphalt and began to convulse. Joaquin tried to save his brother: it was he who called the rescue service and begged the ambulance to come as quickly as possible. However, by the time the paramedics arrived, River had already stopped breathing, and all their attempts to resuscitate the actor were in vain. Oakin was grieving the loss of his brother: he withdrew into himself and even decided to leave the cinema. It was especially difficult for him to encounter the ruthless side of show business and the fact that his personal tragedy was widely discussed in the press, on radio and television. “When you lose a loved one, you try to hold on to everything connected with him, to every memory. But what was truly difficult and left scars in my soul was that they tried to rob me, to appropriate these memories for themselves. I was not allowed to go through this experience alone with myself,” Phoenix later shared his feelings.

He did not accept new job offers for more than a year – and for many more years he immediately ended interviews if journalists asked questions about Rivera. Only once did he say: In addition, the actor was sure that such behavior was not typical for his brother and that he did not plan to spend that fateful night in this way. But everything turned out the way it did. To survive the tragedy, Phoenix left everything and went on a long trip to South America. Where he got into an accident.

It is unknown what caused the accident. According to Phoenix, the car’s brakes simply failed. However, the media wrote that the brakes were broken by the actor himself, who spent a lot of time in rehabs.

Five days after the accident, on January 31, 2006, Joaquin Phoenix would receive his second Oscar nomination for his role as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line. The actor, who did not listen to country music and had never sung before, played the guitar and performed vocal parts in the film. The famous critic Roger Ebert, a Cash fan, wrote in his review how, while watching, he could not distinguish the actor’s voice from the musician’s voice. Phoenix not only managed to capture the intonation and habits of the singer, but the 30-year-old actor conveyed the young Cash in such a way that in one of his glances one could read the further difficult fate of the musician, whom many modern viewers remember as an old man with a rattling voice and guitar. The film’s director, James Mangold, said: “Joaquin didn’t impersonate Johnny Cash – he became him.”

Phoenix really felt himself in the singer’s shoes and in a strange way understood that she suited him. But I had to leave the role – and this painful process was accompanied by withdrawal syndrome. After filming, Phoenix, following Cash, began drinking and in April 2005 went to a rehabilitation clinic – where, like Cash, he underwent detoxification. In the following months, the actor regularly attended meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, about which he said: “This is the best thing that happened to me.” Friends said something else: Phoenix became an even bigger recluse after rehabilitation. By the age of 30, he became a seasoned artist who acted little and did not waste time on trifles. “I don’t have to draw from my own experiences to act,” Phoenix said. But is it possible to separate oneself from this experience? Soon after returning to the United States, Joaquin’s father began landscaping gardens and parks, and his mother was hired as a secretary at NBC, where she met agent working with young talents, Iris Burton. The woman was greatly impressed by the artistic abilities of the Phoenix children, and she offered to promote them.

In the Shadow of Big Brother:

The eldest, River, was the first to be noticed in show business. At first he appeared in advertising, and in 1982 he received a prominent role in the television series “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.” After this, his career quickly took off.

Gradually Joaquin followed suit. He starred with his brother in the Christmas episode of the show Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, then appeared in the series After School Special, Murder, She Wrote, Stunt Men and Hill Street Blues. Quite quickly, the brothers began to receive leading roles in film projects, but there was never any competition between them. Moreover, Joaquin relied on River in everything and rejoiced when he became famous after the release of the films “Stand By Me,” “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “A Fool’s Bet” and “My Own Private Idaho.”

At the same time, River was sure that it was his younger brother who would become a big Hollywood star. He shared this thought with his family shortly before the fateful night at the end of October 1993.

Phoenix returned to films in 1995, when, after a year of mourning, he succumbed to the persuasion of director Hans Van Sant to star in his new film “To Die For.” Phoenix’s performance was highly appreciated by critics and audiences.

Over the next five years, the actor starred in such successful projects as Oliver Stone’s The Turning, Joseph Rubin’s Force Majeure and Joel Schumacher’s Eight Millimeters. But his finest hour came in 2000, after the release of the film “Gladiator”. It was the role of the vengeful and cruel Roman emperor Commodus that brought Phoenix his first Oscar nomination and marked the beginning of a whole string of successful film works. The apogee of that period in the actor’s career was the biopic Walk the Line, which brought him a second Oscar nomination, in which he played country singer Johnny Cash.

Radical method acting:

British actor Christian Bale is traditionally considered the master of transformation in Hollywood, but Phoenix is preparing for filming no less radically. He literally abandons his life while working and dissolves in his characters, for which he is completely immersed in their feelings and physically transformed.

So, when preparing for the role of Johnny Cash, the actor painstakingly studied the biography of the country singer and even outside the set asked to call himself by the name of his hero. To participate in the project “I’m Still Here,” he gained weight in the late 2000s, grew a scruffy beard, convinced the whole world that he was retiring from cinema, and in interviews he portrayed a person with mental problems. It got to the point that right before the film’s release there were persistent rumors that Phoenix had completely gone crazy. Only after the premiere did the artist confirm that his behavior was a hoax.

In the film “The Master,” Joaquin played a drunken war veteran who fell under the spell of a religious cult. On set, the actor sometimes forgot to get out of character and after the command “Stop!” Cut!” he destroyed scenery and injured himself, and one day he went to the dentist and asked to have braces put on his teeth that hindered his smile. The role brought him another Oscar nomination.

In the same way, he prepared for other serious roles. In 2004, in order to convincingly play a firefighter in the film Team 49, he took a special course at the Baltimore Fire Academy. The matter was not limited to studies: as an internship, the actor extinguished fires with a real crew – and became so attached to his new colleagues that he got a tattoo of their mascot in the form of a bee.

For the film Mary Magdalene, the actor lost a lot of weight and ate very little to look emaciated. Also, being a convinced atheist, he studied the Gospel to find those features of Jesus Christ that, in his opinion, were most suitable for the image he created.

Phoenix’s appearance underwent no less transformation for the role of the Joker. In a few months, he lost almost 24 kilograms, for which he ran up and down the stairs, “lived on 300 calories a day” and almost went crazy.

When you lose that much weight in such a short period of time, it takes a toll on your psyche. I was also constantly rehearsing my laughter, so sometimes it seemed to me that I was really going crazy. But losing weight was necessary. The character’s physical weakness, firstly, contrasts with the classic image of the Joker. And this is exactly what I was trying to achieve. Secondly, it helps the audience understand the reasons why Arthur ultimately breaks down.    : Joaquin Phoenix:

In 2020, film academics appreciated Phoenix’s work and finally awarded him the coveted Oscar, Golden Globe and many other prestigious awards.

The downside of talent:

Phoenix’s talent for getting to the core of his characters and immersing himself in their thoughts and feelings also has a downside. The habit of disappearing into roles led to the fact that at some point he did not want to return to real life after filming ended. After the role of Johnny Cash in the film “Walk the Line,” Phoenix, fascinated by his character, began to abuse alcohol and became addicted to soft drugs. Fortunately, he quickly discovered that along with another nomination for a prestigious award, he also received serious problems, so in 2005 he voluntarily went to rehab.

I thought rehab was a place where you sit in a jacuzzi and eat fruit salad. But as soon as I got there, they started telling me about the 12 Step program. And I say, “Wait a minute, can I use weed?”      :Joaquin Phoenix;

After undergoing rehabilitation, Phoenix gave up alcohol and drugs forever, and still calls his visit to a hospital and stay in the Alcoholics Anonymous club the best decision in his life. “There are many activities that I enjoy, and I don’t have to wake up every morning with a hangover. It’s not that I’m against alcohol – that’s how I live, that’s all. Maybe I’m just getting old,” the actor assures in an interview.

Life off the set:

The actor is always reluctant to talk about life outside the set, but from what the journalists managed to extract from him, it seems that he never suffered from a lack of female attention. At the same time, Phoenix, in his words, has never been “that bachelor who dates four girls in one week.”

Phoenix’s only highly publicized relationship was with actress Liv Tyler. The couple met in 1997 on the set of the film “The Fictional Life of the Abbotts” and quickly began dating. They had many common interests: vegetarianism, the fight for animal rights.

What can I say? We immediately found a common language. She’s a sweetheart. I say this over and over again. She is real, down to earth, not at all like a movie star. She acts so natural and doesn’t take herself too seriously

Joaquin Phoenix Tyler said that she fell in love with Phoenix the first second they met. She called their romance exactly what she had dreamed of all her life, and was sure that no obstacle could come between them. However, she was wrong. Three years later they broke up without scandals. The decision to leave was made by Liv, who began an affair with the bass guitarist of the little-known rock band Spacehog, Royston Langdon. After the breakup, the actress soon married a musician and gave birth to two children.

Joaquin was having a hard time with the breakup and coping with the failure in his personal life in the usual way – at work. He remained free from serious relationships until 2016. At this time, the actor had fleeting affairs – with model Topaz Page-Green, actress Anna Paquin, DJ Ellie Tails – but only after meeting actress Rooney Mara did he start a family.

The actors met back in 2012 on the set of the film “Her,” where they played ex-spouses. They immediately liked each other, but did not dare to start a relationship: Joaquin was sure that Rooney despised him. Only later did the actor realize that his co-star liked him, but she decided not to impose her company on him.

Phoenix and Mara started communicating by chance – via email after finishing work on the painting. They became good pen pals, and, according to the actor, this was the first time this had happened to him: “She’s the only girl I’ve spied on on the Internet. At first we were friends and corresponded by email. Before this, I had never tried to look for information about a woman on the Internet.”

In 2016, work brought the actors together again: they were both invited to the film “Mary Magdalene.” It was then that the first rumors about their romance began to spread, which were confirmed a year later at the Cannes Film Festival, where Phoenix was to be awarded the award for Best Actor in the thriller “You Were Never Really Here.”

Soon the artists began to live together, in the summer of 2019 the tabloids reported their engagement, and in September 2020 the couple had a son, who was named River in honor of Joaquin’s late older brother.

In March 2022, during an interview, Phoenix called Mara his wife for the first time – then it became clear that the couple got married quietly and without pompous celebrations:

Director Mike Mills invited me to his home where we began discussing why he wanted me in his film. Then I listened to my wife and agreed with her, because she is always right. :Joaquin Phoenix:

There were no comments from the actors’ representatives. Naturally, they themselves also remain silent – they still do not flaunt their lives, and neither Joaquin nor Rooney have social networks. Perhaps this is precisely one of the main secrets of the family happiness of this unusual couple.