'Cause Everyone Else Got To

This may be getting a little "old hat" to discuss on the intertubes but really, it's just too good to leave alone. Some of you may be aware of a certain interview held not long ago between David Letterman and Joaquin Phoenix. For those of you who aren't, don't worry, the rest of us will wait for you...

You with us now? Ok let's proceed.
The above clip has been making the rounds on the web and sparked up some serious debates ranging from Phoenix's mental health to whether or not he's hiding his drugs in his new beard. Either way it appears the Academy Award nominated actor has decided to call it quits and focus his energies on a burgeoning hip hop career. The star of the silver screen is apparently adamant that the transition is serious, and not at all a hoax. However, at the same time all this is happening, his friend, Casey Affleck is in the background filming everything for an "Untitled Joaquin Phoenix Documentary" slated to hit cinemas in 2010. This information has lead many to believe that this is all part of an "Untitled Joaquin Phoenix Mockumentary" that may, or may not, be being filmed my Casey Affleck and may, or many not be slated for release in 2010. See where I'm going here? Even Christopher Guest must be impressed.

It's all a little too fantastical for me to believe that an actor of Joaquin's calibur would simply give up on his career in order to try his hand at rapping. And if he is serious, someone should really tell him he's going the wrong way about it. Trying to get from Johnny Cash to Tupac via ZZ Top just doesn't work.

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See? It just doesn't work. Anywho, from a marketing/hype perspective this is pure genius. If the mockumentary is real then the massive storm of "crazy" that Joaquin is raining down on the press has to be good for opening weekend sales. However, if it's not a hoax, if Phoenix is entirely legit, then it's just plain sad to see a once very animated and charismatic star being reduced to the mumbling, disoriented mess that he was on Letterman.
Regardless of what happens in the next year or so, let's just pray that Joaquin's music career - however fake it may be - doesn't turn out the way Crispin "Creepy Thin Man" Glover's foray into the medium did.