Joaquin Pheonix: All kinds of crazy!
After announcing his retirement from acting in October, Joaquin Phoenix made his first public foray into the music world Friday, saying he was ready to put his real self out there and not hide behind movie characters.
“This is me saying this is who I am. This is my story,” the actor-turned-aspiring rapper told PEOPLE before taking the stage at Las Vegas club LAVO.
For the skeptics, Phoenix says he’s serious about his new line of work. Music, he told PEOPLE, is his real love.
“After all the years of reading scripts and reading lines, this is my chance to do something straight from the heart and put it out there,” he said. And why hip-hop? “When I was young I liked punk rock music but then I discovered rap. I love the storytelling aspect of hip-hop.”
With brother-in-law Casey Affleck (who’s married to Phoenix’s sister Summer) capturing the action for a documentary about his journey into the music world, Phoenix took to the stage and performed three songs from his upcoming yet-to-be-titled album.
Fluttering around the club’s catwalk, Phoenix, 34, rapped to the sounds of a drum beat and encouraged the crowd to dance. Though dancing was at a minimum, the crowd watched intently as a scraggly Phoenix – who donned a scraggly beard, long, unkempt hair and a ripped gray hat – hopped up and down and pumped his fist in the air during certain lyrics.
“You hold a very special place in my heart,” the Oscar-nominated actor told the crowd near the end of the performance.
While the crowd cheered for the songs, Phoenix said he was prepared for mixed feedback before taking the stage. “Are there people out there who think I’m a joke? I’m sure there will be,” he told PEOPLE. “Are there people who think it’s going to suck? Probably, but I can’t worry about that.”
Following the performance, a happy-looking Phoenix spent the rest of the night hugging friends and taking pictures with fans before leaving the club around 1:30 a.m.
January 18th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
God …he is a mess !
January 20th, 2009 at 9:31 am
This is so sad! He is so talented. He’s probably just tired of all the B.S. in Hollywood. Leave him alone and let him have fun making music. Music runs in his family’s blood. Please be careful though, Joaquin!
January 21st, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I used to think he was super deep and brooding and sexy. Now he really looks like the guy on the corner of my street that yells at construction workers all day.
February 24th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
It may seem easy to start the performance, however, it is undeniably a complicated and complex market. If you see one ask for the stage to prove this, you wont get one. Don’t believe me? Then try and find the stage and you wont get one.