'What was interesting to me, for sure, was the idea of someone who was transitioning from being a famous, successful actor to being a musician' He has his publicist with him at all times unsurprisingly, the subject is never mentioned but Affleck is just as edgy about the movie, frequently hesitating and using phrases that, after an afternoon of TV interviews, already seem rote. As well he might with two civil cases of sexual harassment hanging over his head, filed by the film's producer, Amanda White, and its cinematographer, Magdalena Gorka. When we meet later in the afternoon, the 35-year-old actor-director is friendly enough but very, very cautious. "It makes me think of Candid Camera or something." "I can tell you there is no hoax," he stated flatly. But as to whether the film is a hoax or not, he was standing firm. Asked directly how he would answer questions about the film's authenticity, about what was real and what was not real, he answered with a very telling remark. When he was put on the spot at the film's packed press conference, Affleck fielded questions with the agility of a master batsman. In what looks like a deliberate attempt to pander to, and subvert, the media's thirst for celebrity scandals – and especially celebrity breakdown scandals – we see Phoenix courting the services of a shell-shocked P Diddy for his monotone ramblings, snort cocaine, order hookers from the internet and, famously, stun David Letterman's audience with a zombiefied guest slot. Both parties strenuously denied that the doc was in any way mock, but the film does little to dispel that notion. It was reported that Affleck, Phoenix's brother-in-law, was working on a mockumentary that would chart the actor's attempt to leave Hollywood and break into the hip-hop world. I'm Still Here has had tongues wagging for two years now, ever since the bedraggled star made an appearance at a Miami nightclub, rapped ineptly, and fell off the stage. He sat with a friend, right at the back, and as he watched the film, "he laughed his ass off". Wearing shades, he was smuggled into the cinema shortly after the lights had dimmed. He was clean-shaven, smartly dressed, and had lost a lot of the weight he had been carrying for the last two years. It is claimed that some time before the film started, Phoenix arrived by vaporetto at the nearby Excelsior hotel. One particular story, from a very reliable source, is especially interesting. Later, though, rumours start to circulate that the film isn't quite everything it seems. After all, the posters outside show the once-lithe Phoenix looking bearded and wired, and as the candid, sometimes shocking film unfolds, they start to understand why he would want to stay away. The crowd is pretty disappointed but sympathetic. But for I'm Still Here, the long-awaited documentary charting actor Joaquin Phoenix's very public meltdown of 2008, only the film's director, Casey Affleck, emerges to take his seat in the empty top-tier row. The Sala Grande at the Venice film festival has seen some pretty big arrivals in its time, perhaps most famously in 2004 when the 17-strong delegation for The Merchant Of Venice left its star, Al Pacino, with nowhere to sit.
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