Joaquin Phoenix: Unpredictable All the Way

Joaquin Phoenix has played movie roles as diverse as an evil emperor, a heroic firefighter and the legendary Johnny Cash. But in “Reservation Road,” he has to pull out all of his emotions as a grieving father obsessed with avenging the hit-and-run death of his son. Phoenix, 33, recently sat down with LifetimeTV.com to talk about “Reservation Road,” being a jokester on the set and why his brother-in-law, Casey Affleck, is one of his favorite actors.

As an actor, how do you handle emotions on and off the set?

I’m not the kind of person who takes [the character] home. When you’re bouncing around between scenes that aren’t necessarily shot in order, you can’t afford to stay in one place. When I go in and do a scene, I stay present in the scene until I move on to the next scene. But there are times when I jerk around.

But it changes from movie to movie and from scene to scene. I just did a movie with Robert Duvall [“We Own the Night”], and before a scene he was like, “Have you been to Peter Luger? They have the best steak.” And they’d yell, “Action!” and he’d just launch into the scene, and I’d be like, “What the f**k?”

Mira Sorvino said you were telling jokes about nuns on the set of “Reservation Road,” like during a church scene. Is that true?

I don’t know any jokes about nuns, and I don’t remember doing that, so I can’t imagine what it was. I’m sure I made some wisecrack but I can’t remember what it was. You’re in an awkward position when you’re asked that, because I wouldn’t want it to affect people’s experience of watching the film … The truth is that I completely f**k off, and there were a lot of laughs. There was some fun.

You’ve directed several music videos. What was that like that for you, and do you have any dreams of directing movies?

I think it’s a treacherously difficult job. I want nothing to do with it. I lack the patience, diplomacy, talent and intellect to be a director.

What did you like most about the “Reservation Road” story?

I liked that there were different sides of the same story, and how different people were affected by the same event. I think typically in movies, there is a hero and an anti-hero. And it’s very easy for audiences to go along and root against another person. I imagine that the audience’s sympathies lie with the Learners early on because their son was killed [in a hit-and-run accident]. But then over the course of the story we see how detached [my character] Ethan is becoming as a father and as a husband, and becoming obsessive, and we start to learn more about Dwight’s character [the driver] and the conflict that he’s going through. I thought that was interesting because it’s kind of rare. I quite like that idea.

Has your attitude toward acting changed since you were a kid?

I’ve always been aware, ever since I was a little kid, that the whole “serious acting” thing is really bulls**t. All that matters is the final product. If you get there by laughing with somebody, or you have people call you the character’s name in real life, or whatever it may be — it doesn’t matter to me at all anymore. I don’t think one actor is better or more serious because they always seem to be studying. I’m envious of people who can walk in and the director says, “I’ve just changed this line,” and they just nail it.

You’ve struggled with being rejected for a lot of major movie roles. How did you deal with it?

It was like that until “Signs.” I don’t know why they didn’t want to hire me. Early on in my career, the director was always the reason why I got a job. I think “Ladder 49” was the first time that the studio as much as the director was telling people that I should be hired, just because I was in another movie, “Signs,” that had made a lot of money for the studio. Everybody struggles. Not a single person goes through this business and doesn’t feel like it’s a fight.

You’re great friends with Casey Affleck. What do you think about all the acclaim he’s been getting this year for the “Jesse James” movie and “Gone Baby Gone”?

We’ve been friends for years, and he married my sister. It’s a really cool story. It’s an amazing story of perseverance. The dude didn’t have the good part in “To Die For,” he hasn’t been as fortunate as I’ve been and the dude f**kin’ worked hard. He was told no a million times instead of being supported in his early twenties.

The thing is with Casey, he’s had a lot of extra baggage that worked against him that he’s overcome. It’s not only because of being related to Ben [Affleck], but also [being overshadowed by] his friends, like Matt Damon. The truth is that Casey could do everything we’ve done but better. No one who knows Casey is surprised by this, but I guarantee you he could’ve killed in the “Bourne” series; he could’ve done “Walk the Line” front and backward.

If you could do any project with Casey, what would it be?

I don’t know. I haven’t figured that out yet.