Toward achieving a détente of sorts between himself and the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences after commenting last month that the award process is “total, utter bullshit” (read the full story here), Joaquin Phoenix has refined his position, now acknowledging the Academy for its “tremendous” contribution to his career, and clarifying that he wasn’t so much against the Academy Awards so much as against anything obstructive to being a performer.
“I wouldn’t have the career that I have if it weren’t for the Oscars. I haven’t been in a lot of movies that have made a lot of money … and getting nominated for a movie has probably helped my career tremendously,” said Phoenix.
Whether it’s a deliberate spin on a typically irreverent moment or just another honest answer to a direct question perhaps matters little ~ particularly in light of his playful willingness to toy with the public (one might remember his retirement from acting and taking up rapping back in 2010). He’s likely as not to be telling the frank truth, just as when he sparked the kerfuffle (further joking that he didn’t even know he had such power to dash any hopes in the first place).
Twice-nominated for Oscar gold (Gladiator and Walk the Line), Phoenix’s most recent performance in The Master, as a fragile WWII veteran who finds himself drawn toward a charismatic quasi-religious leader (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman), has placed him squarely in contention with current front-runner Daniel Day-Lewis (for Lincoln).
Phoenix continued his good-natured back-pedal with the Sydney Morning Herald’s Gary Maddox saying, “It’s not like I f—ing hate the Oscars. …It doesn’t occupy my time to where I can build up hate…. What I was reacting to was sometimes the reverence that we have about these things. I don’t want to revere it.”
What do you think? Is it enough to get him back into the Academy’s good graces ~ or does it even matter?
Source: Huffington Post