{"id":80912,"date":"2025-07-16T15:06:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T19:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/?p=80912"},"modified":"2025-07-16T15:06:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T19:06:09","slug":"joaquin-phoenix-opens-up-about-regrettable-2009-interview-one-of-the-worst-nights-of-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/joaquin-phoenix-opens-up-about-regrettable-2009-interview-one-of-the-worst-nights-of-my-life\/80912\/","title":{"rendered":"Joaquin Phoenix opens up about regrettable 2009 interview: \u201cOne of the worst nights of my life\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Joaquin Phoenix recently made a rare late-night appearance, his first in 16 years, as a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. During the conversation, the Oscar-winning actor revisited a moment that has followed him for years: his now-infamous 2009 interview with David Letterman. In a heartfelt and honest reflection, Phoenix offered a public apology and called the experience \u201chorrible\u201d and \u201cuncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in 2009, Phoenix appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman in character, part of an elaborate stunt for his mockumentary film I\u2019m Still Here. He appeared disoriented, mumbled responses, and left audiences wondering if something was seriously wrong with him. Some thought he was experiencing a mental health crisis, but it was later revealed to be part of a performance.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Colbert, Phoenix explained that the idea at the time was to play an offbeat version of himself and get genuine, shocked reactions from Letterman and the live audience. He shared that he had warned the production team, but didn\u2019t let anyone else in on the plan, hoping for an \u201cedgy\u201d and unpredictable moment. \u201cI just wanted Dave to lacerate me. I wanted it to be really dangerous,\u201d Phoenix admitted. \u201cBut it wasn\u2019t fun or funny in the end, it was uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phoenix got emotional as he recalled the fallout, saying that even though some people now view the interview as a wild success in performance art, he considers it a low point. \u201cIt was strange because in some ways, it was a success,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it was also just one of the worst nights of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Joker star also used this recent interview to send a message directly to David Letterman, just in case he happened to be watching: \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Phoenix had already offered an apology in 2010 when he returned to Letterman\u2019s show to explain the stunt. But over a decade later, it\u2019s clear he still carries some regret over how it all played out.<\/p>\n

On the professional front, Joaquin Phoenix was last seen in Joker: Folie \u00e0 Deux, alongside Lady Gaga. His next project is Eddington, where he\u2019ll star with Emma Stone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joaquin Phoenix recently made a rare late-night appearance, his first in 16 years, as a guest on The Late Show\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":80913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[6353],"class_list":["post-80912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-news","tag-joaquin-phoenix"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}