The four movies Joaquin Phoenix tried to quit, and the two that he actually did: “I can’t do it”
Sometimes, it simply feels easier to quit instead of sticking to a difficult task, which is something Joaquin Phoenix will be the first to tell you.
Of course, quitting can often be the right thing to do. When his brother, River, passed away outside of the Viper Rooms club – a Halloween night turned scarier than Phoenix could ever comprehend – he made the wise decision to step away from the limelight for a while.
Having started acting as a child, Phoenix was unsure whether this was the industry he definitely wanted to be in. It was dangerous, and as quickly as your spark could attract countless adoring fans, it could be put out somewhere as mundane as a Californian roadside. Gone, just like that.
Phoenix came back to acting with a supporting role in Gus Van Sant’s To Die For, appearing alongside Nicole Kidman with a performance that suggested his return was needed. He was great. Considering that Van Sant had directed Phoenix’s brother to perfection in My Own Private Idaho a few years before, it felt like fate. Still, he was ready to carve out his own path, and within a few years, he landed one of the leading roles in Ridley Scott’s epic swords and sandals blockbuster Gladiator.
Yet, this was one of several movies that Phoenix has desperately tried to quit during his career, although if he had managed to be successful, would he have had such a successful one? According to Ridley Scott via an interview with The New York Times, the actor “was in his prince’s outfit saying, ‘I can’t do it.’”
He continued, “I said, ‘What?’ And Russell [Crowe] said, ‘This is terribly unprofessional.’”
It seems like nerves got the better of Phoenix – he’d never appeared in a movie this big before – but soon Scott was able to convince him, for the sake of his sanity, to stay on board. It’s a good job he did, because it earned him his first of several Academy Award nominations.
That’s not the only time Phoenix has almost let Scott down though. Decades later, he tried to back out of another epic, Napoleon. It appeared he seemed to throw a bit of a Hollywood fit, unhappy with the script and only content on staying if his good friend Paul Thomas Anderson was hired to provide some additional assistance. Having been directed by Anderson in The Master, Phoenix trusted him, and he actually got his own way. “
Tommy was doing Licorice Pizza, advising me how to do Napoleon. It turned into a lot of fun, actually. Three of us in this room screaming with laughter,” Scott explained.
Phoenix finally won his first Oscar for Joker in 2020, but, surprise surprise, he tried to get out of that one too. Little is known as to why he tried to step away from it, although it seems like it’s just a common theme in the actor’s life, with cold feet leading to last-minute decisions regarding whether he should stay or go. The same goes for C’mon C’mon, one of the most arresting performances of his career. It almost didn’t happen.
Maybe he should have listened to the wise words of Joe Strummer, because it certainly looked like there was going to be trouble when he tried – and succeeded – to leave a Todd Haynes movie in 2024. He was meant to appear in a rather erotic gay love story, but he backed out with only five days before shooting was set to begin. In fact, the crew were setting up, only to be left without a lead actor. A lawsuit has reportedly been discussed, although it seems like Phoenix has gotten away scot-free so far.
Trouble came when he suddenly left Split, too, with his role eventually going to James McAvoy, who pulled it out the bag with very short notice. The Scottish actor told Happy Sad Confused, “He’d give a very different performance than the one I did but an incredible one. Sometimes coming in last minute is the best way. I think he ditched it two weeks before they started shooting. It was really last minute. I had a couple of weeks [to prep]. Two weeks. The script was well put together, so a lot of it was clear what I wanted to do straight away. A couple characters took a little longer to find. Patricia came quick. Hedwig took a while.”
Hopefully, Phoenix will stop trying to quit at the last minute – it’s not convenient for anyone – but at least he is usually able to be convinced to stick around.
