Many question if Affleck's 'I'm Still Here' is a setup
A buzz preceded actor Casey Affleck's directorial debut, "I'm Still Here": Was the movie about brother-in-law Joaquin Phoenix's seemingly downward spiral from actor to hip-hop musician really a no-holds-barred documentary - or was it just a setup?
Monday in Venice, where his film was screened out of competition at the Film Festival, Affleck said he's leaving the answer up to the audience.
"Elliptically, I would say . . . I sincerely don't want to influence people's interpretation," Affleck told reporters. "I can tell you there is no hoax. It makes me think of 'Candid Camera' or something."
The film is full of dark, sometimes graphic scenes about the Academy Award-nominated Phoenix, whose decision to go for a music career and concurrent decline was fodder for late-night comics. In one scene, Phoenix banters about the irony of his life being depicted in film, when he is trying to get away from the industry.
The film follows Phoenix to his last acting and press events, at which he grumbles that he "hates" acting. "I think everyone at some point in their life hates their jobs and the people they are around," he says in opening scenes to explain why he wants to change his life despite his talent and enormous success, which includes an Oscar nomination for playing Johnny Cash in "Walk the Line."
What follows are scenes depicting his negative downturn. There's drug use, graphic language, the search for online sex, a meeting with a prostitute and other hard-core scenes, such as Phoenix attacking a spectator at his own concert.
Affleck noted that Phoenix was in Venice and "not hiding from the movie."
"When I watched the movie, I am not repulsed by him and I feel for him and I understand him better than I did at beginning of the movie. I have a lot of love for him," Affleck said.
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