37% ... Maybe a bit.
33% ... No, I am only interested in Joaquin.
30% ... If you like one of them, you have to like the whole Phoenix-family.

Sunday, July 30 2000
NEW YORK, July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The nominees have been chosen for the 2000 "VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards," to be presented live on VH1 from the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Friday, October 20 at 9:00-11:00 p.m. (ET/PT).

CELEBRITY STYLE - MALE
George Clooney
Russell Crowe
Samuel Jackson
Jude Law
Joaquin Phoenix !!!!!

More information about the VH1-Fashion Awards, and here the link to all the nominees.

Saturday, July 29 2000
Visit Steph`s new fanpage "Joaquin Phoenix Online".

I have a new article from Sept. 1998 called Reaching out to the stars of Big Apple. It is an interview with the cast of "Clay Pigeons" - Vince Vaughn, Janeane Garofalo and Joaquin.

Taken from the Messageboard (thanks to Sky):
Joaquin is in the September 2000 issue of 'Jump' magazine in the *Celebs Uncensored area. The question they asked celebs this month is Who's Got Brains? Joaquin said: 'Man, Russell Crowe is brilliant. You do a scene with him, and you can just see the wheels turning. His mind is so fast. He's always thinking.'.

Review "The Yards" - from darkhorizons.com
Since I consider Little Odessa as one of the most beautiful and poignant (do you say that in english, it means very emotional...) film noir of the 90's, i had great expectations. So i was a little bit disappointed : the story is exactly the same (redemption, mother/son relationships, the burden of the past...). So for those who saw Little Odessa and were pleased, they shall not be surprised and/or disapointed. If, like me, you expected something new, well, it's cleary a minor movie made by a great and underrated director.

Hopefully, Mark Wahlberg deserves raves for his performance, Joaquin Phoenix shows more talent and nuance in his play than in Gladiator. On the contrary, James Caan thinks he's reprising his role of Godfather, and most of the times is ridiculous. Faye Dunaway, how talented she may be, will never match Vanessa Redgrave's performance in Litle Odessa. James Gray, also thanks to Harry Savides beautifully crafted photography (remember The Game?), shoots memorable scenes: the fighting between Wahlberg and Phoenix (as good as Fight Club), the silent killer hunting in Faye Dunaway's appartment (like the one in Little Odessa with Tim Roth kidnapping a sleeping mobster in his appartement at night).

But overall it is pretty much dejà vu. Nevertheless, i can't wait to see his next movie (in less than 5 years please!).

AND you will find 7 clips from "The Yards" in Quicktime format right here.

Wednesday, July 26 2000
Cleo Magazine August 2000 (Australian magazine)
"Sexy is... SERIOUS"
"Joaquin Phoenix: Most Intriguing Outsider.

As a Roman emperer with incestuous designs on his sister in 'Gladiator', he was disturbing. As Nicole Kidman's fawning stooge in 'To Die For' he was pathetic. And as Vince Vaughn's one-time pal in 'Return to Paradise', he was harrowing. THe 25-year-old Joaquin (pronounched Wah-Keen) has convincingly showcased every shade of the degenerate and marginalised. He takes his method acting seriously - one director foud him bashing his head against a brick wall to get in character. But, the little brother of doomed River is a gentle soul who lives by the philosophies ingrained in him by his hippie parents. He doesn't wear or eat anythign that's animal-derived and when his sister Liberty chose to deliver her baby at home, Joaq cut his nephew's umbilical cord. That's a sensitve New-Age kinda guy."

Here is the picture from the magazine. (thanks to Tasleema, also for the following:

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Jon Bon Jovi was on Jay Leno last night (Monday nights edition) and they were talking about the press in Japan, where the band was touring, and what Jon has heard while he was over there. Jon said he read in a newspaper that Jay Leno had Joaquin on as a guest and that at the end of the interview he said to Joaquin "Next time maybe you could be here in person" (or something to that effect - not sure of his exact words - would have to watch the interveiw again). Jon asked Jay if he said that "....facetiously" and Jay said he didn't mean it that way. But what he did say was that Joaquin "comes from left field" but is a great guy - he's just a little strange is basically what he said.

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Thanks to Jennifer who told me the following.
"... There is a great 8MM behind-the-scenes special playing on HBO. I've already seen it and Joaquin is interviewed several times. The special will be rebroadcast August 18th at 10:45 pm. It is 15 minutes long, I think."

Oh, and visit Hannah`s Joaquin-fanpage!

Saturday, July 22 2000
Another new article: Joaquin Phoenix : Back in Business from the Asian magazine "Galaxie" (issue 17th – 31st July 2000) (thanks to Sky!)

Friday, July 21 2000
I already got the Interview-magazine pics (thanks to Stacy!)

Look out for Joaquin in the current issue of Australia's "Cleo" magazine!

Visit Phoenix Rising - a new fanpage, looking just great.
Also Joaquin Phoenix - simple and brilliant is new.

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I just got an old article the Sunday Times - april 99 called "To Die For". The article was made when "Clay Pigeons" came out. There are the basic infos about his life, but also some nice parts:

There's something pure about Phoenix. Beneath the nervous outer ruggedness there seems to be a lot of heart and soul. It's that vulnerability that he lets the camera see, and it makes him a character audiences root for.

"For me, I believe in a God of whatever my own thing is." (In his case it could be god of the trumpet, his current favourite pastime, or god of the yellow '72 Le Mans car, his passion.)

All that stuff about how River died is so untrue. "The night he died we were together and he was just playing the guitar. He wanted to show me a new song, wanted to just go home and hang out, play the guitar. I was the one who wanted to go out and he just came because he was making sure I was taken care of."

"We used to talk about ideas, screenplays and how we wanted to possibly co-direct a movie. For River, as it is for me, acting and movies were a need. I can't explain it."

"I love the pressure of making movies," Phoenix says. "I hate rehearsing. I can't rehearse. But when you roll that camera, there's something about it, it's magic. I'm gone and can't be held accountable. I'm a maniac for work. When I'm working, everything works. When I've got nothing to do I go a bit kooky.

"I just stay home and swim and read scripts and play backgammon. Or play the trumpet or guitar, or listen to CDs and the rest. I'm not a social guy. I'm quiet by nature. I love to go visit my sisters, hit the road a bit. I'd rather play with my sister Liberty's kid Rio ('River' in Spanish) than go to clubs or shows."

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Want to visit the page of the Joaquin Phoenix Oscar Nomination Campaign. You will find there more links to similar pages.

Wednesday, July 19 2000
New goodlooking fanpage at geocities!

Tuesday, July 18 2000
I just got really fantastic news: Joaquin is on the cover of the new "Interview" cover (August issue) !!!!!! I love that magazine, can`t wait to get it! Sadly I won`t be able to get it until the second week of August - so if anybody of you could scan them for me and send them to me, I could post the pics much earlier!

Monday, July 17 2000
Here an interesting but really really old excerpt from an Steven Tyler interview. I even posted it somewhere down in the news-archive, but I thought you might like to read it again:

... Tyler, by the way, approves of Liv's choice of boyfriends in actor Joaquin Phoenix. "He's dead against drugs because his brother passed away from an overdose," says Tyler, a former heroin addict. "That family is so talented and out of their minds and such characters. When I hung out with Liv and Joaquin and his sister, Rain, two months ago in New York, I went over there to pick up Liv and go to dinner and I wound up staying there until three in the morning. "They're just real happy-go-lucky people, and full of themselves and just really talented. It's such a breath of fresh air to see that they're not off in the back of a club somewhere, sucking on a joint, throwing a lot of four-letter words around, like most kids are. Like I did. It was like we were sitting on the floor picking Madonna apart." ...

And thanks to Violetine who sent me the 1995 article "New Phoenix Rising" about Joaquin from "Interview" magazine! You will find the belonging image in the "Interview-ELLE-magazine"-section.

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Some excerpts from the May - article Hail Joaquin of the Daily Express:

The first surprise when you meet him is how small he seems compared to the buffalo-like colossus swanning around in a toga in Gladiator, and how much he really does resemble those elegant portraits from the Prada advertising campaign.

Joaquin's knack for physically transforming himself for each part indicates the malleability of a true character actor who will never become anchored by the affections of teen magazines. River's popularity began in the pages of Jackie and Just Seventeen, but Joaquin's more wolfish, wicked face makes him striking rather than pretty: the eyebrows like approaching storm-clouds, the vivid eyes that pierce and probe, the scar above his mouth - which he was born with but which is often wrongly assumed to be the result of a hare lip operation.

As for the media, he is as sweet-natured as anyone could expect him to be. That crotchety French journalist even gets a playful hug. "I don't want you to leave this room with bad feelings about me," jokes Joaquin, trailing a wisp of cigarette smoke behind him as he makes what might be called an exit, but which anyone could tell you is more like an escape.

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The June edition of Movieline had ad feature called "Maybe the Truth Isn't Out There": People in the spotlight always complain about being misunderstood, so we asked the stars to tell us what the biggest misconception about them is:

Joaquin Phoenix
"When I did press for To Die For, I was a bit shell-shocked and I wasn't quite prepared. I think the press kind of misinterpreted me. They thought I was evasive and maybe cold, and they likened me to the character I played in To Die For. I left like I never really go any credit for developing that character. The sad thing is that people just look at the obvious thing. If I had donned a suit and cut my hair real short and said, 'Hey, how ya doin'?' they would have seen the difference between the character and me."

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The Battle of the Boyish-yet-Smoldering Next Wave Thespians is a short article about the pros and cons of Joaquin and Tobey Maguire. (Tobey wins in that one.)

The Times has an article about Hollywood's new generation of male actors. The featured actors are Joaquin, Josh Hartnett, Tobey Maguire and Chris Klein. Here some excerpts:

The first wonder boy at a cinema near you is Joaquin Phoenix, one of the stars of Gladiator. Richard Harris had a nickname on the set for the 25-year-old Phoenix, who plays his screen son - Stanley Kowalski. Harris compared Phoenix's anxiety with that of Marlon Brando when he was rehearsing a stage version of A Streetcar Named Desire. During rehearsals, Brando seemed nervous, forgot his lines and caused consternation among his fellow cast members. Yet on the first night, he brought the house down. During the filming of Gladiator, Phoenix, it seems, was forever in a state of near-panic.

"He fretted all the time," says his screen sister, Connie Nielsen, "then every time he worked he was phenomenal." Gladiator star Russell Crowe is similarly effusive about Phoenix. "I hope he learns one day how good he is because he's a damn fine actor."

Phoenix rarely appears in big studio films, but such is the buzz on his Gladiator performance that if Phoenix won't come to the blockbusters, they will come to him. "Yes, I had a meeting with Michael Bay about Pearl Harbor . I thought it was a well-written script but ultimately it just wasn't a film I really wanted to make. It all worked out well, though, because they ended up casting Josh Hartnett, who's a really sweet kid. I think it will be great for him."

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Still didnt get enough of "Gladiator"? Then visit Maximum`s Colloseum - a fanpage with the story, characters, pictures, interviews, historic infos, and and and ...

Here you will find a little but sweet tribute to Joaquin.

Another new article is called Movies are painful: Phoenix (from The Strait Times Interactive)

Monday, July 10 2000
The Picture of Joaquin with "The Yards" costar James Caan from the new Premiere-magazine includes the following text (thanks to Natasha!)

The Yards' Joaquin Phoenix (with costar James Caan, right) admitted that "I always have difficulty liking any movie I'm in. But I'm ecstatic about this; all the pieces are there. I was speechless."

Info taken from the messageboard (thanks Sky!)
In the June/July issue of "Cosmo Girl" you will find Joaquin in the section "Catch Your Crush" (they talk about lesser-known films of a popular actor each month). There are small pictures from 'Russkies', 'Parenthood' and 'SpaceCamp'.

For all the UK fans: on wednesday the 12th july "Inventing The Abbotts" is on sky Premier at 11.50pm. (thanks Kate!)

Review of "The Yards" at boxoffice.com:
... "The Yards" is bleak, to be sure, but Gray's writing is so smart and his direction so forceful that it gives the material exceptional texture and depth. The actors give richly shaded, beautifully nuanced performances, especially Wahlberg, Phoenix and Theron, each doing some of their finest work to date.

An quite report about "The Yards" at aint-it-cool-news.com:
... I've seen many different cuts of THE YARDS, and each one has been better than the last. It is on its way to becoming a .masterpiece. James Gray is a perfectionist. Heaven forbid that anyone should attempt to be a "serious filmmaker." Heaven forbid a director look up to The Godfather. Maybe everybody should try to make the Waterboy. (If netherworld knew anything about the Yards, he'd realize it bares very little narrative or even aesthetic similarity to the Godfather...except maybe its beautiful, moody lighting.) The movie is a serious work of art, attempting -- and achieving -- emotional levels rarely seem in films, especially American films. The acting will blow you away. (Charlize Theron, almost unrecognizable in black hair and heavy eyeliner, is the biggest revelation.) Caan, Dunaway, and Burstyn haven't been this strong since the 70's, and Wahlberg and Phoenix give by far their strongest performances.

Sunday, July 9 2000
The new issue of Premiere (the one with Jennifer Lopez on the cover) has a small pic of Joaquin with James Caan along with a lot of other celeb photos from Cannes. (thanks to Courtney for the info)

Saturday, July 8 2000
As I told you before, there is a pic of Joaquin at the Gladiator premiere in the british mag "MORE". The text next to the image: (thanks to Kate for posting it on the board!)

Speaking of flying high, Gladiator hunk Joaquin Phoenix, brother of the late River, appeared spaced out on US telly recently - so much so that host Jay Leno asked the young actor to "come back in person" next time! Joaquin's first step on the rocky road to stardom was changing his name from 'leaf', so let's hope he doesn't take any more leaves out of Rivers book....

There is a page that lists celebrity-adresses, including Joaquin`s:
PHOENIX, JOAQUIN (LEAF) 1450 Belfast Dr., LA, CA 90069
(I assume it might be one of his old adresses, as we know he is currently looking for a "home".)

Tuesday, July 4 2000
Thanks to Ruthie for sending me the following excerpt from an article on Kate Winslet from the UK Elle April 2000 issue:

In Kate's next film, Quills, she plays Madelaine, a laundry lass and muse to the Marquis de Sade. 'Jim's (her husband's) mum read the script for me and said "I'm not sure about this, its a bit like 'Silence of the Lambs'." I was like, "Give it me now!".

In Quills, Kates gets to play opposite Geoffrey Rush, the Marquis ('very naughty'), Michael Caine ('lethal') and Joaquin Phoenix as the priest ('who is just a really darling person').

I ask if she's ever been in danger of falling for one of her leading men. She thinks for a moment before screwing up her face. 'None of them. None of them.' As it happened, she bumped into young DiCaprio recently, who was very keen to hear about the production of Quills. 'He said, "You didn't love Joaquin more than me, did you? Don't you ever love an actor more than you love me!"

Joaquin's appearance on "Murder, She Wrote" will be on A&E on Tuesday July 11th! (thanks for the info, Heather!) On the A&E-website you will find the following description:

The episode is called "We're Off to Kill the Wizard"
Jessica is asked to help solve the "impossible" murder of a wealthy,
and much disliked, amusement park owner. Angela Lansbury stars
with Leaf and Summer Phoenix and Kim Darby.

US Weekly...Scene and Heard 7/17/00
The mob celebrating the L.A. Lakers' basketball championship (including naked guys on top of cars) was so unruly that Ben Affleck had escorts guide him into Dublin's Bar in Hollywood. Once safely inside, he partied with Cuba Gooding Jr., Vince Vaughn, and Joaquin Phoenix...

Sunday, July 2 2000
A big thanks to Irene who translated the interview from the Austrian movie-magazine SKIP for us! The Interview was done in Cannes where Joaquin presented "The Yards". So he tells some funny stories about the movie (like when he and Mark Wahlberg had a brutal fight - in front of the camera!)

For all Denish Joaquin-fans: there is a interview with him in the "Tjeck magazine", issue 103 (June 2000), pg.48

And for the rest of you: look out for the UK magazine "MORE" June 2000 issue. There is a picture of him from the Gladiator premiere. (thanks to Ruthie for the image, you will find in the variousmags-section)
The Australian "Who Weekly" magazine (3 July 2000 issue) features Joaquin with a full page article and two fotos.

Wanna see Joaquin (Leaf at that time) in a Superman-costume? Thanks to Antonelle for this and a couple of other pics! Also thanks to Antonella for discovering the following ...

From time to time new credits appear on Joaquin`s film-list. Now the following four TV guest appearances were discovered:

Alfred Hitchcock presents (TV guest appearance) ..... 1986
episode- A Very Happy Ending
Rough plot- A poor little rich boy (Joaquin) who's deaf witnesses a murder, then blackmails the hit man into doing a job for him.

Hill Street Blues (TV guest appearance) ..... 1984
Rough plot- Joaquin plays Daniel Flowers
episode- The Rise and Fall of Paul the Wall

The Fall Guy (TV guest appearance) ..... 1984
Rough plot- Colt Seaver is a combination bounty hunter and stunt man. He drives a big Chevy truck with a eagle painted on it's hood. He chases after "bad guys" and returns them to the L.A. area.
episode- Terror U

Mr. Smith (TV guest appearance) ..... 1983
Rough plot- Mr. Smith was a talking orangutan with an IQ of 256 that worked as a political advisor in Washington, D.C.

Antonella also discovered that Joaquin appeared in a video called "Cancelled Lives: Letters from the Insice" (made in 1991)
... It is a video designed to provide an impressionistic view of prisons and jails as seen through the eyes of the inmates. Letters, which inmates have written to their friends and relatives, are read by a group of celebrities while scenes from a number of prisons are displayed in the background. ...

Joaquin read one of the letters, along with other celebrities like his brother River, Martha Plimpton, Dermot Mulroney, Kevin Bacon, Alec Baldwin, and many others.

Follow the link for more information.

In the mood for discussing "Gladiator"? Then go there. They have a couple of forums: one for general discussion about the movie, one for the Roman Empire, one for the Gladiator-DVD, one for Russel, one for Connie Nielsen and one for Joaquin!

Some other news: According to your discussion on my own messageboard, Joaquin and Casey Affleck both got tattoos when they went to Italy together.

Also taken from the Messageboard:
During a brief interview mentioned in a Guardian suppliment a while back Joaquin mentioned his next film project called Flens 2000. He said it was about out of work actors trying to make it big in Bollywood. It's a comedy and a kinda throw back to the rediculous 80's buddy movies like Stir Crazy.

Here an article from The Ottowa Citizen called "Phoenix longs for respect" - about Gladiator.

And you really should take a look at MrJoaquin.com - a great new fansite! It has a fantastic articles-section! Another new fanpage is the Joaquin Phoenix Multimedia Site packed with pictures, videos, sounds, wallpapers, screensavers, ...

A funny little story at Page Six.com about Joaquin:
JOAQUIN: IMPERIAL RANK
YES, it helps to be famous. When "Gladiator" villain Joaquin Phoenix rolled up to Spa at around 12:30 a.m. Friday night, the cops and Fire Dept. had taken over the door while checking if the club was over its capacity. The doorman told him, "I'm sorry, I can't let you in, there's nothing I can do." But a police officer stepped in and said, "I think you can let the emperor of Rome in." So Phoenix and his pal stayed till closing.