"Liv's a little shy, and he just sweeps her off her feet and takes care of her," says Liv's sister Mia. "I could totally see them getting married."

And his dark, brooding good looks suggest "a kind of smoldering intelligence that almost goes back to Steve McQueen," says Bonnie Palef, who directed him in Walking the Dog. "When you watch him act, his pores are so wide open," says Joel Schumacher, who directed Phoenix in the upcoming 8mm. "He's just naked in front of you." Martha Plimpton, who was River's girlfriend and has known Joaquin since he was 11, says, "He was always really physical and really emotional."

and another article:

PARADISE LOST
In the new drama Return to Paradise, Joaquin Phoenix, younger brother of the late River Phoenix, plays an American awaiting execution in a Malaysian prison for drug dealing. To get in character for the role, the actor put himself on the diet from hell. "I don't even remember how much weight I lost," says Phoenix, 23, who costars with Anne Heche, Vince Vaughn and Jada Pinkett Smith in the remake of the 1989 French film Force Majeure. "I just did some cardio [exercise] and cut food out of my life. I talked to Matt Damon about it. He lost a lot of weight when he did Courage Under Fire, but he got really sick. I was trying to do it properly. I knew this film was going to be really physically and emotionally demanding, and I needed nourishment. So I drank a lot of protein shakes."

Oh! Another article, this one at JAM!
As far as Wahlberg is concerned, Phoenix says "if you don't call him Marky Mark, things are super."
"When director Joseph Ruben first talked to me, he said if I got the role I'd have to agree to spend a couple of days in a real prison. I was thrilled that I'd finally found someone crazier than me. That's the kind of thing I'd have thought of doing."

Tuesday, August 25 1998
Listen, what Liv says about her emotion at their first meeting:
"I fell in love with him the second I saw him. I had the part already (in Inventing the Abbotts) and they were trying to find someone to play his part. Pat (O'Connor) called me in to read with him. I walked into the room. He had his back to me. He looked at me and I just went, 'Wheeeew.' I had this grin on my face that was so silly. I couldn't get it to go away, one of those grins that actually hurts. I couldn't make a straight face. I had to leave the room. I just loved him. We talked all day."

Monday, August 24 1998
So .. he is filming the yards right, or did he already finish? But what is after that movie? Does anybody know his plans?

Sunday, August 23 1998
some public sightings:
NY POST...PAGE SIX... August 20
LOVEBIRDS Liv Tyler and Joaquin Phoenix drawing a crowd as they canoodled atan outdoor table during a four-hour dinner at Independent in Tribeca ...

Rush and Malloy Aug 20
Lissome Liv Tyler stands by her man, even if he's not cool enough to get into Veruka. The "Armaggedon" star had to plead with the doorman at the Soho nightspot Saturday to get her beau, Joaquin Phoenix, past the velvet ropes. The two lovebirds were there to celebrate Ben Affleck's 26th birthday with Stephen Dorff, Robbie Robertson, Casey Affleck and Lenny Kravitz. Affleck's best buddy, Matt Damon, and his girlfriend, Gwyneth Paltrow, were still off in Italy, where they're filming "The Talented Mr. Ripley."

story about him at New York Daily News

Saturday, August 22 1998
PROUD OF BROTHER RIVER
Joaquin Phoenix says there was never any sibling rivalry with his better-known big brother, River Phoenix. "I never felt I was in anyone's shadow," he told New York's Daily News. River Phoenix died of a drug overdose nearly five years ago. "I'm proud and honored to be associated with my brother and to be his brother." Joaquin's latest movie is "Return to Paradise," in which he plays a man imprisoned for drug trafficking in Malaysia. To get ready for the prison scenes he "basically cut food out of my diet" and stuck with vitamins and protein drinks.

Wednesday, August 19 1998
I got the following information:
In the August 25 Issue Of Globe magazine it says that Joaquin Phoenix proposed to Liv with a 10 karat ring, but that she said she was not ready for marriage yet.

Tuesday, August 18 1998
I found Joaquin at the Entertainment Asylum with a video-interview!

Sunday, August 16 1998
what is written about Joaquin in Return to Paradise:

Joaquin Phoenix creates a remarkably sympathetic character despite limited screen time.

Phoenix, who appears only in a few scenes, works some gravity into the picture. He's got a face for playing sensitive martyrs, but Phoenix gets past the goody-ness of Lewis, who originally stays behind in Asia because he wants to devote himself to helping endangered orangutans in Borneo. Inside this St. Francis of the monkeys, Phoenix finds a dazed, real character.

Joaquin Phoenix's performance as Lewis is filled with the same fragile intensity that he brought to his role as Nicole Kidman's teenage lover in To Die For.

Phoenix is a young actor who knows how to play vulnerable characters, so he grabs the audience's sympathy early on and then really pulls at the heartstrings.

Thursday, August 13 1998
finally got the MONDO UOMO and ELLE pics scanned - take a look!

Wednesday, August 12 1998
There is an interview with Joaquin at ETonline!

And he is also under the HOT SOMMER HUNKS at ETonline!

Return to paradise on TV and the net
Aug. 16 - Behind The Scenes show On E! at 7:30pm E/P
Aug. 15 - Behind The Scenes show On E! at 7:30pm E/P
Aug. 14 - Howie Mandel with Vince Vaughn
Aug. 14 - KTLA in Studio with Vince Vaughn
Aug. 14 - Conan O'Brien with Anne Heche
Aug. 14 - Rosie O'Donnell with Vince Vaughn
Aug. 13 - Today Show with Vince Vaughn
Aug. 13 - Behind The Scenes show On E! at 2:30pm E/P

There is a story about Joaquin in August´s ELLE.
Listen what Vince Vaugh says about Joaquin:
"He goes to extreme emotional places. He can look like a scared, vulnerable child. Also like the guy in the pool room you don`t want to mess with."
"He`s got Elvis dust, magic and charisma that you can`t intellectualize or deconstruct. You just turn on the camera and watch hin run. That`s what makes it so beautiful."

Do you want to read the whole article, then go there!

Tuesday, August 11 1998
There is a story about Liv Tyler in August`s JANE magazine, take a look at the lines where Joaquin is mentioned:

"I love New York, and I`ve been away for so long. I saw Joaquin, and I just started crying," said Liv, referring to her boyfriend, Joaquin Phoenix, whom she met when they made the 1950s rich girls/poor men melodrama Inventing the Abbotts. "We were so in love," said Liv about their first meeting. "We were together every second, and we were the best of friends and in each other`s trailers. Nobody knew - that`s the amazing part." A few weeks later, I called Joaquin for his version: "I think everyone just thought that I was this chubby kid who was lusting after her," he said. "I fell victim to the assumption - I knew she had been in the Aerosmith video, and Stealing Beauty hadn`t come out yet, and I was expecting the worst," he said. "But she was immediately disarming. I realized in the first five minutes that she was a truly wonderful person."
We didn`t eat dinner because she was eating later with Joaquin. For God`s sake, the girl was home only for a few days - of course, she`d rather eat with her boyfriend! Liv and Joaquin both have apartments in New York.
While she was down South (filming "Cookie`s Fortune"), Joaquin was filming back in New York. "I would love to work with him again," Liv said. "He is so, so, so talented. We need to find the right project, something really different. I want him to direct me. He has so many beautiful ideas. He`ll just stare off, and he`s not there, and then he`ll tell me a story that is just - he has such an amazing imagination."

Saturday, August 8 1998
I bought the Italian magazine "MONDO UOMO" yesterday. There are 10 pages about Joaquin (9 picture pages!!!! really great pics!!). Sure the text is in Italian, but they also had a part in English:

Joaquin Phoenix - Rebel in fashion:
Joaquin. Originally Leaf. Phoenix`s name is only one of his many mysteries: few details about his upbringing, only a rare reference to his personal life, no comment on the premature death of his brother River. From improvisational shows by the wayside with hippie parents and siblings he went on to toles in TV and cinema. "In comparison to alot of other people`s childhood ours was idyllic," he says. "Our parents were always there encouraging us, trying to get us to express our creativity. I had a wonderful family." His big chance came with a major part in Gus Van Sant`s "To Die For" starring Nicole Kidman. "I had no trouble returning to the set after a
few years away. I love acting, it makes me feel good. Now I`d like to stretch my range." After the Van Sant flick he did Pat O`Connor`s comedy "Inventing the Abbotts" with girlfriend Liv Tyler and Oliver Stone`s road-movie "U-Turn"; then the soon-to-be-released "Clay Pigeons" and "Force Majeure". At present he`s gearing up for James Gray ("Little Odessa")`s new picture. What does he do when not working? "Nothing, I rest and listen to music. I like country and Miles Davis jazz, detest contemporary rock. On that count my culture goes no further than the `70s."

Friday, August 7 1998
about Joaquin in Clay Pigeons:
The performances are universally superb. Joaquin Phoenix, as the "innocent" victim, is the best that he has ever been. This is the role of a lifetime and Phoenix delivers.

wanna read some reviews?  Clay Pigeons and Return to Paradise

Thursday, August 6 1998
Return to paradise - about choosing Joaquin
Picking the right Lewis was critical to the overall texture and believability of the film. "I recall that our executive producer Ezra Swerdlow came up with the idea of Joaquin Phoenix," says Golin. "Everyone in the room liked the idea. Joaquin has that vulnerability Lewis needs... that same vulnerability he showed in To Die For and Inventing The Abbotts. We needed a character the audience would root for... one who would eventually break their heart." Obviously, they made the right choice.

Return to paradise on TV and the net
Aug 10 - ET Online Live Chat with the stars from the Premiere in LA
Aug. 10 - Tonight Show with Vince Vaughn
Aug. 14 - Rosie O'Donnell with Vince Vaughn

the movie seems to be pretty good - take a look:
"A film not to be missed or forgotten!!" "Courageous!!" "Bold and deeply moving!!" "Timely, thought-provoking and emotionally charged!!" "A sharp edge drama told very uniquely!!" "With stellar and great performances by the cast... Return to Paradise is an emotionally gripping film." "One of the most outstanding movies of the year... A movie that screams Oscar." "Brilliant..." "Superb, provocative, spellbinding entertainment. Brilliantly written and directed with a first class ensemble cast. Four stars, don't miss it!" " (four stars -- highest rating) Vince and Joaquin are remarkable, and Anne Heche gives her best performance yet... Intense." "Joaquin
Phoenix and Vince Vaughn are outstanding." "Provocative, powerful and emotional -- a gripping drama torn from the headlines."

Wednesday, August 5 1998
Check out the Return to Paradise - site

Tuesday, August 4 1998
the plot of "the yards":
Mark Wahlberg stars as Leo Handler, an ex-com who goes straight on his release from jail and gets a job at a NewYork subway repair yard. But he gets caught up in an attempt to sabotage the trains, alongside his best friend Willie Gutierrez (Joaquin Phoenix). The corruption leads to the murder of a cop, and Handler has to confront his boss Frank (James Caan), who is also his uncle.

Did get the information that there is a 6-page interview with great pics about Joaquin in the Italian magazin MONDO UOMO (in Italian of course). So check it out if you have the ability to!

Monday, August 3 1998
found a review of Clay Pigeons: click here to read it

it says about Joaquin:
Joaquin Phoenix, known as Leaf Phoenix when he acted in PARENTHOOD, plays Clay. Bringing little to the role, Joaquin's deadpan acting style is used by the director as the background canvas upon which to sketch the story.

and a review of "A Long Way to Paradise"  click here to read it