as strange.
After all, is Phoenix not well-respected (and rightfully so)? Was he not
nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Johnny Cash in "Walk the Line"?
Could he not reasonably expect a long and fruitful career doing the kind of
interesting, left-of-center work he has been doing in films like "We Own the
Night" and the brand new "Two Lovers"? Yes. Yes. Yes. But no — Phoenix has
declared his intention to do something else. Only time will tell whether his
desires will be fleeting, whether his music will be worth the sacrifice, whether
he was, you know, in his right, sober mind when he made the announcement.
But even if Phoenix's career transition really is an art-project hoax (as has
been reported), it still raises some important questions. For example: Why don't
more movie stars retire? I happen to think Joaquin Phoenix is a powerful actor —
all the more so if this really is a big practical joke — but I applaud him for
having the (theoretical) guts to give up the attention, acclaim and, let's be
clear, massive paychecks that go along with film stardom. Maybe he'll find
success as a musician, even a Spinal Tap-style prankster one. Maybe not. But we
can hope that his example might inspire at least a few of his colleagues to
consider hanging it up, too. For example:
Tom Cruise
Unlike many, I am no Tom Cruise hater. I don't always go in for his movies.
(I could never understand the appeal of "Top Gun," for example. But, then again,
I'm not a Republican frat boy with no sense of humor ... or a gay man.) But I
have no trouble seeing that there are scant few actors who can do the kind of
square-jawed, all-things-to-all-people, blank-slate, type-A movie star thing
that Cruise does so effortlessly. His strength as an actor is the absence of any
discernible personality to interfere with his persona. Which makes it all the
more problematic that his empirically bonkers real-life personality is now
inextricably linked to his on-screen characterizations. "Valkyrie" was a better
film than it got credit for, and Cruise was pretty good in it. But there's no
denying that every time he made some move toward assassinating Hitler, you were
like, "Hey, the guy who jumped up and down on Oprah's couch is gonna try to kill
Hitler!" or, "Hey, the guy who thinks Scientology is real and psychiatry is fake
is wearing an eye patch!" It's untenable, and it's only going to get worse as
Cruise tries more and more desperately to get back to his place at the top of
the heap. Prescription: Stop trying. Call it a day. It's the only way he'll ever
be missed.
(Retna)
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