Casey Affleck insists Joaquin Phoenix documentary is the real thing

It’s official: Joaquin Phoenix’s boorish rapper shtick was the real McCoy, says Casey Affleck, the director of the documentary (mockumentary?), I’m Still Here, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival yesterday. “I can tell you that there is no hoax,” Affleck said at a press conference after the screening, where he was flustered by repeated questions about the film’s legitimacy. “That never even entered into my consciousness until other people began to talk about the movie.”

Phoenix was spotted suited and clean-shaven on the Lido yesterday (he’s also been spotted at various events recently looking decidedly normal), which further confused film-goers, but he didn’t accompany Affleck to the premiere. Given the hype around the film, I’m Still Here is set to be one of TIFF’s most in-demand screenings, but neither Affleck nor Phoenix is scheduled to attend.

• Casey Affleck: Joaquin Phoenix doc ‘no hoax’ [Hollywood Reporter]
• Joaquin Phoenix snubs his own movie in Venice [Sky News]
•I’m Still Here: Joaquin Phoenix Takes the Rap [Time]

(Images: clean-shaven Phoenix by Jeff Vespa/WireImage/Getty Images and bearded Phoenix by John Parra/WireImage/Getty Images.)