Next question: rewatching the most awkward movie press tours
Joaquin Phoenix isnt necessarily a man with a wonderful reputation when it comes to interviews. Even at his most switched on, he tends to come across as tetchy and distracted. However, that said, his press tour for Joker doesnt exactly seem to be helping the matter. Early on, he walked out of an interview with the Telegraph after not unreasonably being asked if he was worried that the film would inspire copycat crimes.
Related: Why so stupid: how Joker is too juvenile to be provocative
And then this week, on Jimmy Kimmel Live, he gave a truly baffling interview. It was full of all the same rambling half-answers as usual, but was also shot through with some half-joking aggression. At one point Kimmel teased Phoenix about his old breakdancing, to which he testily replied: Youre making fun of it, but it was pretty serious to me. And then came an exclusive outtake from Joker, where Phoenix railed Christian Bale-style at an offscreen crew member. Phoenix claimed to be surprised by the clip, and apologised for his terrible behaviour. It was, all in all, very odd.
Phoenixs publicist has since said that the clip and the ambush, and the response were all planned in advance, and that this was yet another Im Still Here-style fakeout on Phoenixs part. But nevertheless, it goes to show how much more interesting these sorts of interviews can be when the thick smear of Hollywood grease gets rubbed off. To commemorate Phoenixs awkwardness, here are some other wonderfully derailed press tours from days gone by.
Jeremy Renner, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
By 2013, Jeremy Renner had gained a reputation as the Next Big Thing thanks to his turn in The Hurt Locker and his roles in the Mission: Impossible and Avengers films. But then came Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, a bad film that Renner had to promote knowing how bad it was. Vulture has compiled an exhaustive list of his most sullen interviews from the tour the sarcastic wooo after a clip is shown on Fallon is a highlight but look at the video above. Look how much he hates being there. Look at the effort it takes him to say anything positive at all. Look at Gemma Artertons body language. I know someone who interviewed Renner on this tour. Angriest man I ever met was his takeaway recollection.
Matt Damon, Downsizing
A press tour that took place in the wake of #MeToo, and went so badly that he had to skip his own premiere. What went wrong for Matt Damon? Was it that he defended men who patted women on the bottom, because they werent also rapists? Or when he said that more recognition should be given to men who dont do this kind of thing? Either way, it was the worst Matt Damon press tour since the one where he whitesplained diversity to a black woman.
Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, 50 Shades of Grey
Admittedly the excruciating interview format did a lot of the work here you try maintaining your good humour while chirpy strangers yell at you from an iPad but Glamours interview with the stars of 50 Shades of Grey was nevertheless an unscalable wall of awkwardness. Theres little eye contact between Johnson and Dornan, and chilly silences, and overblown exhalations of boredom. It looked, to all intents and purposes, like the pair absolutely hated each other; a sensation backed up by monosyllabic TV interviews and photo after photo after photo in a Jezebel post entitled Double Crap: Fifty Shades of Grey Stars Cant Fucking Stand Each Other.
Jesse Eisenberg, Now You See Me
Eisenbergs reputation for playing aloof, better-than-you entitled pricks more convincingly than anyone else may well have its roots here. In the space of two minutes and 43 seconds, Eisenberg repeatedly manages to belittle his interviewer to the point where he eventually tells her Dont cry now; cry after the interviews over. It went down so badly that, in a later interview, he asked the interviewer to spread the word that Im not an asshole. Even when Now You See Me 2 was released, the reputation lingered; in one interview he asked whether or not he came across as an indulgent prick.
Samuel L Jackson, RoboCop
Sometimes, just sometimes, an awkward interview isnt down to the star. Its down to an interviewer accidentally thinking that hes interviewing a different black person than the one hes actually interviewing. All that anyone remembers about the 2014 RoboCop remake is the interview where local news anchor Sam Rubin asked Samuel L Jackson if he enjoyed his recent Super Bowl commercial. Except Samuel L Jackson hadnt starred in a Super Bowl commercial; Laurence Fishburne had. We dont all look alike, Jackson shouted, before refusing to let Rubin off the hook for four agonising minutes.
