In February 2009 this Oscar-nominated actor shuffled onto a late-night couch behind an enormous beard, mumbled through the strangest interview in the show's history, and stuck his chewing gum under the host's desk. It took eighteen months to find out the whole thing was a performance.
The full story
In February 2009 Joaquin Phoenix gave a near-catatonic interview on Late Show with David Letterman — part of a two-year performance for the mockumentary I'm Still Here, directed by his brother-in-law Casey Affleck. The hoax was confirmed in September 2010 and Phoenix returned to the show to explain himself. He won Best Actor for Joker in 2020.
The clues we handed out
— The host signed off by apologising to him for not being able to be there. He returned a year later, clean-shaven, to apologise for the apology.
— The beard belonged to a mockumentary about him quitting acting to become a rapper — directed by his own brother-in-law.
— He finally won the Oscar a decade later, playing a different unravelling man, in clown makeup.
— His older brother River died outside the Viper Room in 1993.
— Initials: J.P.
How this case played
ALLEGEDLY* edition No. 68. Three strikes to name Joaquin Phoenix, with a free clue
unlocked after every miss.
*A blind item you can check. Every puzzle is drawn from the public record —
court records, official rulings, and moments that unfolded on live television — and the
records are linked above. Allegedly.
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