I'm Still Here (2010/I)

Director:

Casey Affleck

Writers (WGA):

Casey Affleck (written by) and
Joaquin Phoenix (written by)

Release Date:

16 September 2010 (Australia)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Music

Plot:

Documenting Joaquin Phoenix's transition from the acting world to a career as an aspiring rapper.

Plot Keywords:

Actor | Rapper | Mockumentary | Hoax | Gullible

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Joaquin Phoenix	...	Himself
Antony Langdon	...	Anton
Carey Perloff	...	Play Director
Larry McHale	...	Himself
Casey Affleck	...	Himself
Jack Nicholson	...	Himself
Billy Crystal	...	Himself
Danny Glover	...	Himself
Bruce Willis	...	Himself
Robin Wright	...	Herself
Danny DeVito	...	Himself
Jerry Penacoli	...	Himself
Susan Patricola	...	Herself
Patrick Whitesell	...	Himself
Nicole Acacio	...	Herself
Matt Maher	...	Himself
Amanda Demme	...	Herself
Carline	...	Capricorn Clark (voice)
Mos Def	...	Himself
Christine Spines	...	Herself
David Grutman	...	Himself
Sean Combs	...	Himself
Jamie Foxx	...	Himself
Ben Stiller	...	Himself
Norm Block	...	Himself
Mike Snedegar	...	Lavo Event Host
Edward James Olmos	...	Himself
David Letterman	...	Himself
Natalie Portman	...	Herself
Eddie Rouse	...	Miami Heckler
Jamison Reeves	...	Miami Heckler
Elliot Gaynon	...	Hollywood Eddie
Tim Affleck	...	Joaquin's Father
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Johnny Moreno	...	Victor, Danny DeVito's stand-in (as Johnny Marino)
Conan O'Brien	...	Himself (archive footage)
Barack Obama	...	Himself (archive footage)
Cenk Uygur	...	Himself (archive footage)
Peter Coffin	...	Announcer / Joaquin (uncredited)
Sean Penn	...	Himself (uncredited)

Directed by
Casey Affleck

Writing credits (WGA)
Casey Affleck		(written by) and
Joaquin Phoenix		(written by)

Produced by
Casey Affleck	....	producer
Serena Rios Flores	....	field producer: Hawaii
Joaquin Phoenix	....	producer
Amanda White	....	producer

Original Music by
Marty Fogg

Cinematography by
Casey Affleck
Magdalena Górka

Film Editing by
Dody Dorn

Sound Department
Wade Barnett	....	sound effects editor
Reagan Bond	....	sound mixer
Robert Jackson	....	adr supervisor
Sze-Wun Li	....	sound effects editor
Gabriel J. Serrano	....	sound re-recording mixer
Alex Ullrich	....	foley artist
Russell White	....	sound mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Joseph Aguirre	....	camera operator
Christopher Blauvelt	....	camera operator (as Chris Blauvelt)
Mai Iskander	....	additional cinematographer
Justin Mitchell	....	camera operator
Andrew Mueller	....	camera operator
Sarah Remetch	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Edward Brizio	....	colorist (as Edo Brizio)
Peggy Eghbalian	....	additional editor
Kayla Emter	....	first assistant editor
Elliot Gaynon	....	editorial assistant
Hak Lonh	....	additional editor
Robb Sullivan	....	additional editor
Jeff U'ren	....	colorist/online conform
Valerie Flueger Veras	....	post production supervisor (as Valerie Flueger)

Other crew
Zoe Bower	....	post facilities manager
Lisa Callif	....	legal counsel
Tana David	....	post facilities coordinator
Johnny Moreno	....	stand-in: Danny DeVito
Natasha Shumny	....	post facilities coordinator
William Whirity	....	web advertising (as Bill Whirity)

Thanks
Warren Beatty	....	special thanks
Annette Bening	....	special thanks
Sean Combs	....	very special thanks
David Fincher	....	special thanks
Tom Hanks	....	special thanks
Paul Newman	....	special thanks
Natalie Portman	....	special thanks
Bonnie Raitt	....	special thanks
Brett Ratner	....	special thanks
Julia Roberts	....	special thanks
Ben Stiller	....	very special thanks
Gus Van Sant	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• They Are Going to Kill Us Productions

Distributors

• Avalon (2011) (Spain) (theatrical)
• CTV International (2011) (France) (theatrical)
• Koch Media (2011) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Magnolia Pictures (2010) (USA) (theatrical)
• NonStop Entertainment (2010) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Roadshow Film Distributors (2010) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Transformer (2012) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Clap - Produção de Filmes (2010) (Portugal) (all media)
• D Films (2010) (Canada) (all media)
• Magnolia Pictures (2010) (USA) (DVD)
• Magnolia Pictures (2010) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• NonStop Entertainment (2011) (Sweden) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Wildfire Visual Effects

Other Companies

• Anarchy Post  foley recording
• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Post Haste Sound  commentary
• Wildfire Studios  ADR Recording Facility
• Wildfire Studios  post-production sound services

Also Known As:

"I'm Still Here: The Lost Years of Joaquin Phoenix" - USA (long title)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual material, graphic nudity, pervasive language, some drug use and crude content

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #46265) | Australia:MA | New Zealand:R16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Sweden:11 | Portugal:M/16 | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Company:

They Are Going to Kill Us Productions

Trivia:

Towards the end of the movie, there is a scene where Joaquin Phoenix is sitting with his father, at a table, drinking beers. In reality, this man is not Joaquin Phoenix's father, but actually Casey Affleck and Ben Affleck's own real-life father.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Phoenix first meets Diddy in the hotel, he knocks on the door on the right side of the hall, then the camera switches and Diddy is opening the door on the left side of the hall. It can't just be a change in camera angle since the door is the last one on the hall.

Quotes:

Edward James Olmos:That's you, drops of water and you're on top of the mountain of success. But one day you start sliding down the mountain and you think wait a minute; I'm a mountain top water drop. I don't belong in this valley, this river, this low dark ocean with all these drops of water...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Teen Wolf: The Tell (#1.5)" (2011)

Soundtrack:

Lavo Techno

This is brilliant work. I don't understand all the derision.

Somehow, I feel like one of the only people who thinks this movie is absolutely genius and incredibly funny. Many leading critics seem to have missed the fact that this is a ruse. Reading in the NYT yesterday that Casey Affleck admitted it was not "reality" probably aided my ability to view the movie the way I did, but I am surprised that so many people have a negative reaction to what Affleck and Phoenix present and couldn't see the bigger picture even before the revelation was made. I am looking forward to J.P's appearance on Letterman next week, when I believe we will learn a lot more about their motivation in its production. In the meantime, however, I think a few things can be said that will not prove to be altogether ignorant on my part.

First, this a movie made by professional actors. This is not Casey Affleck following a Joaquin Phoenix lacking self-awareness around with a camera because they have nothing better to do. It is a deliberate effort to create, and they are both collaborating. That should give everyone a good starting point. It is a real movie with thoughtful development, not the work of pedestrian journalists. With that in mind, it is easy to see just how much fun it would have been to make.

The primary "conflict" in the movie is Joaquin's discomfort with the pressures on him and the risks he is taking in the face of so many expectations to keep producing the kinds of movies that won him accolades. The viewer who thinks the film is true life will believe he is throwing away a great movie career because he is the typical tragic celebrity who has it all, can't recognize it, is under chemical influence, and has no one around who cares enough to intervene. There are far too many clues to let that impression control throughout the film.

When J.P. delivers monologues about how he's putting it all on the line, what we should understand is that the fake J.P. is talking about his hip-hop dream, while the real J.P. is acknowledging the risk he is taking by staying out of glossy big-budget blockbusters he had at his fingertips after Walk the Line. Keep in mind: he had to be this character for almost two whole years in order to make anyone bother to watch the movie. When you stack this kind of dedication up against a stupid movie about the drama behind Facebook, the farce of Jersey Shore, another crime movie set in Boston, and all the other garbage out there, I'm Still Here stands out as cutting-edge performance.

Comparisons are easily made to works of Sacha Baron Cohen and Christopher Guest. The primary difference is the real-world gambit of Phoenix and the manipulation of the media, expanding the stage of performance beyond the theaters. And the audience isn't spoon-fed the humor. Yeah, they probably ticked off a lot of suited business people who wanted Phoenix to be predictable and stay in bounds, but the very point of the movie was that the Hollywood system is a fenced-in joke of a society and very easy to toy with. Of course, the sad truth is that so many fine performers have indeed self-destructed in similar fashion. Perhaps that is why people are uncomfortable with the movie; because it is plausible. But if J.P. can deceive so many so easily, it is all the more a masterpiece.