Joaquin Phoenix made his first appearance in 15 years on CBS’ “The Late Show” Tuesday night and expressed “regret” over his infamous stunt interview in 2009 with former host David Letterman.
After being welcomed to the late-night show by Letterman successor Stephen Colbert, Phoenix reflected on the awkward 2009 interview, in which he appeared on “The Late Show” sporting long hair, an unruly beard and sunglasses. The interview was subsequently used in the Casey Affleck-directed mockumentary “I’m Still Here,” which documented Phoenix’s life after he announced that he was retiring from acting to start a hip-hop career.
Phoenix stayed in character for the film. That resulted in his notorious Letterman interview, which in turn led many to speculate that he was having a mental breakdown. 16 years later, Phoenix told Colbert he wishes he had not done the interview. “It was horrible. It was so uncomfortable. I regret it. I’ll never do it again. I’m so sorry,” the Oscar winner and “Eddington” star said. When Colbert noted that he did not know if Letterman was watching or not, Phoenix chimed in, “He might be and I just need to say, I’m sorry.”
“I watched it live. There’s a thing those of us who do these kinds of shows know — there is something you never want to be part of, and the phrase is ‘great TV,’” Colbert told a laughing Phoenix. “My friend, that was great TV!”
You can watch Phoenix’s full conversation with Colbert yourself below.
While speaking with Colbert, Phoenix said that he did warn the “Late Show” team ahead of time in 2009 that he was going to try to get a big reaction out of Letterman during their interview. “When I came on this show with Dave, I originally did the pre-interview in character and I realized that it was just like a little silly, so I called them back and I said, ‘Listen, this is what I’m doing. I’m coming out here and I’m doing this whole thing, and I just want Dave to, like, lacerate me. I just want it to be really dangerous,’” the “Joker” actor recalled.
“That was the kind of intention, right? We just always wanted to get this reaction and see how I would respond to that,” he continued. “It was beneficial for no one to know, except when needed.” Reflecting further on the interview and the public uproar it caused, Phoenix added, “It was strange because in some ways, it was a success, and it was also just one of the worst nights of my life.”
In 2010, Phoenix returned to “The Late Show” and apologized to Letterman. “You’ve interviewed many, many people and I assumed that you would kind of know the difference between a character and a real person,” Phoenix said. “But I apologize. I hope I didn’t offend you in any way.”
Years later, Letterman offered his perspective on the series of events during an interview with Howard Stern in 2017. “I knew what he was doing ahead of time,” Letterman told Stern about Phoenix. “I did enjoy it because it was, you know, like getting your work in on the heavy bag. It was just easy. It was batting practice.”
