Hollywood Will Punish Affleck, Phoenix

Hollywood is not happy with Casey Affleck. He and Joaquin Phoenix “will have a lot of explaining to do in the coming days,” writes Patrick Goldstein in the Los Angeles Times. Affleck finally admitted his Phoenix “documentary” was actually a hoax (not that he himself would use that word, of course), but no one in Tinseltown is laughing. Adding insult to injury, Affleck “failed in the most obvious way,” Goldstein writes: “Very few people have bothered to see the film.”

“If Affleck and Phoenix had really pulled off the hoax—ie, drawn big crowds to see the movie—perhaps their peers would've showed more respect” to the film than they have so far. Instead, “the early betting line is that Affleck won't be getting to direct another movie any time soon,” Goldstein concludes. As for Phoenix, scheduled to follow up his disastrous appearance on Letterman next week, “If Letterman wasn't in on the joke,” says one agent, “he is really going to take that poor guy to the cleaners.” To relive Phoenix's exploits, click here.