Joaquin Phoenix – No Carrot Please

Apparently, Joaquin Phoenix is extremely unhappy with the Oscar buzz surrounding his performance in “The Master,” and tells Interview magazine he thinks the whole thing is “total, utter bullshit…,” calling the Best Actor award a “carrot” he does not want.

And it’s not like he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, at least as to how he experiences this himself. The 37-year-old actor has been nominated for an Oscar twice: Best Supporting Actor as a Roman emperor in “Gladiator” and Best Actor for his portrayal of Johnny Cash in “Walk the Line.”

“It was one of the most uncomfortable periods of my life when ‘Walk the Line’ was going through all the awards stuff and all that,” Phoenix said. “I never want to have that experience again. I don’t know how to explain it and it’s not like I’m in this place where I think I’m just above it – but I just don’t ever want to get comfortable with that part of things.”

Now if you don’t focus on the “total bullshit” part, but instead on the part where he says he doesn’t know how to explain it and he doesn’t think he’s above it, maybe it is understandable. He’s doing his job, which he is obviously very good at, but he’s not very good at or at all comfortable with self-promotion, and he didn’t do the job he did to get himself in a contest against other people for who was the best.

Maybe that’s it.