While promoting Ari Aster’s Eddington, Joaquin Phoenix did some surprisingly fun and candid interviews. Given his reputation for avoiding the press whenever possible, it was interesting to see him, for example admit how much he regretted that infamous Letterman interview to Stephen Colbert, and talk about his work as a child actor to co-star Pedro Pascal. Is this a new era for Joaquin or just him realizing that, post-dropping out of the Todd Haynes movie, he’s got to clean up his reputation?
Phoenix also appeared on Theo Von’s podcast (yeah, I know.) We are in the era where schmoozing with these incendiary losers is now an expected part of a movie’s marketing campaign. I miss the days of Dick Cavett, and I wasn’t even alive when they were happening. Anyway, the interview itself is actually quite interesting. Von is not a good interviewer, but he is casually inviting enough to get a guest as notoriously closed-off as Phoenix to loosen up and have a good time. He was certainly comfortable enough to admit something that I don’t think any of us expected him to say.
After discussing the passing of his father, John, Phoenix confessed that he and his sisters can’t find the late man’s ashes.
@dailycomedyplug RIP to both their dads… and hopefully Joaquin’s dad’s ashes come up soon 😅 Clip is from “This Past Weekend” Podcast Episode 598, listen/watch full episode on Spotify/YouTube. #clips #comedy #funny #podcast #theo #theovon #joaquinphoenix #tpw #thispastweekend ♬ original sound – DailyComedyPlug🔌
‘And here’s something else that’s f**ked up. My sisters lost his ashes. Every couple of months, somebody will just send out a text that’s like, ‘Has anybody found dad’s ashes?’ And all you can do is f*cking laugh because it’s horrible […] It’s a great bit! […] Just randomly, every once in a while, it will just occur to one of us, we’ll be like, ‘Yeah, where the f**k are dad’s ashes?’ We still don’t know.’
While he does blame his three sisters — Rain, Liberty, and Summer — he also admits it ‘might have been me’ who lost them. Hey, it’s easily done, right? When my granddad died, he was a big guy, and the box we got back with his ashes could have held a 12-pack and some snacks (which he would have loved.) Honestly, the entire process of cremation is an odd one. Your loved one is reduced to a weird pile of grit and dust, and then you have to find a nice place to scatter them, and if they were a big guy like my granddad, it takes bloody ages! We literally stopped halfway through to get lunch and then moved to a second location.
I hope you find your dad’s ashes, dude. They’ll turn up when you least expect it, like when you lose your glasses. If all else fails, check behind the couch.