"Two Lovers" is the kind of highbrow movie many actors would consider a great showcase: a small, personal film with a demanding central role opposite an Oscar-winning actress. Joaquin Phoenix, the star of the new drama, sees "Two Lovers" in a very different light -- his swan song.
Phoenix's retirement from acting -- which he insists is neither a joke nor a publicity stunt -- has transformed the film's Friday launch into a circus nearly as surreal as anything staged by Fellini or Cirque du Soleil.
"I didn't think it would get this attention," Phoenix says. "I didn't think anybody would care."
The star of "Walk the Line" and "Gladiator" announced last fall that he was quitting acting to pursue a career in music, saying that "Two Lovers" would be his final turn in front of movie cameras. News of the unusual declaration -- Phoenix is just 34 years old and considered one of the top acting talents of his generation -- is threatening to eclipse the film itself, seriously testing the long-standing adage that there's no such thing as bad publicity.
"I have no idea if it helps or hurts," the film's writer-director, James Gray, said at the end of a recent day of publicity for the film, in which Phoenix was trailed by a documentary film crew under the direction of actor (and Phoenix's brother-in-law) Casey Affleck, who is chronicling Phoenix's career transformation. "But my instinct is it's pretty good for the film," Gray says. "It's a small movie, and it wouldn't have gotten a lot of press otherwise."
It's not just Phoenix's retirement (and, more notably, the media's coverage thereof) that is overshadowing the story of "Two Lovers," Gray's examination of the complicated emotional and romantic life of a middle-aged man struggling with mental illness.
At the same time, "Two Lovers" costar Gwyneth Paltrow is attracting a ton of attention too. But it's not for her increasingly rare film work or even her marriage to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. Instead, the focus has been on the "Shakespeare in Love" actress' new self-help website ( www.goop.com), and not all of the coverage of her luxurious lifestyle tips has been very kind.
"While it's nice to get the attention and get the film's name out, it's a double-edged sword, because it's not reflective of the film," says Eamonn Bowles, whose Magnolia Pictures is releasing "Two Lovers" in New York and Los Angeles on Friday, while the film already is available through video-on-demand services. "The film is anything but a tabloid diversion. It's a soulful, serious, almost old-school story. And we don't want the tabloid fodder to overwhelm the film."
