Joker star Joaquin Phoenix recently returned to The Late Show after a whopping 15 years — but something else also happened: he apologized for his infamous David Letterman interview from 2009 that took place on the show before Letterman turned the reins over to Stephen Colbert.
“When I came on this show with Dave, I originally did the pre-interview in character and I realized that it was just 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,’” Phoenix told Colbert on July 16.
“That was the kind of intention,” he continued. “I just always wanted to get this reaction and see how I would respond to that. So it was beneficial for no one to know, except when needed.”
Phoenix went on to admit the interview ended up being “horrible” despite giving the team a heads up, adding: “It was so uncomfortable. I regret it, I’ll never do it again. I’m so sorry.”
Funnily enough, Colbert quipped back to Phoenix’s apology. “I don’t know if [Letterman’s] watching,” he joked, to which the actor responded. “He might be and I just need to say, I’m sorry.”
However, Phoenix made sure to double down before concluding. “It was strange because in some ways, it was a success, and it was also just one of the worst nights of my life,” he said.
The actor — who made the recent late night appearance to promote the new Ari Aster film Eddington, in which he stars — was a guest on the show in 2009, looking unkempt and worse for the wear while acting fully in character to support the release of his mockumentary film I’m Still Here. The film followed his life after a gag announcement that he’d left acting to pursue a rap career, and it included the deeply awkward and bizarre interview, which ultimately led the public to think Phoenix was suffering from mental illness.
He famously first apologized for the interview directly to Letterman on air the following year in 2010. “I hope I didn’t offend you in any way,” Phoenix said at the time. “You’ve interviewed many, many people and I assumed that you would know the difference between a character and a real person, but I apologize.”
Photo by John Paul Filo/CBS via Getty Images.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
