NEW YORK (AP) -- Joaquin Phoenix is working hard to escape the shadow of his late brother, River.
On the set of Return to Paradise, Phoenix, who plays an American facing death in a Malaysian prison, showed up gaunt as a ghost after apparently not eating.
And during filming of The Yards, the 23-year-old actor banged his head into a piece of oak when asked for more emotion during one scene. Phoenix ended up with a welt, said director James Gray.
River Phoenix collapsed in front of a Los Angeles nightclub and died of a drug overdose in 1993.