River Phoenix's baby brother
By LOUIS B. HOBSON
Calgary Sun NEW YORK -- Joaquin Phoenix doesn't remember 1994.
That was the year immediately following his brother River Phoenix's death from a drug overdose on Halloween night 1993.
River, Joaquin and friends were at Johnny Depp's Viper Club on L.A.'s Sunset Strip when River went into convulsions. It was Joaquin who placed the frantic 911 call for help.
"After River's death, I felt like I was in an altered state. It took me over a year to get my life back," admits the 22-year-old actor.
"Dealing with death is always difficult, but suffering in public adds a whole new dimension."
He admits there was a great outpouring of love. His family received thousands of beautiful letters and cards.
"Unfortunately all of that love was overshadowed by the ugly things that appeared for months in the supermarket publications.
"I felt so sorry for my mother having to do her shopping and be bombarded by those ugly headlines on magazine covers."
Joaquin had been acting since he was eight.
"River was starring in (the TV series) Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. They needed a young boy and a young girl for a scene. River suggested they use me and my sister Rain. We came cheap so we were hired."
Joaquin, who was going by the name Leaf Phoenix, got his big break came when River helped him land the role of Diane Wiest's rebellious son in Parenthood. River's then girlfriend Martha Plimpton was already cast.
Joaquin got the kind of rave reviews River had always enjoyed. He was suddenly inundated with offers but then came River's tragic death.
"I didn't want to act any more. I wanted to put my life in perspective."
Eventually, family friend and filmmaker Gus Van Sant brought Joaquin the script for To Die For. Van Sant had directed River in My Own Private Idaho and their sister Rain in Even Cowgirls Get The Blues.
"I felt I could trust Gus, so I agreed to do the film. It was the right decision. It felt so therapeutic. Every other thing I'd done only felt like dress-up. Now, it was actually acting. I understood why River had loved acting so much."
LOVE SET
Joaquin found more than renewed purpose on the set of Inventing The Abbotts, the film he did immediately after To Die For.
In this romantic drama that opens Friday, Joaquin plays a poor boy who falls in love with rich girl Liv Tyler. The actors fell in love off camera as well.
"I knew there was something special between Liv and I from the first day we met. I didn't plan on us becoming lovers but I did think I'd found a great new friend.
"She is every bit the special friend I knew she'd be but she's so much more as well."
Joaquin admits Tyler is one of the first women he ever approached on his own.
"I never seemed to have the courage to date a woman I didn't already know. I was fortunate I have sisters because I always ended up dating my sisters' girlfriends."
Joaquin's parents belonged to the religious cult known as the Children Of God. He was born in Puerto Rico and travelled with the cult throughout Latin America, South America and the U.S. The children would perform on street corners to raise money for the cult.
"We lived out of our van. It wasn't a traditional lifestyle but we saw the world as a family. Eventually we settled outside Los Angeles and that's how River started acting."
Joaquin has already finished filming the Oliver Stone movie U Turn in which he plays Claire Dane's boyfriend.
"It's the most fun character I've ever played because he is such a drama queen. He's this kooky freak who loves personal trauma. It's so unlike me."
Next up for Joaquin is In Too Deep, a serial killer thriller that features Vince Vaughn, the star of Swingers and The Lost World.