Johnny Money Was A Main Fan Of Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscar-Successful Historic Epic – SlashFilm – The Imperial Wire Insider

In case you have even a passing familiarity with Joaquin Phoenix’s physique of labor, you in all probability know that he performed well-known American singer Johnny Money in a biopic. What you in all probability did not know, although, is that Money himself was a fan of certainly one of Phoenix’s different vastly profitable motion pictures: “Gladiator.”

Some fast timeline notes right here: “Gladiator” launched in 2000, with Phoenix taking part in Commodus, the nakedly power-hungry and brazenly violent emperor who, because it occurs, murdered the household of the movie’s titular gladiator Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) in addition to his personal dad Marcus Aurelius (the late Richard Harris). Money handed away in 2003, and “Stroll the Line,” James Mangold’s movie that forged Phoenix because the musician and Reese Witherspoon as his long-suffering spouse and inventive collaborator, June Carter Money, was launched in 2005. What which means is that, sadly, Money did not get to see Phoenix play him on-screen, however he actually appreciated Phoenix’s efficiency in “Gladiator,” apparently.

In an “Ask Me Something” put up on Reddit in 2014, Money’s son John Carter Money advised a commenter about his dad’s love for “Gladiator.” In response to a query in regards to the well-known musical couple’s favourite books and movies, the youthful Money replied, “He actually cherished Russell Crowe in Gladiator. He actually did. I met Russell Crowe final evening and advised him that.” Phoenix additionally acquired the possibility to satisfy Money and focus on this groundbreaking historic epic, and apparently, the dialogue went … a bit in a different way.

Throughout an interview with Conan O’Brien, Joaquin Phoenix mentioned that he did get to satisfy Money earlier than taking part in him in “Stroll the Line.” As Phoenix recalled: “Nicely, I used to be invited over to dinner at a buddy’s home, and went over, and it was a tremendous expertise. John and June had been simply stunning folks.” After saying the 2 performed a music collectively, Phoenix mentioned he was all set to go house when the music legend approached him one-on-one.

“After which I needed to go away, and John stopped me as I used to be strolling out. He was an enormous fan of a movie I did referred to as ‘Gladiator,'” Phoenix mentioned. “He mentioned, ‘My favourite half is whenever you mentioned, your son squealed like a woman whenever you nailed him to the cross! And your spouse moaned like a wh*re as they ravaged her time and again! I really like that half!'” I assume I communicate for a lot of after I say, “Wow, Johnny Money!”

Maybe the funniest factor about this recollection is that, whereas talking to a British publication referred to as IndieLondon about “Stroll the Line,” he introduced a way more … family-friendly recollection of those similar occasions. It began the identical manner: it had nothing to do with “Stroll the Line” and happened due to some mutual buddies. On this case, Phoenix described watching Money along with his guitar:

“John was truly fairly shaky. His arms had been shaking and he picked up the guitar. He felt obligated to play and but he could not play anymore however he was going to attempt to. The second he touched the guitar, the shaking stopped. I could not consider it. I had by no means seen something like that and he simply began strumming just a little bit.”

In the event you’re accustomed to actually another music biopic that is not “Stroll the Line,” you’ve a minimum of some passing familiarity with “Stroll the Line,” if I am being completely sincere. In actual fact, the primary time I noticed it, I type of felt prefer it was simply “Stroll Laborious,” the John C. Reilly biopic that instantly references Money’s story, with none jokes. Nonetheless, I am not utterly with out style — Joaquin Phoenix is extraordinarily good in “Stroll the Line,” which might be why he earned an Academy Award nomination for the function (and, by the way, Reese Witherspoon gained her solely Oscar thus far for taking part in June Carter Money).

Director James Mangold went on to make extra music biopics, together with 2024’s “A Full Unknown” with Timothée Chalamet as a younger Bob Dylan (which additionally garnered its star an Oscar nod), and Phoenix, a very chameleonic actor with an amazing physique of labor, has performed everybody from Arthur Fleck — stylized because the Joker within the 2019 film of the identical title that lastly gained Phoenix a long-awaited Academy Award — to Napoleon Bonaparte (which introduced him again collectively along with his “Gladiator” director Ridley Scott) in 2023’s “Napoleon.” Nonetheless, it is humorous to know that Johnny Money actually, actually appreciated how wicked Phoenix was in “Gladiator,” which is streaming on Paramount+.