Joaquin Phoenix fights back tears quoting his late brother River’s song lyric during Oscar speech
Joaquin Phoenix fought back tears quoting his late brother River while accepting his best actor trophy for Joker at the 92nd Academy Awards on Sunday.
The Puerto Rican-born 45-year-old was only 19 when River died, age 23, from an overdose of morphine and cocaine (speedball).
‘I just… I want to um… when he… when he was… when he was 17, my brother wrote this lyric,’ Joaquin struggled to say onstage Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre.
Scroll down for full speech…
Still grieving: Joaquin Phoenix fought back tears quoting his late brother River while accepting his best actor trophy for Joker at the 92nd Academy Awards on Sunday
RIP: The Puerto Rican-born 45-year-old was only 19 when River died, age 23, from an overdose of morphine and cocaine (pictured in 1985)
‘He said: “Run to the rescue love and peace will follow.”‘
Phoenix was the one who called 9-1-1 when his teen idol sibling collapsed and suffered seizures outside Sunset Strip hotspot The Viper Room before passing away on Halloween 1993.
Back in 1989, River himself was nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar for his work in Running on Empty, but Kevin Kline won the award for A Fish Called Wanda.
The impassioned vegetarian and environmentalist first stunned audiences with his performance as troubled kid Chris Chambers in Rob Reiner’s 1986 drama Stand By Me.
Joaquin struggled to say onstage Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre: ‘I just… I want to um… when he… when he was… when he was 17, my brother wrote this lyric’
Phoenix continued, ‘He said: “Run to the rescue love and peace will follow”‘
Memorial in 1993: Phoenix was the one who called 9-1-1 when his teen idol sibling collapsed outside Sunset Strip hotspot The Viper Room before passing away on Halloween 1993
Déjà vu: Back in 1989, River himself was nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar for his work in Running on Empty, but Kevin Kline won the award for A Fish Called Wanda (pictured with then girlfriend Martha Plimpton)
River went on to win an Independent Spirit Award in 1992 for his role as a narcoleptic gay hustler in Gus Van Sant’s eccentric drama My Own Private Idaho.
‘I think in virtually every movie that I made, there was a connection to River in some way,’ Joaquin told 60 Minutes on January 12 while surrounded by his family.
‘I think that we’ve all felt his presence and guidance in our lives in numerous ways.’
Phoenix predicted that his little brother would become a far more successful actor, and he inspired his sister (and former Aleka’s Attic bandmate) Rain’s 2019 album River.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=-4_rMqeyOJY%3Ffeature%3Doembed
Classic: The impassioned vegetarian and environmentalist first stunned audiences with his performance as troubled kid Chris Chambers in Rob Reiner’s 1986 drama Stand By Me
Iconic: River went on to win an Independent Spirit Award in 1992 for his role as a narcoleptic gay hustler in Gus Van Sant’s eccentric drama My Own Private Idaho
While surrounded by his family, Joaquin told 60 Minutes on January 12: ‘I think in virtually every movie that I made, there was a connection to River in some way. I think that we’ve all felt his presence and guidance in our lives in numerous ways’
Premonition: Phoenix predicted that his little brother would become a far more successful actor, and he inspired his sister Rain’s 2019 album River (pictured in 1985)
Backstage after his win, Joaquin was ashen-faced as Oscar-winning presenters Jane Fonda and Olivia Colman attempted to console him.
The 82-year-old Grace & Frankie actress embraced the ex-Children of God cult member, having kicked off the Los Angeles chapter of her Fire Drill Fridays with him on Friday.
Luckily, Joaquin has his incredible career high as well as his romance with fiancée Rooney Mara to keep him smiling.
Sympathy: Backstage after his win, Joaquin was ashen-faced as Oscar-winning presenters Jane Fonda (L) and Olivia Colman (R) attempted to console him
Bonded: The 82-year-old Grace & Frankie actress embraced the ex-Children of God cult member, having kicked off the Los Angeles chapter of her Fire Drill Fridays with him on Friday
‘I’m full of so much gratitude now’: Luckily, Joaquin has his incredible career high as well as his romance with fiancée Rooney Mara to keep him smiling
Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscar Speech
I’m full of so much gratitude now. I do not feel elevated above any of my fellow nominees or anyone in this room, because we share the same love – that’s the love of film. And this form of expression has given me the most extraordinary life. I don’t know where I’d be without it.
But I think the greatest gift that it’s given me, and many people in [this industry] is the opportunity to use our voice for the voiceless. I’ve been thinking about some of the distressing issues that we’ve been facing collectively. I think at times we feel or are made to feel that we champion different causes. But for me, I see commonality. I think, whether we’re talking about gender inequality or racism or queer rights or indigenous rights or animal rights, we’re talking about the fight against injustice.
We’re talking about the fight against the belief that one nation, one people, one race, one gender, one species, has the right to dominate, use and control another with impunity.
I think we’ve become very disconnected from the natural world. Many of us are guilty of an egocentric world view, and we believe that we’re the center of the universe. We go into the natural world and we plunder it for its resources. We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.
We fear the idea of personal change, because we think we need to sacrifice something; to give something up. But human beings at our best are so creative and inventive, and we can create, develop and implement systems of change that are beneficial to all sentient beings and the environment.
I have been a scoundrel all my life, I’ve been selfish. I’ve been cruel at times, hard to work with, and I’m grateful that so many of you in this room have given me a second chance. I think that’s when we’re at our best: when we support each other. Not when we cancel each other out for our past mistakes, but when we help each other to grow. When we educate each other; when we guide each other to redemption.
When he was 17, my brother [River] wrote this lyric. He said: “run to the rescue with love and peace will follow.”
Source: Read Full Article