The last act of Joaquin Phoenix

Two Lovers is the kind of highbrow movie many actors would consider a great showcase...

Two Lovers is the kind of highbrow movie many actors would consider a great showcase: a small,personal film with a demanding central role opposite an Oscar-winning actress. Joaquin Phoenix,the star of the new drama,sees Two Lovers in a very different lighthis swan song.

Phoenix insists his retirement from acting is neither a joke nor a publicity stunt. I didnt think it would get this attention, Phoenix says. I didn8217;t think anybody would care. The star of Walk the Line and Gladiator announced last fall that he was quitting acting to pursue a career in music. News of the unusual declarationPhoenix is just 34 years old and considered one of the top acting talents of his generationis threatening to eclipse the film itself.

The films writer-director James Gray said,My instinct is its pretty good for the film. Its a small movie,and it wouldnt have gotten a lot of press otherwise.

Two Lovers costar Gwyneth Paltrow is attracting a ton of attention toofor her new self-help website http://www.goop.com,and not all of the coverage of her luxurious lifestyle tips has been very kind.

Says Eamonn Bowles,whose Magnolia Pictures is releasing Two Lovers in New York and Los Angeles,The film is anything but a tabloid diversion. Its a soulful,serious,almost old-school story. And we don8217;t want the tabloid fodder to overwhelm the film.

The film,which premiered at last May8217;s Cannes Film Festival,is hardly a lightweight romance: it opens with Leonard Phoenix attempting to commit suicide. Leonard,who has moved back in with his parents following a cancelled engagement,is soon entangled in two womens lives.

Michelle Paltrow is a Brooklyn neighbour who is having an affair with a married man,while Sandra Vinessa Shaw is a family acquaintance who is a healthier choice for the emotionally unstable Leonard. Gray says that he wrote his script with Phoenix who was in Grays The Yards and We Own the Night and Paltrow in mind,and was inspired by the Dostoevsky short story White Nights.

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I think he8217;s fantastic in the movie, Gray says of Phoenix. If its his last movie,it would be really sad. Hes a wonderfully talented guy. But he said over and over again,I dont like doing this anymore. Im tired. He looked exhausted at the end of the movie.

Phoenix says he hasnt watched the movie. I dont see the movies I do, Phoenix says. Why would I?

He says his switch from multiplex to recording studio is dead serious,a path he began steering toward years ago. Indeed,Phoenix sang all of Johnny Cashs songs in Walk the Line,for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.

Phoenix says he is in a recording studio every day,working to finish an album that he hopes will be completed in a few months. He says the music is hard to categorise and that,while it will include raps,the mix will be eclectic and unpredictable. I want to do wild,out-there stuff,he says.