Joaquin Phoenix Retirement Announcement More Awkward Than We’d Ever Imagined

When Extra revealed on Tuesday that Joaquin Phoenix had announced his mumbled retirement from acting, little did we know that the video of said declaration (captured at Monday’s Paul Newman charity benefit) would immediately enshrine itself in the annals of red carpet awkwardness forever. Thanks to a clip furnished by E!, we’ve got the entire, baffling experience, as an out-of-it Phoenix confesses all to Extra correspondent Jerry Penacoli, takes offense at Penacoli’s disbelieving laughter, then storms off.

Phoenix is certainly no stranger to red carpet shenanigans (as his best buddy, Follicle Frog, will affirm) but the incident seems less like a joke (despite a nearby, hilariously deadpan Casey Affleck) and more like a Ray-Bans-clad cry for help. “Nommmf deadserious,” Phoenix insists in the video, and his rep’s awkward “That is what he told me” confirmation leads us to believe that Phoenix really is going through with his plans to ditch acting for a career in music. We didn’t like Reservation Road much either, Joaquin, but we can’t say we’re looking forward to the alternative.

• Joaquin Phoenix Calls It a Career? [E!]