It's the TV train wreck interview the whole nation is talking about as a scruffy and bearded Joaquin Phoenix made a bizarre appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman.
Letterman: Do you have any fun stories to tell us?
Phoenix: [Silence]
Letterman: [Laughter]
The show segment ran more like a monologue with host Dave Letterman trying his best to coax the star to answer questions with more than one word answers.
But at times, the awkward interview prompted Letterman to simply joke about the star's uncharacteristically rugged appearance.
Letterman: "What can you tell us about your days with the Unabomber?
Crowd: [Laughter]
Phoenix was in town to promote his new movie, Two Lovers, co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Instead, the 34-year-old actor mumbled and fidgeted his way thorough the interview.
At one point Letterman prompted the star to talk about working with the lovely Paltrow, but to little avail.
Letterman: What a tremendous film. You and who else is in it? What is her name? Beautiful, lovely...
Phoenix: Umm...
The film and its inspiration, a novel by Dostoyevsky, was also another lost topic.
Letterman: Now this Two Lovers, it's based on a novel by Dostoyevsky. Is that correct?
Phoenix: I don't know?
Letterman: I think that's in the opening credits!
Phoenix: I don't know...I haven't seen the movie.
Letterman: Haven't seen the film yet?! What a surprise…
Phoenix, best known for his role as the evil emperor in Gladiator received an Oscar® nomination for playing Johnny Cash in the movie Walk the Line.
With support from his studio audience, Letterman praised the actor for his performance in the biopic, but Phoenix remained mum.
Phoenix went on to say he wants to give up acting to become a rapper. In January, the award-winning film star performed in Las Vegas, trying out his new hip hop act onstage.
During one rare moment in the interview Phoenix actually voiced his thoughts. "Well, you know, I'd love to come on the show and perform." Letterman joked, saying that "that seem[s] unlikely."
As the interview drew to a close, Letterman at last appears to lose his patience with the star. "Seriously. I'll come to your house and chew gum," half-kidded the host, speaking to Phoenix's incessant chewing throughout the segment.
"I don't have to chew gum. I won't chew the gum," the seemingly indifferent star responded, before sticking his gum under the corner of Letterman's desk.
But, Letterman saved one of his biggest digs till the very end. "Joaquin, I'm sorry you couldn't be here tonight," laughed Letterman, to which the star actually smiled.