Joaquin Phoenix

Willem Dafoe: Listen, tonight I'm honored to present this inaugural TIFF Tribute Actor Award to one of the most talented and transformative actors in cinema, Joaquin Phoenix. Joaquin has worked with heralded filmmakers such as Gus Van Sant, Oliver Stone, Ridley Scott, James Gray, James Mangold, Spike Jonze, Paul Thomas Anderson, to name a few. He played Johnny Cash, a drug-fueled PI, a Hey, I'm giving, I'm introducing you.

It's, it'Okay. Come here. Come here. Up. You tell, you tell me if any of this is bullshit. Okay. This is a speech.

It looks, it looks good. Okay. It looks good. Let me keep on going.

A drug-fueled PI, a bitterable Navy jet, a vet. Bitterable, you know what that means? No, I don't even, I can't read this.

Okay. And a corrupt Roman emperor. You know that one. That's right. And he made us believe you could fall in love with a computer, but we already knew that.

He even played a version of himself so well that we believed he was giving up acting for the world of rap music. And I gotta tell you I went to one of his concerts in Miami. I remember, you were there.

Thank you so much. I Thank you. I'm sorry, I gotta do it to personalize the speech.

It lasted 30 seconds because he was in his first rap, and some jerk in the audience started heckling him. He was an actor, he was a plant.

Oh, I didn't know that. He was part of ours. Okay. Oh, okay. Well, The whole thing was set up, Willem.

I went for it. I went for it. I'You did it.

I'm easy that way. I'm a believer. But anyway, Joaquin jumps off the stage, confronts him, security comes in, breaks it up, the concert's over.

That was it. That's what I went to his concert for. Thankfully. Okay, cool. Anyway, the point is, he's always surprising us and himself. Okay. I'm told he works instinctively, and he's here, so.

He'll tell you he doesn't know exactly what he's gonna do for this speech. Not with, come on. Oh, to do in a scene until the cameras roll.

True? Anyways. They told me to be quick. Okay. Okay, so let's, let's stop fooling around. Anyways. It's a long night, right?

In his latest film, in a role written for him, Joaquin gives a deeply realized portrayal of a struggling, lonely man, who credibly becomes one of the world's most nefarious villains. True? I think so. Nefarious means very kind, right?

Thank you. And good night. I love you. I love you Willem. Joaquin Phoenix: Willem, thank you so much for presenting me with this.

Please stand. You're really all-time favorite actor, really. Appreciate it. It's such an honor.

I don't know who's, really given me this award, who's responsible for this, or why. And frankly, I don't care. My publicist said, "Somebody wants to give you an award," and I said, "I'm in.

Let's, let's do it." and honestly, I thought I was gonna come out and just make a lot of tasteless jokes at my expense and yours. But watching those clips, I'm so embarrassed to admit this, but I feel overwhelmed with emotion.

'cause I just thinking about all the people that had such a profound influence on me throughout my career. The people you don't know there was a man named Joel Thurm, who was the head of casting at NBC, and my mother was his secretary. And he is the first, man to introduce me to my agent, a woman named Iris Burton, amazing old agent.

And I'm indebted to all of them so much. They changed my career and my life. It's been my life.

I've been acting since I was eight. But mostly when I was watching those clips, I thought about my family. My sisters Rain and Liberty and Summer, who, are still my best friends.

I don't talk to them or see them, but they're. This is probably good for the speech to say that. And when I was, when I was 15 or 16, my brother River, came home from work, and he had a VHS copy of a movie called Raging Bull.

And he sat me down and he made me watch it. And the next day, he woke me up, and he made me watch it again. And he said, "You're gonna start acting again.

This is what you're gonna do." And he didn't ask me, he just told me, and I am indebted to him for that, because, acting has given me such an incredible life. And I want to also acknowledge my dad, John Lee.

He instilled in me a great, a great work ethic. And Todd, I can literally hear your eyes rolling. Sorry, Todd Phillips, the director, is here, and I know that his eyes are rolling right now.

I might have faltered slightly in my work ethic with him. But for all the other movies, I had a great work ethic. But mostly, I want to thank my mother, Heart, because she's a constant source of inspiration, and she taught me amazing values and principles that have guided me my whole career.

And everything that I do is for her. And I love you madly. And one last thing, somewhere here, I don't know where, is a filthy dragon, and I wanna rip its wings off and fashion a blanket, and sleep with it forever.

I love you. Thank you.