Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot (2018)

He evidently doesn’t like doing press conferences and discussing his performances, but Joaquin Phoenix admitted that he had his first enjoyable film festival experience in Berlin. Phoenix was in town to promote Gus Van Sant’s Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot and gave a typically enigmatic performance during a 30-minute press conference, where he gave a handful of self-mocking answers and appeared to switch off half-way through. However, Phoenix, who plays Portland cartoonist John Callahan, an alcoholic crippled in a drunken automobile accident in the movie, did discover another side to the festival, away from the beauty parade press requirements, after watching Van Sant give a talk to young filmmakers as part of the Berlin Talents scheme.

“Typically when I go to film festivals, I just show up and do press and that’s it. So I usually hate film festivals. Last night, Gus was doing the Berlin Talents and I went along to watch and saw all these young filmmakers that are curious about the process and hearing Gus speak, I had a real appreciation for a film festival. It’s odd that I’m so old and that it’s the first time I really experienced a film festival for what it is for people so I was grateful for that experience,” he said.