JOAQUIN PHOENIX - DIRECTOR JAMES GRAY SAYS HE WAS MISQUOTED ON PHOENIX

DIRECTOR JAMES GRAY SAYS HE WAS MISQUOTED ON PHOENIX

Two Lovers director James Gray claims that his remarks to the London Times about Joaquin Phoenix, who starred in his film, were taken out of context and that he has no beef with Phoenix about his behavior on the David Letterman show. In an interview with today's (Thursday) Los Angeles Time s, Gray said, "To say that I'm angry at Joaquin is beyond preposterous. I'm not angry with him at all. We've done three movies together. He's like a brother to me." He maintained that his remarks in the newspaper -- which were picked up by numerous celebrity websites -- amounted to a "bastardization" of what he actually said. Gray insisted that the report that he was "seething" over Phoenix's behavior on the Letterman show was "just made up," adding "I'd only be unhappy if Joaquin hurt the movie, which although the stories say it, it isn't true either. What he did on Letterman got us a lot of attention. With the tiny marketing budget we have for the film, I was happy to see anyone talking about us at all." The writer of the Times article, Kevin Maher, has not responded to Gray's remarks.

02/04/2009