I wonder from time to time: Whatever happened to Joaquin Phoenix?

He’s back in the public eye ear, sort of, as the narrator of an important new movie called Earthlings about society’s treatment of animals.

But what else is he up to? Last I heard of him he was falling off the stage as rapper and appeared like an escaped mental patient on the David Letterman show. Sure, that stuff is cool, but what has he done for me lately? (You’ll have to imagine the plaintive whine behind this sentence until my new audio blog is good to go.)

According to IMDB Joaquin is working on his next documentary that has something to do with his transition from actor to rapper. Alas, not even the name of the project is known yet. IMDB simply refers to it as “Untitled Joaquin Phoenix Documentary” and says the film is in post-production and is scheduled for release in 2010. Maybe then we’ll get some damn answers.

Part of the mystery includes a web site where Casey Affleck, director of the documentary, asks the public to submit their video footage of Joaquin.

My guess is that the crazy by Joaquin was all a guerrilla-style promotional stunt for his new movie. Guess we’ll find out soon enough. Until then, keep it real, Wacky Joaquin. (That’s not a rap name, is it?)