The 2005 role that almost destroyed Joaquin Phoenix: “I didn’t know what to do”Method acting has undoubtedly produced some incredible performances over the years, but when an actor tips too far over into their character, and when life starts to imitate art, things can get quite dangerous, as Joaquin Phoenix discovered in an Oscar-nominated role. Cash himself even approved of Phoenix’s casting before he died a year before production commenced. Not long after filming, Phoenix told the New York Times, “It was really hard for me to leave that movie. To play Cash, I had learned a whole new way of functioning in the world, and suddenly, I couldn’t rely on that anymore.” The latest one is called Polaris, and is a horror set in late 1800s Alaska, co-starring Rooney Mara.