Brilliant! Kaufman was an absolute genius.

Joaquin Phoenix wishes he was Andy Kaufman. By the way, I'm pretty sure Phoenix's entire burly rapper shtick is all an act. From what I hear, Casey Affleck is filming a documentary about method acting, and the whole point is to watch Phoenix to go into character for a year without breaking it.

It looks like a hoax to me. Casey Affleck is filming a documentary about Pheonix's road to becoming a rapper, which smells a lot like a mocumentary when you consider the red carpet incident where Affleck did a poor acting job of seeming dismayed by the interviewer's line of questioning.

I'm going with the Kaufman-esque hoax theory. According to the Internets, it's supposedly for an upcoming mockumentary he's doing with friend Casey Affleck. If so, then that's some dedication to your profession (8 months so far consistently in-character is it?).