JOAQUIN PHOENIX RETURNS TO SCENE OF CRIME — LATE SHOW

Joaquin Phoenix returned to Late Show with David Letterman Wednesday night, this time clean-shaven and wearing a suit, and immediately went about trying to set the record straight. Yes, his previous appearance as a bearded, disoriented rap wannabe was all a hoax, part of his “performance art” for his movie with Casey Affleck, He’s Still Here.” But was Letterman in on it, as one of his writers recently indicated? “Really all I care about is me in this,” Letterman said to Phoenix, then asked him, “Now did I know anything about this?” Phoenix readily acknowledged that Letterman did not. “We’d hoped to come on a talk show” for the movie, he said, “and I was looking for a beat down, and I got one. … I want to thank you for that.” Letterman said that now that he was part of the movie, he wanted to be paid $1 million. “We’ve made 75 cents on this movie,” Phoenix retorted — which is not far from the truth. Despite all the notoriety it has attracted, it has been playing in limited release to nearly empty houses.