The Bottom Line: Can Phoenix Cash in by Crossing the ‘Line’?

Black’s definitely Joaquin Phoenix’s color. Then again, so might Oscar gold.

As Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, Phoenix’s heartfelt portrayal of the iconic genre-busting Man in Black should place him ahead of the pack in the upcoming Oscar race.

Unlike Jamie Foxx in Ray, Phoenix doesn’t transform himself into his subject before our eyes, but neither does he come across as a Cash impersonator. Instead, he nails the late Cash’s devil-may-care attitude, dark demeanor and outlaw ways to convince us that he’s the man himself. And his electrifying duets with Reese Witherspoon—radiant as Cash’s future wife, June Carter—compensate for director James Mangold’s static approach to shooting the concert and recording sequences.

Oscar voters probably won’t reward Phoenix just a year after Foxx won for Ray. But if Phoenix scores an Academy nod and audiences Walk the Line, he may finally solidify his potential status as a leading man.

Walk the Line should also have armchair psychologists contemplating the obvious parallels between Cash and Phoenix. The film depicts Cash still grieving over the childhood death of his brother Jack. Phoenix was at L.A.’s Viper’s Room when River Phoenix died in 1993 at age 23 of a drug overdose. (Phoenix denies reports that filming a scene about Cash’s brother hit so close to home that he suffered a breakdown.)

But Phoenix has paid in his dues. After 1989’s Parenthood, he dropped out of sight, apparently disillusioned with the limited choices in roles available to actors his age. He wouldn’t make another feature film until two years after River’s death, as Nicole Kidman’s easily manipulated teen lover in Gus Van Sant’s black comedy To Die For. Let’s face it, though, Phoenix initially failed to live up to the promise he showed in To Die For. He too often appeared bored, lost or forced in such commercial or art house disasters as Inventing the Abbotts and Clay Pigeons.

Then came Gladiator and The Yards in 2000. Phoenix‘s Oscar-nominated turn in Gladiator allowed the actor to divide his time between pricey would-be blockbusters (Signs, The Village) and ambitious, flawed and little-seen independents (Buffalo Soldiers, Its All About Love).

Until now, the studios have yet to allow Phoenix to carry any expensive endeavors on his shoulders. Signs belonged to Mel Gibson, Ladder 49 to John Travolta, and The Village to director M. Night Shyamalan. If Phoenix can’t draw audiences on the art house circuit, how can he be expected to make good on a $100 million investment?

The Bottom Line
Walk the Line could do for Phoenix what Ray did for Foxx. But whereas Foxx wasted no time capitalizing on his Oscar win, Phoenix’s seems content to take a wait-and-see approach. He’s got nothing in the works, but that could soon change. Job offers will start to pour in if the Oscar buzz grows louder and Walk the Line does Ray-like business. If so, then Phoenix can pretty much walk a line down any path he so chooses.