Four months ago, when Joaquin Phoenix announced to the world that he was trading in his successful film career for the rhythms and rhymes of the rap/hip-hop world, most Hollywood insiders (and many of his fans) thought it was a hoax or an elaborate joke. But, after a few rocky club gigs, a televised exchange of hostile words with David Letterman about his decision, and after secluding himself in recording studios, it appears as if “JP” (as he wants to be known as these days) is well on his way to becoming a full-fledged rapper working on bumping up his street cred.

In this conversation with Earl Dittman, Phoenix talks openly about his decision to leave films, his ensuing music career, and the media’s response to his unpredictable behaviour. Plus: this week’s DVDs and Blu-rays, all after the jump.

If you happened to miss Two Lovers (which may prove to be his last film) when it was released in theaters earlier this year, here’s your chance to witness JP’s final curtain call (as an actor) with the Blu-ray and DVD release of the James Gray-directed lovesick drama. Focusing on the life of Leonard (Phoenix), a charming but troubled young man who finds himself living back in his childhood home after going through a devastating heartbreak. Encouraging him to romantically get back on his feet, his caring but pushy parents are almost demanding that he date Sandra (Vinessa Shaw), the daughter of a man who wants to buy his family’s dry cleaning business. But when Leonard meets his mysterious and gorgeous neighbor, Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), he immediately falls for her. As the pressure mounts from his parents to make the “right” decision, Leonard is forced to choose between two very different woman and two very different paths for his future.

During a promotional tour to publicize Two Lovers, 34-year-old Phoenix explained why he wanted to do the film for his longtime pal and former collaborator (We Own The Night) James Gray, but what was really on his mind was explaining why he had decided to embark on a new career as a hip-hop artist. Sporting a scruffy, bushy beard and wearing a pair of dark sunglasses, Phoenix denied that his decision to rap is one big joke, explained why he hates the word “rapper” and ponders why he thinks life in the music industry will be different than the movie business.

Since you had been thinking of giving up on acting and becoming rapper for a while now, why did you decide to do Two Lovers?

“To be honest, I would do virtually anything with [director] James Grey. With James, you never know exactly how it’s going to unfold, and that’s exciting. His commitment to making each moment be true for the actors experiencing it is tremendous. So, it’s really just a journey with James, and that’s why I was interested in him.”

You are sporting a beard? Is it meant to represent anything?

“No specific reason. I didn’t really think about it. I don’t know if subconsciously it’s a need to distance myself from how people have perceived me. And hopefully they can let that go, and kinda start, you know, taking me as ‘JP.’ And just listen to the music.”

Okay, are you really dropping out of movies?

“Everybody wants to know, ‘Is this a joke? Is this for real?’ I’m here to tell you, it is.”

You can see how some people might have trouble accepting it, can’t you?

“I know it may seem pompous and shit, like ‘Oh man, aren’t I interesting?’ But I think it’s not really about me. I think that it’s applicable to anybody going through a transition like this, and under such scrutiny. I have no control over this, so nothing may ever happen, do you know what I mean? I don’t know, if nothing else, my nephews will see it, and laugh at it!”

But, how do you think your fans will like the fact that you are embarking on a music career?

“I don’t know whether they’ll be interested in my music or not. But that’s why I kinda made that announcement, in some ways. But I think that now, I would just like the music to speak for itself, do you know what I mean? Like I can talk about it all day, but I don’t think that we’ll ever really understand. And get to the point where like, ‘Oh, that’s why he quit.’ Do you know what I mean? I don’t fully understand it. I just always kinda followed my heart, and what I felt was true at the time. And that’s what I’m doing now.”

Did your decision to change careers come to you like a flash of light where you thought, “I have to take a new direction in my life with my music?”

“It seems like a flash to other people, like it came out of nowhere. But I don’t spend most of my life in front of the media, you know? And this has been brewing with me for a very long time. But I didn’t know that this was going to be something that I would completely walk away from.”

Did playing Johnny Cash in Walk The Line influence your decision to concentrate on music at all?

“After Walk The Line, I kinda learned to play the guitar and having that sense of performing. I think that certainly opened the door for me, for music. I didn’t know that anyone was gonna care. I mean, I felt it was important, and an obligation, to tell my fans what I was doing, and that I was moving in another direction.”

Was one of the reasons you decided to give up acting was because Hollywood was such a disappointment for you with all the games you had to play?

“It’s not really about that. I think movies are amazing, and I respect actors. I think all that is awesome. But for me, personally, I wasn’t growing anymore, and I wasn’t interested. The mystery was completely lost for me.”

How so?

“Like I used to read scripts and had this overwhelming desire to experience it, and to see it come to life. And most recently when I read scripts, all I thought about was somebody putting makeup on my fucking face. Like all of the auxiliary, peripheral elements that just – I don’t know.”

Do you think being in the limelight as a rapper will be any different?

“Yeah, I would have much more control. And it’s my story. You know, it doesn’t have to be released at a certain time, and it doesn’t have a rating. I can do what I want. I can finally like, I don’t know. It gets tiresome fulfilling other people’s vision instead of kinda fulfilling your own.”

So, you felt it was time that people saw or heard your vision?

“I just got to a point, or an age, where I have something that I want to express. And I don’t know that it’s going to be of any interest to anyone else. But that’s not really what this is about. It’s something that I need to do. And in some ways, I wish that I wasn’t a public figure, I wish that I didn’t have expectations. I wish I could just come out, and let the music speak for itself. But that is the reality, and I kinda can’t deny it. So there you are.”

What does it mean to you to be an actor who is voicing someone else’s words and a rapper who is voicing your own?

“Well, I think you do try to make other people’s words your own, in a sense. But this isn’t acting. This isn’t about trying to convey your emotions, this is about trying to experience something and just putting my experiences and my thoughts into words. And again, it’s just because it’s so public. You know, there’s probably a bunch of ridiculous people that are writing down just their stupid little thoughts and shit, and that’s all it is. And then nobody ever hears about it, and stuff. But you’ll just have to hear about it.”

How does music feel different from acting for you?

“Well oftentimes, I’m just alone in the studio, as opposed to being surrounded by 60 people, and shitting a bunch of lies. But there’s still a bunch of wires around that you have to deal with, and are tripping over. But music is much more personal, it’s much more intimate. And that’s what was hard about acting in some ways. Like being in a large group of people was most difficult. With music, I don’t know how to describe it, it’s just an amazing feeling to go into the studio, and really be alone. It’s just a cool process. When I walk in a studio, you don’t really know where it’s going. I just start programming a beat, and you react to a tempo, whatever that is, and things start flowing out of you, it’s an amazing process. With movies, so much of it is garbage.”

We have been talking mainly about your new music career, and nothing about what might be your last movie, Two Lovers. Do you think James Gray (director) is pissed off about that?

“Well, James has never told me to shut up. I think he understands that I have to live my life, and be true to myself. I never wanted it to affect the film in a negative way. I certainly don’t want my personal life to overshadow the work. I love James, and he’s a friend. And I feel terrible if that was the case.”

When I spoke to you and James for your previous film together, We Own The Night, he said that you were the one he wanted for that part in Two Lovers. And then you said, ‘No, no, that’s bullshit.”

“Ha! It was true! I was sick then. But I don’t like promoting films.”

Do you think promoting a record will be different?

“Yeah, it will be. The trouble with promoting a film, is that somebody’s invested a lot of money, right? And they’re counting on you to go and sell it. But I’m not going to let this get perverted by anything. My music is going to be true. I’m not out to sell records. I’m experiencing something different.”

Will your emotions portrayed in your movies, carry over into your rap music?

“Nah, you just say that when you want to get nominated! Like you say you get nightmares and shit, and you get a Globe! But hey, I get affected by performances, like, ‘That motherfucker went through some shit.’ But you do these scenes, and then you’re digging around the craft food table, wondering if there’s pretzels and peanut butter there! So making movies is so compartmentalized. You go in and do these scenes, and you just hope when it’s all put together, that it seems real.”

Are you saying that acting is lying?

“Well, of course.”

Is music about telling the truth?

“There is a certain theatre to music as well. But for me certainly, I feel that my music is more truthful. Because I think my music represents who I am and what I feel, more than any character or film that I’ve done.”

Are you targeting a specific audience with your rap?

“No. Look at me dude, do I look like I’m fucking targeting, what audience am I targeting and shit? I mean, in some ways it’s a process and an evolution, and I’m sure that it will change over time. But there’s not one particular subgenre of rap that I would say I belong to.”

So, you are just a rapper in general?

“I hate the word rapper, it’s just weird. It’s music. It’s all part of me. The record is not going to be strictly rap.”

Will the record have love songs?

“Well, the one love song is actually a metaphor for the industry! But there’s some humorous stuff, and rhymes about growing up. My childhood, and things like that. I do have some dance songs, stuff for the club, and like some sexy songs, and shit like that. But not one specific thing.”

Any thoughts about doing music videos or music for movies?

“I’ve just been concentrating on the record and finishing it. When I really sat down to do it, it just flowed. I had like nine songs in a week. So I imagined I was going to have 30. Then I started hearing some of the press. So yeah, it’s a process.”

So when do you hope the record will come out?

“It should be in a few months.”

Is there any kind of danger in declaring that you were giving up acting forever? Let’s say, ten years from now you decide, “I think I want to go back to acting,” what will you say then?

“I don’t know. But I think you know how committed I am to things. I don’t really fuck around. I mean, I only do shit that I really mean. But I don’t know that there’s a danger, I’m not thinking about that. And I don’t quit something thinking, ‘Well, I hope I can get back in,’ do you know what I mean?”

Two Lovers BD + DVD: Commentary with James Gray; a behind the scenes featurette; deleted scenes; HDNet-A Look at Two Lovers and a photo gallery.

Eastbound & Down: The Complete First Season

Funny, clever and ballsy, Eastbound & Down is another original series homerun for HBO. Springing, in part, from the demented mind of its star Danny R. McBride (Land of the Lost, Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express), Eastbound & Down follows the (mis)adventures of Kenny Powers, a former Major Leagues pitcher who once ruled the world of baseball. But his days of seven-figure salaries, lucrative endorsement deals and a constant cadre of hot babes are a thing of the past for poor Kenny. After breaking every rule imaginable, the profane, boorish and obnoxious Kenny was thrown out of the big leagues and now spends his days teaching gym to unsuspecting North Carolina middle-school students and his nights sleeping on his brother’s couch. The fun really begins when Kenny hatches a plot to get back his old gig as a superstar ballplayer. McBride is perfect in the role as Kenny – he’s a comedic all-star who is continually throwing smart one-liners like they’re record-breaking fastballs. A wildly over-the-top comedy series, the DVD for Eastbound & Down includes commentaries, deleted scenes and laugh-filled featurettes.

Secret Diary of a Call Girl: Season Two

For Belle, it’s her business doing pleasure with you. In the seductive second season of Secret Diary of a Call Girl, the cheeky, critically-acclaimed British television series based on the real-life adventures of a high-class escort, Belle takes viewers on even sexier, even naughtier bedroom adventures.  Talented English actress Billie Piper (who first shot to fame as a pop singer, then again as the first sidekick on the rebooted Doctor Who) plays the girl with it all. By day, she’s quiet, unassuming Hannah Baxter, a 27-year-old graduate living in London. But when night comes, she turns into Belle, the city’s wildest – and most wildly successful – courtesan. Juggling her own every day world with her client’s fantasies can be difficult, but this Belle knows every trick in the book. Secret Diary of a Call Girl: Season Two features all eight episodes of the tantalizing sophomore season, plus webisodes and an interview with Billie Piper on Billie Piper.

Stargate Atlantis: Season Five

After five exciting, action-packed seasons, the Atlantis expedition team will pass through the time-and-space-traveling Stargate one last time. This hit spin-off of the mega-successful Stargate SG-1 syndicated series (which was based on the blockbuster film starring Kurt Russell and James Spader) upped the ante for all space dramas to follow — featuring state-of-the art visuals and compelling storylines that tackled contemporary cultural topics (and, thankfully, featured very few goofy-looking aliens from other galaxies). In addition to the season’s twenty episodes, this five-disc DVD collection – chronicling the voyage of the Atlantis team in the Pegasus galaxy – includes two DVD-exclusive extended episodes, behind-the-scenes cast and crew interviews, deleted scenes, photo galleries and audio commentaries.

Jockeys

For two long minutes, anything can go wrong on the race to the finish line, and it’s a dangerous 120 seconds for the men and women (none weighing more than 112 pounds) who ride the racing world’s top thoroughbreds (weighing upwards of 1,200 pounds). The perils that these riders must face have never been made clearer than they are in the first season of Jockeys, a docu-soap that takes viewers into a world of fierce rivalries, intense bonds and exceptional risks. In Jockeys, viewers are allowed into the lives of seven superstar riders — including a hall of famer, a wet-behind-the-ears hotshot and a breakout female star – to learn everything about the personalities, strengths and weaknesses of the men and women resolute in always being first when crossing the finish line. Jockeys follows these athletes during the course of a 30-day racing season at the prestigious Oak Tree Meet at the Santa Anita Race Track in California. Enduring months of preparation, riding up to ten races a day (with an ambulance always behind them) these jockeys readily admit to the camera that they are willing to risk life and limb to win. A thrilling, breathtaking reality series.

Entourage: The Complete Fifth Season

After enjoying four seasons in the limelight as Hollywood’s hottest young actor, Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his buddies (Kevin Connolly as Eric, Vince’s manager, who tries to help him make the right choices; Kevin Dillon as Vince’s half-brother Drama, now relishing a taste of success from his new TV series; Jerry Ferrara as Turtle, who has struck up an affair with The Sopranos’ Jamie-Lynn Sigler; and Emmy-winner Jeremy Piven as Ari, Vince’s aggressive, high-powered agent) are back after learning the hard way that life in Hollywood’s fast lane isn’t without its road bumps. After a Cannes Film Festival screening of Medellin gets lambasted by critics and his fans, Vince’s shining star falls hard — no one will even audition him for a movie much less make him the leading man. A smart, funny and spot-on behind-the-scenes peak at life in Tinsel Town, Entourage has become a full-fledged cultural phenomenon. Each season, real-life Hollywood stars call their own agents to nab one of the special guest spots on the show. This season, Entourage includes special appearances from Martin Landau, Eric Roberts, Seth Green, Bow Wow, Jason Patric, Giovanni Ribisi and many more. The three-disc set also features audio commentaries with Grenier and Connolly and producers of the series and the revealing “The Celebrity Factor” featurette.

Eureka: Season 3.0

With Season 3.5 (the remainder of the third season) slated to make its debut in mid-July, it’s time to return to the seemingly perfect small town where the hidden secrets are even bigger than its population. Eureka is everybody’s favorite small town of geniuses where the potential for comedic catastrophe lurks around every street corner. In Eureka, the innovative inventions of America’s brightest scientists always seem to lead to innovative discoveries and hilariously unnatural chaos. Sheriff Jack Carter (Colin Ferguson) struggles to keep a sense of normalcy amid the scientific mayhem, big brains and bigger adventure in this unusual little town in the Pacific Northwest. Often called a cross between The X-Files and Northern Exposure, the Eureka: Season 3.0 DVD (starring Joe Morton, Matt Frewer and Deborah Ferentino) includes cast and crew commentaries, several podcasts, deleted scenes, featurettes and a weblink to “Show Me The Mummy.”

12 Rounds: Unrated Extreme Cut

Following up his explosive role in The Marine, WWE superstar John Cena is back, and this time he’s a New Orleans detective who has to play a vicious game of cat-and-mouse against a crazed Irish arms dealer in order to stop the murder of the woman he loves. When Detective Danny Fisher (Cena) stops a multi-million dollar heist, the merciless Irish gunrunner (Aidan Gillen) vows revenge when his girlfriend is accidentally killed in the melee, in this thriller directed by action filmmaker Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger and Deep Blue Sea). After breaking out of prison, the Irishman forces Fisher to participate in a twelve-round series of mental and physical challenges in order to save his kidnapped fiancée (Ashley Scott).  The DVD and Blu-ray come loaded with both the theatrical and extended version of the film, commentary with Harlin, Cena and writer Daniel Kunka, featurettes, two alternate endings and a never-before-“Cena” gag reel. In addition to the abovementioned features, the Blu-ray “Extreme” disc comes with a Digital Copy, extra bonus featurettes and viral videos.

Street Fighter:  The Legend of Chun -Li

You’ve played the iconic video game, now it’s time to watch the butt-kicking excitement of Street Fighter brought to life in this big screen adaptation. Featuring Smallville beauty Kristin Kreuk as Chun-Li – a concert pianist and a fiery martial arts avenger who must rescue her dad from a nasty Asian gang. Along with her kung-fu master Gen (Mortal Combat’s Robin Shou), a buddy from Interpol (American Pie’s Chris Klein) and Detective Maya (Terminator Salvation’s Moon Bloodgood), Chun-Li fights for the forces of good. She and her friends are determined to bring down the powerful, evil crime boss Bison (Neal McDonough) and his Bangkok-based syndicate, Shadaloo, overseen by the enforcer Balrog (Michael Clarke Duncan), the assassin Vega (Taboo of The Black Eyed Peas), and Bison’s deadly attaché, Cantana (Josie Ho). But only one side can be left standing when the two factions meet, and their victory will forge a legend. A martial arts beat down, the Street Fighter Blu-ray and DVD hit the streets packing theatrical and unrated versions of the film, commentary from cast and crew, trivia track, deleted scenes, featurettes and galleries, and the BD comes to the fight with a Digital Copy of the film and the full-length animated film Street Fighter Round One: Fight!

NOW ON BLU-RAY

Do The Right Thing: 20th Anniversary Edition

This special edition “joint” celebrates Spike Lee’s groundbreaking, thought-provoking and culture-shifting tale of race relations in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of New York City (standing in for all the major cities in the Western World). 1989 was a summer simmering with the fiery hot subject of race relations. The release of this edition raises the questions: With Obama in the White House, a lot has changed when it comes to racial issues in the U.S. Has any real progress been made? Featuring stellar performances from Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee and John Turturro, this BD version of Do The Right Thing makes it look and sound like the cinematic classic it will be 120 years from now. Special Features: Commentary with Spike Lee, cast and crew; retrospective documentary; deleted and extended scenes; featurettes including Spike’s video diary, a making of mini-documentary and Q&A with editor Barry Brown; storyboard of the riot sequence; the press conference from 1989 Cannes Film Fest and BD-Live.