People / 'No hoax' in Phoenix hip-hop doc

A buzz preceded actor Casey Affleck's directorial debut, "I'm Still Here": was the movie about brother-in-law Joaquin Phoenix's seemingly downward spiral from actor to hip-hop musician really a no- holds-barred documentary – or was it just a setup?

On Monday in Venice, where his film was screened out of competition at the Film Festival, Affleck said he's leaving the answer up to the audience.

"Elliptically, I would say … I sincerely don't want to influence people's interpretation," Affleck told reporters. "I can tell you there is no hoax. it makes me think of 'Candid Camera' or something."

the film is full of dark, sometimes graphic scenes about the Academy Award-nominated Phoenix, whose decision to go for a music career and concurrent decline were fodder for late-night comics.

in one scene, Phoenix banters about the irony of his life being depicted in film, when he is trying to get away from the industry. the film follows Phoenix to his last acting and press events, where he grumbles that he "hates" acting.

"I think everyone at some point in their life hates their jobs and the people they are around," he says in opening scenes to explain why he wants to change his life despite his talent and enormous success, which includes an Oscar nomination for playing Johnny Cash in "Walk the Line."

Hall to auction artworks

Model Jerry Hall plans to auction some of her art collection next month, including a famous portrait by Lucian Freud that shows her nude when she was eight months pregnant, Sotheby's said Monday.

the auction will also include works by Andy Warhol , Damien Hirst , David Bailey and other prominent artists collected by Hall, ex- wife of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger .

the works will be sold Oct. 15-16 as part of a larger contemporary art sale, Sotheby's spokesman Simon Warren said.

He said Hall was willing to sell part of her collection because she has entered a new phase in her life.

"She's turning a new leaf," he said. "She's not afraid of change, she's happy to let them leave and have other art lovers enjoy them."

Travolta case dismissed

a judge in the Bahamas dismissed charges Monday against two people accused of trying to extort money from John Travolta after the actor decided he no longer wanted to face the pain of a new trial stemming from the death of his teenage son on the island chain.

Prosecutor Neil Braithwaite had submitted a motion to drop the case just as a retrial was about to start for the two defendants.

Ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne and his attorney, politician Pleasant Bridgewater , were accused of threatening to release private information about the January 2009 death of Travolta's 16- year-old son, Jett , at the family vacation home on Grand Bahama.

– from Our Press Services

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Today's birthdays

Singer Gloria Gaynor , 61; singer Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, 59; actress Julie Kavner , 59; actor Corbin Bernsen , 56; keyboardist Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 56; pianist Michael Feinstein , 54; actor W. Earl Brown ("Deadwood"), 47; actress Shannon Elizabeth ("American Pie"), 37; actress Evan Rachel Wood , 23.

Originally published by from Our Press Services .

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