In 2002, it was finally all coming together for Joaquin Phoenix. He was at long last being considered a leading man after two decades of ensemble parts, and was a year removed from earning a Best Supporting Actor nomination for “Gladiator.” The U.S. Army satire “Buffalo Soldiers” could have been the film to fully transform him into a full-blown, top-of-the-poster star, but it wound up getting buried for the offense of poking fun at the military in the immediate wake of 9/11 (it screened at the Toronto International Film Festival the very week of the attacks). So, it couldn’t help but feel like he was more actor than M. Night Shyamalan’s “Signs” needed for the role of Mel Gibson’s brother.
Don’t get me wrong! I’m thrilled Phoenix got the part if only for his terrified reaction to the alien video, a jump scare we get to share with him as viewers (and a reminder of how fiendishly clever Shyamalan can be as a filmmaker). He also strikes poignant notes of failure and helplessness as a washout of a minor league baseball player tasked with helping his grieving brother around the house after the death of his wife. But, really, shouldn’t he have been off the market for a part such as this?
Amazingly, Phoenix wasn’t off the market for anything when it came time for Shyamalan to shoot “Signs.” In fact, he was the director’s Plan B when another then rising star — one with a great big green future in front of him — abruptly dropped out of the movie.
Signs’ aliens nearly took on the Hulk himself, Mark Ruffalo
Like just about every other cinephile at the time, M. Night Shyamalan was knocked out by Kenneth Lonergan’s feature debut “You Can Count on Me.” The bittersweet drama about a divorced mother who suddenly finds herself with two children to care for when her itinerant brother shows up looking for money and a place to lay his head was a powerhouse acting showcase for Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo (not to mention young Kieran Culkin as Linney’s son). Linney snagged an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, while Ruffalo was robbed for whichever category Paramount ran him in.
Ruffalo’s brother act struck Shyamalan’s fancy, so he cast the red-hot actor opposite Gibson in “Signs.” Then Ruffalo got sick. What Entertainment Weekly reported at the time as a “serious inner-ear problem” was actually a benign brain tumor that, once removed, left Ruffalo with temporary face paralysis and permanently deaf in one ear. Shyamalan and Disney ultimately waited until a week prior to principal photography to cast Phoenix. That Phoenix was available and willing to take a supporting part when he should’ve been fielding leading man roles was a blessing for the production.
It proved to be blessings all around! Phoenix went on to become the star everyone knew he would be thanks to his Best Actor-nominated performance in “Walk the Line,” Ruffalo caught on with an outfit you might’ve heard of called “The Avengers,” and Shyamalan … well, he survived a rough patch to rebound with hits like “Split,” “Old,” and “Knock at the Cabin.”
