Joaquin Phoenix's decision to abandon his acting career to become a rap artist has been criticised by one of his peers.

Director James Gray, who cast Phoenix in his last movie Two Lovers, criticised the media “circus” around the former actor's career change and called him a “clown”.

Phoenix said earlier this year that he had no intention of returning to acting and planned to release a full hip-hop album.

But two shambolic public performances, both filmed by director Casey Affleck, and a disinterested appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman have led many to speculate whether Phoenix's rap career is a hoax.

Gray told The Times newspaper that Phoenix, who was meant to promote Two Lovers during his Late Show interview, had instead presented himself as “a crazy person with a beard making a fool of himself”.

“I have no idea what the hell that guy is shooting. The whole thing is not to my taste, and I’ve let Casey know this,” Gray said.

But the director cast doubt on whether Phoenix's career move was part of a hoax with Afleck, who is also his brother-in-law.

“Towards the end of [Two Lovers] he kept saying, ‘I’m tired, I’m tired, I don’t want to act any more. I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I can’t take it!’” Gray said. “And I thought, at the time, he was just tired.

“But I must say, I’ve seen him in his house, and he has his own recording studio that he built right there.

"So if this is a hoax, then it’s the most elaborate thing that I have ever seen.”

Phoenix, whose appearance in Gladiator and the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line earned him two Oscar nominations, has stood down from his acting career twice before, although never with such a definite ending.

(by Jason Gregory)