The timing today is rather unfortunate. Joaquin Phoenix’s “I’m Still Here” ruse was unveiled as a put-on recently and Randy Quaid was arrested once more, this time facing burglary charges for squatting with his wife in his old house.
The new owner said the couple, Randy and Evi Quaid, had been living there without permission and when police officers arrived on the scene Saturday afternoon, sure enough, the pair were inside.
The couple spoke to TMZ today on bail and said they actually do own the place, alleging fraudsters forged the signature of a dead woman and wrongfully transferred the ownership of the property to a third party.
He claims he can prove it, telling the website, “If you don’t stick up for what’s yours, and defend what’s yours … what are you?”
Regardless, Quaid’s behavior in recent months has been bizarre, even by Hollywood standards (or Phoenix’s fake one). In September of 2009, Quaid and his wife were arrested in Texas for allegedly defrauding an innkeeper, burglary, and conspiracy in California (they said they paid their bill and the arrest was to gain “publicity”). This was after an earlier arrest where the couple allegedly skipped out on a California hotel without paying their approximately $10,000 bill. The couple then failed to show up to various court dates and bench warrants were given (felony charges against Quaid were eventually dropped for lack of evidence; Evi got probation).
And well, it’s probably time to make a movie of all these shenanigans already even if the story is not quite fully over yet and hopefully this is just the beginning of the madness (maybe Quaid’s pulling his own meta stunt?). Maybe the moment is lost, but we’re throwing it out there regardless, Joaquin Phoenix to play Randy Quaid in the gonzo tail of an actor and his wife who go off the rails. Give it another 24 months when the Quaids have pulled some other stunt and the memory of a bearded and fake-unhinged Phoenix isn’t vexing audience and critics that much and hey, maybe it’ll work, right? Gotta wonder: what must Dennis think of all this?
