Next came 1997's Inventing The Abbotts, where he met Liv Tyler, whom he dated for almost three years. The same year saw him in a supporting role in Oliver Stone's U-Turn, and the year after he starred in Return To Paradise.
After another film with Paradise co-star Vince Vaughn, Clay Pigeons, Joaquin came through with 8 MM (left).
The dark Joel Schumacher film saw him play a porn store clerk, Max California. But the film made waves because of his co-star, the then-peaking Nicolas Cage, fresh from Academy Award success.
Phoenix's character emphasised the disturbing world of pornography, and as the film relentlessly dove into the world of 'snuff' films, his outlandish character became increasingly, and disconcertingly, real.