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NEW YORK (AP) -- He wasn't grief-stricken, he was acting, Joaquin Phoenix says of tabloid reports that he had a breakdown while filming the upcoming Johnny Cash biopic.

 

Phoenix banged his head on a bedpost during a scene related to Cash's brother's death, prompting speculation that he was reacting to the 1993 death of his brother, River.

The 30-year-old actor tells Newsweek he was just trying to get into the emotional state of his character.

"You know, the press has kind of imposed upon me the title of Mourning Brother, and because I haven't been vocal about it, the assumption is that I'm holding onto this (expletive) that's just not there," he tells the magazine, now on newsstands.

His brother River Phoenix died of a drug overdose outside a Los Angeles nightclub when he was 23.

Suggesting that he'd use his personal life for "Walk the Line," says Phoenix, "kind of makes me sick."