Talk about an odd trio! Robert Pattinson hit up a Hollywood hotspot, The Larchmont, for dinner and drinks with old-school barflies Vince Vaughn and Joaquin Phoenix Friday night. Wonder what brought these three together?!

The group left a private party at the American bistro and headed home in a retro muscle car. Kristen Stewart was NOT along for the ride ...

Speaking of whom ... Kristen's 23rd birthday is this Tuesday. Will she and Rob spend it together?

Hasn't he heard of e-cigarettes?

After attending the BAFTAs on Sunday evening, we snapped Joaquin Phoenix landing at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday, and as soon as he stepped outside, he stick a cig in his mouth. Guess he couldn't wait a minute longer!

Joaquin is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Master, and while the movie and its cast have received a handful of nominations this season (Golden Globes, BAFTAs, SAGs, to name a few), it hasn't won any of the major categories. Hey, the Oscars are two weeks away, so you know never...

We also spotted Joaquin's co-star and fellow Oscar nominee Amy Adams landing at the airport ... looks like they were on the same flight!

Every since the first trailer came out for The Master, everyone has been buzzing about Joaquin Phoenix getting his third Oscar nod for his performance in the Paul Thomas Anderson-directed flick, but apparently he just doesn't care.

"I think it's bullsh*t," Phoenix said in the latest issue of Interview Magazine. "I think it's total, utter bullsh*t, and I don't want to be a part of it. I don't believe in it. It's a carrot, but it's the worst-tasting carrot I've ever tasted in my whole life. I don't want this carrot. It's totally subjective. Pitting people against each other ... It's the stupidest thing in the whole world."

In 2000, Phoenix was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for Gladiator, and in 2005 he earned a nod for Best Lead Actor for his role opposite Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line.

"It was one of the most uncomfortable periods of my life when Walk the Line was going through all the awards stuff and all that," Phoenix added. "I never want to have that experience again. I don't know how to explain it -- and it's not like I'm in this place where I think I'm just above it -- but I just don't ever want to get comfortable with that part of things."

Hmm, did he just knock himself out of the race before it began?

Joaquin Phoenix was snapped studying his script while taking a break from filming his yet-to-be-titled James Gray project in NYC, and we noticed several scratches on the two-time Oscar nominee's face.

So what's the movie about? According to IMDb, "an innocent immigrant woman is tricked into a life of burlesque and vaudeville until a dazzling magician tries to save her and reunite her with her sister." Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Renner also star in the flick, and director/writer James Gray previously worked with Phoenix in 2008's Two Lovers. Sounds quite compelling!

In news of the weird joining the weirder, Joaquin Phoenix is in talks to star in a film about the rise of a religion that closely resembles Scientology, Variety reports.

Much like Scientology, Phoenix is no stranger to controversy. He announced in 2008 that he was “retiring” from acting. That statement has been questioned because Phoenix’s supposed rap career was actually being filmed for Casey Affleck’s faux-documentary I’m Still Here. Phoenix hasn’t had a major U.S. theatrical release since Reservation Road in 2007.

See what other quirky actor is signed on for the flick after the jump.

After all that they've been though (the fake documentary, sexual harassment allegations and bad facial hair), at least brother-in-laws Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix still have each other! Both of the men were a bit camera shy when we snapped them leaving dinner last night with some friends in NYC, and Casey didn't have anything to say when we asked about the two women who accused him of sexual harassment earlier this summer.

Casey Affleck revealed that the I'm Still Here documentary isn't real, so naturally Joaquin Phoenix went on the Letterman show to make peace with the talk show host...

If you remember, a super awkward Phoenix made a now infamously bizarre appearance on Letterman in early 2009. But last night he said the following to Dave:

"I mean, I think that you've interviewed many, many people and I assumed that you would know the difference between a character and a real person. I hope I didn't offend you in any way."

Watch the, er, hilariousness above!

We already knew Leonardo DiCaprio was reportedly starring in Clint Eastwood's Hoover as J. Edgar Hoover himself, but we had no idea that Joaquin Phoenix was Clint's top choice to play Hoover's infamous lover Clyde Tolson!

Oscar-winning scribe Dustin Lance Black has written the screenplay for the film, and NY Mag raises an interesting point: Eastwood’s casting agent is scheduled to arrive in LA very shortly, and since Casey Affleck has recently revealed that Phoenix was not a drugged out mess for the past two years, he could very well get the part.

Sources familiar with the film note that the studio hasn't yet finalized a deal with DiCaprio, but Phoenix is "expected to receive the offer to play Tolson as soon as DiCaprio’s deal closes." Can't wait for this! Maybe Leo will finally get that Academy Award?