"When I was 15 or 16 my brother River [Phoenix] came home from work and he had a VHS copy of a movie called 'Raging Bull' and he sat me down and made me watch it. And the next day he woke me up, and he made me watch it again. And he said, 'You're going to start acting again, this is what you're going to do,'" Phoenix said at the Toronto International Film Festival Tribute Gala. "He didn't ask me, he told me. And I am indebted to him for that because acting has given me such an incredible life."