Poor Casey Affleck. Not only is he the scorn of Hollywood, the viewing public and possibly his own mother, the hoax documentary about Joaquin Phoenix also pushed him to the brink of financial ruin.

Affleck tells the Daily Telegraph in the U.K. that the two years he spent filming "I'm Still Here" cost him dearly: "I went broke. I hadn't worked for more than a year, and I was pouring money into the movie. I had to stop for a month to do The Killer Inside Me. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to finish the film – I was out of money. There was a lot at stake financially and, if we had left [the hoax] there, it would have been very damaging to Joaquin's career."

Affleck also attempted some damage control on "The Tonight Show" last night.

"The actors in the film are using their own names ... and we didn't address it," Affleck earnestly tells Leno.

He goes further: "It was an amazing, amazing, committed performance" by Phoenix, who happens to be Affleck's brother-in-law. See more of the verbal mumbo jumbo at www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/casey-affleck/1250596

Casey, you might want to stop playing semantics and get real about what happened. And maybe Mom will start calling again.