Joaquin Phoenix blasts Walmart for “torture” of pigs in Mercy for Animals video

In the leadup to the release of Inherent Vice on December 12, actor Joaquin Phoenix isn't just using the spotlight to hawk his latest flick.

Phoenix has lent his star power to a Mercy for Animals video that exposes the "harsh reality" faced by pigs at a Walmart pork supplier.

Narrated by Phoenix, the video documents an undercover investigation that found that piglets have their tails cut off and their testicles "violently ripped out of their bodies".

Phoenix says this is despite the fact that pigs are "one of the smartest animals in the world".

The actor ends the video by urging people to ask Walmart to stop selling pork from pigs locked in gestation crates, and to stop eating animals.

This kind of activism is nothing new for Phoenix. He narrated the vegan documentary, 2005's Earthlings.