Joaquin Phoenix Still Won't Confirm JOKER Movie Talks, But Does Admit That It'd Be An "Interesting" Role
If Joaquin Phoenix really is in talks to play the Clown Prince of Crime in The Hangover director Todd Philips' upcoming Joker origin movie, he's doing a pretty good job of keeping schtum about it...
There have been several recent reports that Todd Philips' standalone Joker movie was zeroing in on Joaquin Phoenix (You Were Never Really Here, Walk The Line) to portray the iconic Batman villain, but the Academy Award-nominated actor still hasn't confirmed (though he hasn't outright denied, either) that he's been in talks.
FAN-ART: Check Out Several Different Artistic Interpretations Of Joaquin Phoenix As THE JOKER
The last time Phoenix was asked about the rumor he denied all knowledge of it, but during an interview with Fandango, he does admit that playing the character "could be interesting" while sporting a "mischievous grin on his face."
Phoenix continued by reiterating that he's not opposed to starring in a big comic book/superhero movie per se; it's simply a case of never having been offered a role or film in that genre that he was really interested in:
“I see it as any other movie. I wouldn’t say… “I won’t do Westerns.” It depends on what it is. I don’t really care about the genre, I care about the character and the filmmaker. If you have the ability to transcend the genre, then that’s what you want to do. So I wouldn’t say, hands down, no – I wouldn’t do that kind of movie. There are things where I’ve flirted with the possibility where there was the potential for this to be… something that’s actually interesting to me. But then for whatever reason they never got to that place where everyone else feels the same way. And that’s key. Everyone has to want to explore the same thing or else it just doesn’t f**king work. I’m not opposed to it. I don’t make decisions on budget or things like that – it’s really the filmmaker and the character.”
If Warner Bros.' Joker origin film has managed to pique the notoriously picky actor's interest, there's a good chance the script is of a very high quality.
At any rate, we'll just have to wait and see if we get some kind of official confirmation of Phoenix's involvement. In the meantime, let us know what you make of his comments in the usual place.