JOKER Actor Joaquin Phoenix On Why He Took The Role: "It Scares The F*cking Shit Out Of Me"
We recently found out that Joaquin Phoenix had officially signed on to play The Joker in Todd Philips' intriguing-sounding origin film, and now the actor speaks for the first time about taking the role...
Though Joaquin Phoenix has been linked to the role of The Joker in Warner Bros.' upcoming standalone take on the iconic Batman villain for a while, he had always played coy when asked about it in interviews.
That's all changed now that the film is officially heading into production, however.
While speaking to Collider, the Academy Award-nominated star was more than happy to discuss the project - although he stopped just short of revealing anything specific about the plot.
First, Phoenix explained what drew him to the film and why he ultimately decided to come aboard:
“I take a lot of time and consideration when making decisions and what I’m gonna work on always. So, in some ways, the process, which is obviously reading a script and meeting a filmmaker and then continuing to have meetings and discussions with Todd [Phillips]. I think he’s very impressive and he seems to have a very interesting understanding of this world and what he’s trying to say. And so there is something very appealing about that and working with him on this particular project. It feels unique, it is its own world in some ways, and maybe, mostly, it scares the [frick]ing shit out of me or something. It might as well be the thing that scares you the most.”
As it turns out, Phoenix was searching for lower budget supervillain movie years ago but never imagined that The Joker would be an option:
"Three or four years ago, I called my agent and said ‘Why don’t they want to take one of these characters and just make a lower budget film about it, a movie but a character study, and why not take one of the villains?’ And I thought, ‘You can’t do the Joker, because, you know, it’s just you can’t do that character, it’s just been done.’ So I was trying to think of other characters, and he said ‘I’ll set up a general meeting with Warner Bros.’ And I said ‘I’m not gonna go, I can’t go to a general meeting.’ So I completely forgot about it, and so then I heard about this idea, I was like, ‘Oh that’s so exciting, that’s the kind of experience I wanted to have, with a movie based on a comic character.’ I felt like you could get something on screen.”
The actor concludes by saying that he finds it difficult to classify the movie in any particular genre, but that fans are definitely in for a "unique" experience:
"I think, underneath the excitement of these films, and the size of them, there are these incredible characters that are dealing with real life struggles. And sometimes that is uncovered and exposed, and sometimes it isn’t, and so I always felt, like, there were characters in comics that were really interesting and deserve the opportunity to be kind of studied. And so I think that’s what Todd sees appealing about this idea."
The prospect of a standalone Joker film set outside of the DCEU is not a one that's been fully embraced by the fans, but perhaps Phoenix's comments will get a few more people on board.
What do you guys think? Sound off in the usual place.