Joker receives its premiere at the Venice Film Festival later this month, but star Joaquin Phoenix is already doing the rounds to promote the DC Comics adaptation. In the trailers, we heard the Clown Prince of Crime's creepy laugh, and the actor has now shed some light on how he came up with it.
"I started [with the laugh]," Phoenix explained when asked how he went about bringing his version of the iconic villain to life. "I watched videos of people suffering from pathological laughter, a neurological disorder that makes individuals laugh uncontrollably."
There have been rumours for a while that Arthur Fleck might suffer from some sort of disorder which results in him having a condition like the one Phoenix describes here, and we even got a hint of that in the trailer when two subway passengers beat him up for laughing. With no Ace Chemicals in this origin story, an explanation for the laugh had to be found, and this one is rooted in real-life.
In related news, an updated synopsis for Joker has been released which reveals that the movie "centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. [Todd] Phillips' exploration of Arthur Fleck (Phoenix), a man disregarded by society, is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale."
That's not a whole lot different to what we've heard in the past, and doesn't really reveal much more. However, if a recent script leak is to be believed, Joker is most definitely going to be a controversial comic book movie!
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set photos, hit the "View List" button below!
Meet Arthur Fleck
Our first look at Joaquin Phoenix's "Arthur Fleck" came via Joker director Todd Phillips but it took no time at all for set photos to surface featuring a maniacal looking Arthur having a good laugh on Amusement Mile.
Arthur could be seen leaving "Ha Ha's" talent agency looking miserable as sin before being confronted by a guy dressed as a clown, cracking a joke, and then giving his nose a good squeeze. Perhaps Arthur feels at this point in time that comedians like that are beneath him but little does he know what's in store for him moving forward...