Joaquin Phoenix, the star of Joker, has revealed that he had great fun playing the iconic villain and didn’t need to go to dark places in order to do so.
When an actor like Joaquin Phoenix signs on to play a character as distrubed as the Joker, one imagines he would have had to go to some pretty dark places to inhabit the role.
However, the actor has revealed that this wasn’t the case for him. In fact, he told ComicBook.com that he had actually had a great time making the movie: “This is going to disappoint you, I don’t think I [went to dark places], so we had a good time. Honestly, or I’d feel like either I’m going to disappoint you, or I am going to seem like an actor that is not really committed, and you’re like, ‘He didn’t really do good in that movie, he had a good time. He shouldn’t have had a good time!'”
Phillips, sitting next to him, agreed and said they laughed so much they even cried.
SEE ALSO: Read our Joker review here
Phoenix continued: “That was the thing, I saw somebody in the elevator, and they were like ‘Wow, that was really fucking intense’ I was like ‘Oh, we laughed like everyday.’ There was nothing really to laugh at, like ‘Oh, we kind of are fucked up! We literally were laughing. Everyday going, ‘This is ridiculous! This guy is fucking…’ Yeah, I love those stories of actors, I kind of do wish that I was that way because it sounds so cool, but I didn’t have that experience.”
Phillips was quick to point out, however, that Phoenix did put in a lot of prep work for the character. Phoenix responded: “Well whatever, but it’s what we fucking do. That’s what you do, it’s a regular job, it’s what you do for your work.”
SEE ALSO: Joker movie rooted in real-life mental health issues according to its director
It’s not long now before audiences can see Joker for themselves when it arrives to cinemas next month.
Joker centres around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. The exploration of Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a man disregarded by society, is not only a gritty character study but also a broader cautionary tale.
Joker is set for release on October 4th 2019 and stars Joaquin Phoenix (The Sisters Brothers), Robert De Niro (Goodfellas), Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2), Bill Camp (Red Sparrow), Frances Conroy (American Horror Story), Brett Cullen (Narcos), Glenn Fleshler (Billions), Douglas Hodge (Penny Dreadful), Marc Maron (GLOW), Josh Pais (Motherless Brooklyn), Shea Whigham (Kong: Skull Island), Douglas Hodge (Robin Hood) and Dante Pereira-Olson (You Were Never Really Here).