Joaquin Phoenix has created a lot of buzz surrounding his upcoming performance as the title role in the Todd Phillips-directed film Joker, an origin story centered on the villain we only get glimpses of in Batman films and series. Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, a disturbed man with a troubled past and tortured psyche who eventually turns into the Joker we know, but with a deeper insight.
The method actor recently opened up about the process of accepting the role and becoming the character in an interview with Games Radar. Phoenix is known to play roles that are less in the spotlight, shying away from big box office hits, and gravitating toward story and character driven films. Phillips admits that this role was written for Phoenix, so it’s really more of his type of acting job that meets a comic-book character. When asked about accepting the role, Phoenix said:
“It took me a while [to commit]. Now, when I look back, I don’t understand why.”
Then when asked if it was out of fear for taking on an iconic role, he went on to say:
“There was a lot of fear, yeah,” he admits. “But I always say there’s motivating fear and debilitating fear. There’s the fear where you cannot make a fucking step, and there’s the kind where it’s like, ‘OK, what do we do? That’s not good enough.’ And you’re digging deeper and deeper. I love that kind of fear. It guides us, makes us work harder.”
Phoenix then said there was another reason for not taking the part, but explained that once he could see all the sides of the complex character, he felt more compelled to play it:
“I think oftentimes, in these movies, we have these simplified, reductive archetypes, and that allows for the audience to be distant from the character, just like we would do in real life, where it’s easy to label somebody as evil, and therefore say, ‘Well, I’m not that,’” he explains.
“And yet we all are guilty. We all have sinned. And I thought that here was this film, and these characters, where it wouldn’t be easy for you as an audience. There are times where you’re going to feel yourself connected to him, and rooting for him, and times when you should be repulsed by him. And I like that idea of challenging the audience, and challenging myself to explore a character like that. It’s rare to explore characters like that in any movies, but specifically in the superhero genre.”
You can read the full article in Total Film Magazine, on shelves today. Joker hits theaters on October 4, and I can’t wait! Are you excited?