Joaquin Phoenix

The Hollywood heavyweight gets under the skin of the notorious Batman villain.

-  MAXINE PETERS

BECOMING THE JOKER

In his new movie the actor plays comic-book villain the Joker. But this film isn’t just about Batman’s psychotic enemy. Rather, it’s a character study of the struggle with his demons and descent into madness of Arthur Fleck, Joker’s alter-ego. A clown by day, Arthur chases his dream to be a stand-up comic at night, but one bad decision sees him spiral into insanity.

Writer and director Todd Phillips says no other actor was considered for the role. “We wrote the movie for Joaquin,” he says.

But it took some convincing.

“Honestly, it wasn’t an easy decision,” the 44-year old actor says. “But there was something drawing me towards it. It became more than I anticipated. It was one of the greatest experiences of my career.”

METHOD MAN

Joaquin lost 23kg for the role after Todd decided he wanted the character to be thin.

The actor also trained with a choreographer and watched videos of famous dancers to perfect his portrayal of the Joker.