Joaquin Phoenix Talks Crafting the Joker's Bloodcurdling Laugh | 'Joker' Interview | Fandango

Arthur, I have bad news for you, this is the last time we will see each other, you don't listen to each other, you just ask the same questions every week, how is your work? Do you have any negative thoughts? All I have are negative thoughts coming in. Congratulations on the movie. I read somewhere that Todd said that it took him a couple of months to convince you to do this role and you still didn't give him a resounding yes. So what was it that finally convinced you to take on this role? She's been our girl, maybe my girlfriend, you're like you always knew you were doing it.

I said yes because I remember struggling a lot with the decision and she said yes, you kept saying you weren't sure but we knew from the moment you first spoke, you're going to do it, I'm pretty sure what that was. at which point I was contractually obligated to make the movie, but I mean, I think I always go through a long process of deciding whether I'm going to make a movie or not, I guess it's like wanting to be sure or at least as sure as possible of that you want to live the experience, but I know that since I met Todd I really liked and trusted him and me.

I thought he had a unique way of getting into this character and this world, so I felt pretty confident about that. I think he probably he wasn't sure of myself. Interesting, did any of that have to do with the

laugh

s? Maybe I know everyone is probably asking you about the giggles, no no one has, oh no, I have to ask you because watching it is a little awkward sometimes, you know, it feels like you're drowning while you're doing it, but I love how it is used in the story to boost you. The story below was that

laugh

s were easy or hard to get and how you got there.

Before reading the script, Todd showed me videos of people who have this uncontrollable laughing Fitz and one in particular who looked very painful as a facial. They would read it and he would choke and that was the inspiration that I really tried to copy, copy them and you know, I always taught it, that's how it was described in the script, it's something that was almost painful, so I thought it was like that. a unique way of approaching the Joker's laugh, which is so iconic and I think I had always imagined him as something manic, something sharp, yes, and I think the way Todd had approached it was to do this with a realistic lens. and I felt like I was motivated by something and it was figuring that out, but you know, some days it was easier than others, yeah, I can't imagine you mentioned the Joker's iconic laugh and we've seen a lot of different

joker

s.

Straight from the comics and pop culture, was there anything specific that you took from the Joker's personality from the comics or pop culture that you wanted to weave into your version of the character? No, nothing mm-hmm, what about the dance? I already know it. you had a choreographer for this step scene you watched a lot of dance videos on the internet, dance videos on the internet that you know influenced Arthur's movements. There is and I am afraid to mention his name. I said his name before an

interview

but I just said I muttered if I could get away with it but now I'm doing it so I want to say Ray Bolger but I'm afraid it's Roy Bolger and it's very stupid because I mean I saw this video countless times and I believe. it's what influenced my movement the most and it's a song and dance that he called the old soft shoe that this one is made of, but it's not, it's real and I think that probably I think that affected me the most.

Wow, I got to Look, that old soft shoe isn't really me. I'm going to be very sad if I come home, there it is, no, it's a filly made up something I have to say something to pass the time, oh, so there wasn't a specific dance video on the Internet well, there was one, there was a guy called Roy Bolger and a song called the old song, okay, by the way, that's real, okay, I'm glad to know that you don't look because I'm done, but I didn't know if I really existed, but I do. Tod. One of the interesting things about this movie is that we actually learn the origin of the

joker

s' laughter, so I would love to know the inspiration behind it. that and how you got to this.

I think the fun thing about writing this movie was basically figuring out how to execute everything we know about Joker through his lens as realistically as possible if that makes sense, like why is his skin white and his hair green, how Do you know how that comes up in the real world? Why does he laugh like that in the real world? So we did a little research on things like spontaneous laughter and we discovered that there is this real affliction and it's not meant to be funny in the movie and it's not, but it's a real thing and it was a challenge for Joaquín to discover that he laughs because you know you read the script and it says Arthur starts laughing, you know it's pain, there's pain in his eyes. he can't stop and buy blood, you read that you're fine, but acting that's a very, very difficult thing and it was very intimidating so he came, he talked a lot about the laughs because you've already seen the movie, it comes up a lot. and it was fun, yeah, he and I talked about it.

I can't imagine how hard it was, plus losing all that weight. I mean, Joaquin loses over 50 pounds, you know? But I read Todd somewhere that he actually thought the character should gain weight, so he wanted to know from you guys what the story is behind that and how they landed in a weightless pit. I mean, I think he wanted the character to gain weight because I think he just didn't want to deal with the struggle of losing, you know, a lot of weight, but he came to me and said, you know what about the opposite? What if we just interpret it as doughy and heavy and don't gain a little weight?

And I told him no. I think it's really important. Arthur looks and feels like a wolf, kind of malnourished and hungry, you know, and we had conversations and I won that one and he had to lose 52 pounds, although I didn't expect him to lose that much, to be fair, I just went with it. , oh, really, so it was more than you well, I mean, we just wanted him to really be the one we didn't put a number on. I just told him to be very young and skinny and he did. I wanted to ask you about Scorsese. because there are many parts of this film that seem to be influenced by the king of comedies and you spoke to Martin beforehand, did you get any advice from him?

The movie was good, the comedy is definitely a reference in the movie and an inspiration for sure and to be fair, it's not just the king of comedy, it's total, it's actually a period of movies that I'm much older than you and that I grew up watching, which is actually from the mid '70s to early '80s, of these great characters. Sidney Lumet studios, Martin Scorsese films, sure, so I actually sent the script to Martin Scorsese, which was a trip in itself and he read it and we had a great phone call about it and I was to the extent of it was, but it was amazing to me, that's amazing, you've seen the movie, you haven't seen it yet, no, you've been knee-deep in the Irishman and I can't wait to see it, and um, yeah, I know who hasn't seen her.

Wow, that's iconic, yeah, now that you've got the Joker under your belt, Todd, is there another comic book character you might want to do a character study on? Oh no, you know, it's not like I was ever dying for it. Honestly, I saw it as a really fun kind of sandbox to go into and try something really different, which is what we did with Joker. It's not that I want to make other comic book movies now and, again, that's not it. I wouldn't, but there's something where I think, oh, now we should do this same kind of formula and do it too, which I like, that this movie will hopefully stand on its own and people, I hope it will. love it and you.

I know I'm sure not everyone will, it's not for everyone, but no, I haven't really thought about other comic book characters.