Joker director Todd Philips revealed how much weight Joaquin Phoenix lost to play Arthur Fleck for the upcoming DC film.
It has now been expected for actors who take on the Joker role to make a dramatic physical transformation. Based on the trailers alone, Joaquin Phoenix looks like he is following the footsteps of Jared Leto and Heath Ledger. The Joker has been portrayed several ways in the comic books, from his signature scrawny look to becoming bulky in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Many started to notice Joaquin Phoenix’s transformation before filming last year, sporting long hair and looking extremely thin.
Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker performance is already being praised more than a month from release, with the film hitting Venice Film Festival this weekend. Director Todd Philips talked about Joaquin Phoenix’s dedication to the role in a recent interview with the LA Times and revealed the actor lost 52-pounds before filming.
Are you a fan of Joaquin Pheonix’s Joker look? Which Joker actor do you think made the most dramatic transformation? Sound off in the comments below!
Here is the synopsis for Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker:
Director Todd Phillips “Joker” centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone fictional story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society. A clown-for-hire by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night…but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty, Arthur makes one bad decision that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty character study.
Directed by Todd Phillips from a script he co-wrote with Scott Silver, Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix, Zazie Beetz, Bill Camp, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Douglas Hodge, Marc Maron, Josh Pais, Shea Whigham and Robert De Niro.
