Hi everybody, I don't know yet if there's a place to introduce myself to this forum but anyway I've been following this thread for months reading y'all and today I decided to register to the forum because I bought the magazine with the interviews and I wanted to translate it(the best way I can even if I'm not really good with english language) for y'all because of all the times I've read y'all and found out footage or news about this movie trough this forum.
Proof I have the magazine btw :
Part 1 of the interview with Joaquin:
Los Angeles, Joaquin Phoenix smile, while he approach us.He scrutinizes his thoughts for the right words every time we ask a question- he hates being misunderstood.The man we have in front of us is quite the opposite of how he often is described:short-tempered and arrogant.
Phoenix arouse enthusiasm, he moves us and dismay on the notes of Smile, written by Charlie Chaplin for his Modern Times, in the trailer of Joker.
The story is set in a gloomy Gotham City/New York at the beginning of the 80s and it's a stand-alone, that is an original movie that doesn't follow the previous works, though we perceive the references to the Joker created for DC Comics by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson for the first number of Batman released April 25th 1940.
Phoenix is Arthur Fleck in the movie, an aspirant comedian who seeks a normal life despite few mental issues that makes his life pretty hard in a competitive and violent society.
Movie will be shown in Venice, Joker will arrive in theaters Oct. 3. And will be the first movie inspired by comic books that will be Rated R.
Q:Mr Phoenix, Joker is not just one of the most dangerous criminals of DC's Universe.He is also an iconic character for actors:Heath Ledger won the Oscar in 2009. Where you started from for your Joker?
Phoenix: I've started from the laugh.First time I met Todd Phillips he described it as something painful.He showed me videos of people who have pathological laughter, psychic dysfunction that express itself trough uncontrollable laugh.
I was impressed by those images, I had no idea that a syndrome like that existed.
Until that point Joker's laugh was always hysterical laughter, mechanic.
I didn't connect it to a mental illness, which is emotionally more profound:it's a repressed emotion that tries to emerge.
Anyways, I wasn't sure I would've been able to find the laughter Todd wanted.
I told him that I would've quit if it would have not satisfied me.
Q:We haven't seen the movie since you're in competition at Venezia.Therefore tell us who is his Joker?
Phoenix:Let's clear one thing. This isn't a movie about superheroes, super villains or human beings with special powers.
It doesn't have a genre. it isn't part of graphic novels movies-even if a lot of characters are inspired by comic books, I find them interesting because they fight real problems.
Q:What's the particular moment in the movie in which Arthur Fleck becomes Joker?
Phoenix:There's a moment in the script where Fleck dances going down a flight of steps and that is where the transformation happens from clown to Joker.The choreographer Michael Arnold, who worked with Scorzese and Spielberg, helped me to make the sequence perfect.
Generally I dislike taking lessons, but talking with Michael I've understood I could've learnt a lot from a professional dancer.
We studied different videos together until we found Ray Bolger dancing to The Old Soft Shoe and we understood we should've taken inspiration from that.
Bolger's attitude hit me, it was arrogant, haughty and impudent and I tried to reproduce it in Joker's body improvising movements based on those moods.
Q:Why is Joker a character so charismatic 79 years later?
Phoenix: Personally I find his irreverence charming.Sometime in the movie Fleck decides to not repress his feelings and reveal it to the world, and this an aspect of his personality that attracts me to the character.We live his evolution, Fleck is a lonely man who lives with his mother, he doesn't have any friends, he works a job he has zero interest in.
His dream is to be a comedian, but his sense of humor is particular.
Then for various reasons you'll find out, he'll become cool and popular, he'll change his look, he'll move in a gracious way, he'll be graceful in his movements- and confident.
But attention; this new person won't cancel Arthur's trauma and his mental issues.
Part 2:
Q:Fleck's evolution is just intimate or it has to do with that kind of disquiet that today a lot of people feels toward social injustice and politicians?
Phoenix:There are a lot of reasons why I love this movie, surely some have to do with politics.
I don't want to influence people and every viewer will interpret the consequences of Joker's actions differently.
However I can say I refused a lot of roles in the past because in my opinion they showed a distorted POV of reality.
It's really easy to label a person "good" or "evil", but life it isn't so simple and this way of thinking doesn't reflects the society we're part of.
If I take part of a movie and give my everything I want it to be coherent with my way of thinking.And I want the movie to have a message, even if tiny,that make people think.
Talking about the Joker, I can understand his depression and his dissatisfaction, but I find his tactics of redemption unacceptable.
I'm a ****ing pacifist!I understand his pain, but the end never justifies the means. Never. As human beings we have the moral obligations to respect.
The fact Joker declares war to the world because the world has been mean to him is absurd.
Q:Joker is violent because he suffered violence..
Phoenix:Yes, it's true, but it's a vicious circle.
He suffered horrible acts of violence as a kid, mental and physical abuse from his father.He was seeking love and comfort from his male figure and he has been attacked, defeated and humiliated. However this vicious circle has to be stopped.
There are useful programs, like the ones my mother is part of, that take care of restorative justice:Those help people to move on from the trauma they suffered.
Q: Does it work?
Phoenix:It's important to make more human our judicial system, which is antiquated and inefficient.Sadly, we think justice is equal in every country, and we think punishments are always adapted to the crimes committed. But it isn't always like that.
Punishing in violent ways minor crimes increases other acts of violence.We'll never solve anything without a real rehabilitation
Q:You have lost a lot of weight for this role.
Phoenix:I have gotten bigger to be Jesus in Mary Magdalene, but I was starting to lose weight already, and to be real I promised myself to not repeat another experience like that.
This time I proposed Todd a Joker who's overweight, but the majority of people who suffered the same abuses Arthur suffered tend to eat badly, they take pills, so they lose weight.
I had no alternatives. And I started a diet.
Q: How long the slimming process has lasted?
Phoenix:Three months, but it was so intense I had to forget about my social and private life.I couldn't go out, I didn't go out with anyone to avoid temptations.
My only human interactions was with Todd:I used to call him everyday to talk about Joker.However, despite the sacrifice this is one of my favorite roles ever.
Q:What do you seek in a character when you choose one?
Phoenix:I start from an emotion, even if most of the times I don't know what I'm really searching.It's like falling in love for the first time.
I feel in the same boat of who's seeking a partner and has an idea in mind of how the partner has to be.
Then, and this is the best thing about love, you find someone you didn't expect, she surprises you and impress you because you don't understand her.
Logic goes out of the window and you need complex solutions.
When you fall in love, rationality isn't part of the process.
Summary of the interview with Todd:
Todd says he was inspired by Serpico, Taxi Driver, One Flew Over the oo's Nest.
-They wrote the script for Phoenix, they didn't want another actor to play Joker
-He says Arthur is a flower born on the asphalt that should've been watered instead of being trampled.
-He gave Joaquin the time and the freedom to express himself how he wanted on set
-He says the movie is Rated R because when you want to make a product everybody likes no one likes it at the end of the day
-He says Chaplin influenced the writing for Arthur but they aren't the same
