Why Playing the 'Joker' Was Liberating for Joaquin Phoenix

Joker dances into theaters today, which sees the cameras focus on Batman’s arch nemesis rather than the Caped Crusader himself.

This takes the film in a much darker direction than any movie to ever swirl out of the DC Universe.

Its star Joaquin Phoenix is receiving Oscar buzz for his disturbing but powerful Joker performance, which he calls one of the most liberating of his career.

And that’s due in part to the manic nature of the Joker. He tells the AP:

"There seemed to be an infinite number of ways to interpret every moment or how he might behave in any moment. And there wasn’t anything that didn’t make sense. So we would do scenes so many different ways and some I would cry and others I would make jokes and others I would be angry and it would be the same scene and they all made sense and that's so rare. There's something really exciting about that because it keeps you in this state of like perpetual investigation and trying to find something new."

Joker is out now.

Photo: Getty Images


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