00:00One small thing.
00:02Yeah?
00:03When you bring me out...
00:05Can you introduce me as Joker?
00:08Joker director Todd Phillips is making it...
00:10clear that no one could have played the infamous Batman villain other than Joaquin Phoenix.
00:15Filmmaker spoke to the New York Times recently addressing that although there were rumors that
00:19many actors were in...
00:20contention to play the high-profile role, that was actually never the case.
00:24In fact...
00:25Phillips goes on to say that he was so set on having Phoenix play the part that he pursued
00:29the actor for...
00:30months saying,
00:31We wrote the movie for Joaquin.
00:33But the actor needed some convincing.
00:35He was not keen on jumping into costume in any comic book movie.
00:38It's not necessarily in his five-year plan.
00:40Todd said it took numerous visits with a three-time Oscar nominee over the course of three months
00:45to convince the actor to be on board, but it still wasn't that simple.
00:48I kept waiting for him to just say,
00:50I'm in.
00:51And he never did that.
00:52Where Phoenix is concerned, you just never get a yes.
00:54All you get is more...
00:55questions.
00:56The duo also had their fair share of disagreements over the role, including the Joker's body
01:00type.
01:01Phoenix saw him as a heavier set man, while Phillips wanted him to be drastically thin.
01:05The writer-director eventually won, and the actor lost 52 pounds for the part.
01:10In The Times, Phoenix also revealed that he did not know how serious fans and the media
01:14took the role, calling...
01:15himself blissfully naive.
01:16However, once work was underway, the actor held himself to a tremendous...
01:20standard, even losing his composure at times on set. Phillips says,
01:25In the scene, he'll just walk away and walk out.
01:27The poor other actor thinks it's them, and it was never them.
01:30It was always him.
01:31And he just wasn't feeling it.
01:32After taking a breather, we'll take a walk and we'll come back and...
01:35we'll do it.
01:36And it looks like all the actor's hard work paid off considering the film, which is due
01:40out now.
01:40in the film theaters October 4th, has been getting awards season buzz with critics praising
01:44Phoenix's performance.
01:45The pick also won the coveted Golden Lion Award at the 76th Venice International Film Festival.
01:50For more on this story, head to THR.com.
01:52And until next time, for The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Neha.
01:55Enjoy.
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