Joaquin Phoenix lost 52 pounds to play the Joker in an upcoming movie about the iconic villain.
“Joker” director Todd Phillips revealed the detail during a new interview with Josh Rottenberg for the Los Angeles Times. Both Phillips and Phoenix added that the character’s origin story will be far more realistic and grounded than other comic-book adaptations.
“All I can do is approach the character the way I do and that’s it,” Phoenix, who is one of many actors to take on the role of the Joker, told the LA Times. “I just tried to do something that we felt was honest and unique. However you guys want to talk about it, knock yourself out.”
The movie follows the transformation of Arthur Fleck, a down-and-out clown and aspiring comic, into the villainous Joker. In telling the story, filmmakers had “a lot of freedom because Joker never really had an origins story in the comics.
Phoenix lost 52 pounds for the role, a process that he suggested informed his performance. “The first thing for us was the weight loss,” said Phoenix. “I think that’s really what I started with. And, as it turns out, that then affects your psychology. You start to go mad when you lose that amount of weight in that amount of time.”
The actor also discussed how he developed his take on the character’s trademark chortle. In a prior interview, he’d described watching videos of people who suffer from pathological laughter, a disorder marked by bursts of uncontrollable and inappropriate laughing.
The most recent trailer, released in August, included additional shots that indicate the drastic weight loss.
