As you would expect from a movie that features a clown slowly going violently insane, Todd Phillips’ Joker is an intense experience.
In fact, Phoenix’s time playing Joker wasn’t nearly as intense as you might think.
It’s the kind of film that requires you to take a moment to yourself to recover as the end credits play, as Joaquin Phoenix delivers a powerful and disturbing performance as the film’s lead character, Arthur Fleck.
Watching it, you can’t help but think of all the dark places that the lead actor must have gone to in order to properly evoke such a performance… but it may surprise you to learn that the reality of the situation doesn’t match up with that thinking at all.