Joaquin Phoenix’s comedic killer Arthur Fleck will no doubt need to put on some weight if he’s to return to the big screen after Joker: For What?. The new film from director Todd Phillips just premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and during the press conferenceVia VarietyIn a recent interview with TMZ, Phoenix explained that the physical transformation required to play the Joker was “challenging” but “safe.” In response to questions from reporters presumably concerned about his emaciated appearance on screen, Phoenix responded, “You’re right. I’m 49 now and I probably shouldn’t do this again. This will be my last time.”
Of course, this off-the-cuff remark shouldn’t be taken as Phoenix completely closing the door on the Arthur Fleck character. Rather, this may be the boundary Hollywood needs to break from its obsession with unhealthy transformations for acting purposes. In 2019, his “Joker” co-star Zazie Beetz said: He told Collider Phoenix has said that Joaquin was unable to do reshoots of the first film because he had “lost a lot of weight,” suggesting that the actor’s physical transformation wasn’t entirely planned. He told the Associated Press He said he was obsessed with losing every last bit of weight for the role, and admitted that focusing on extreme weight changes for a role “made me really ill.”
Phoenix said he probably won’t do the Joker diet again.
While the actor detailed his transformation process after filming for the first movie wrapped, he was careful not to delve too deeply into it during today’s press conference, a wise choice not to mention any figures or methods regarding his extreme diet. It may have an impact on other people recovering from eating disorders.“I’m not going to go into the details of my diet because I don’t think anyone wants to hear about it,” Phoenix said, before offering a self-deprecating reason for keeping quiet about details like the weight he lost. “It sounds like an actor going on and on about how much weight he lost,” Phoenix explained. “By the end of that show, I was disgusted and angry at myself for over-hyping the role.”
Still, Phoenix admitted that the transformation was harder for Joker: Folie à Deux, due to the extra physical demands. “But this time, it felt a little more complicated because we had a lot of dance rehearsals that we didn’t have last time. So it felt a little more difficult, but safe.” Phoenix said at the time that he probably wouldn’t put his body through that tedious procedure again, a understandable sentiment that other actors have shared in the past. In 2017, Tom Hardy said, The Daily Beast Regarding his long history of undergoing rigorous physical transformation for roles, he said, “I think any dramatic physical transformation comes at a price.”
Other big stars have given up on body transformation
“When I was younger, it was okay to put that kind of pressure on myself,” Hardy theorized. “But I think when you’re in your 40s, you have to be a lot more careful about the intense training, the weight gain, the physical labor, and not having time to keep training because you’re so busy filming, your body is swimming in two directions at the same time.” He noted that weight loss can be just as impactful, saying, “There’s a price to pay to go from one extreme to another.” Meanwhile, young star Tom Holland has a different take on Hollywood’s bad habits, vowing to stay away from roles that require extreme weight loss after trying it once.
The solution seems simple. If Arthur Fleck does appear in a third Joker film (something Phillips doesn’t seem to be open to right now), Phillips and Phoenix can focus less on his body as a representation of the character’s twisted psyche. We don’t need to see his rib cage to know someone feels sick, and the series doesn’t need to equate a fairly romanticized vision of mental illness with being thin. At a press conference today, Phoenix said that his co-star Stefani Germanotta (aka Lady Gaga) also lost weight to play Harley Quinn. Unless there’s a subplot about Arkham Asylum refusing to serve food to its prisoners, this grueling body transformation routine seems unnecessary. I hope Phoenix is right and doesn’t push his body to its limits again for the role. But I do hope Hollywood is smart enough to realize that it shouldn’t be asked of him, or anyone.
Joker: Folie à Deux will hit theaters on October 4, 2024.
