In the upcoming DC Comics movie, Joker, Joaquin Phoenix embodies the super-villain. The audience first meets Arthur Fleck, a sad, failed stand-up comedy, whose neuroses lead him to take a criminal turn. Phoenix has spoken out about how they attempted to show this transformation on film.
One of the most famed scenes in Joker – before anyone in the UK has even had the chance to see it – is the dance sequence.
When Joker is all dressed up in his clown make-up, he is seen dancing on some rain-covered steps, doing a kind of tap dance shuffle as he kicks the rain away.
Fans, at this point, do not know where this moment arrives in the film, or how such a moment even came about.
Phoenix, in an interview with US TV host Jimmy Kimmel, revealed how they came to place a dance number in the film and what it meant.
He said: “There were two sequences where I worked with this choreographer named Michael Arnold and we worked…
“There’s a sequence on the steps and a sequence where I’m the clown – we worked on those.
“But that piece was something that really was a reaction to the score.
“Todd had just received that bit of score from Hildur the composer and we were trying to figure out what to do with that scene.
“He played me that music and I just decided we wanted something that just illustrated this transformation into Joker which was non-verbal and this was what we came up with…
“That was the first time that I’m aware of when I was so influenced by the score.”
He also told Kimmel that his dancing “forte” as a younger person was doing breakdancing, but that it was a personal expression for him rather than a performative act.
When Kimmel tried to joke with him about this, Phoenix very quickly became serious, saying it was a “serious thing” for him.
“That was the first time that I’m aware of when I was so influenced by the score.”
He also told Kimmel that his dancing “forte” as a younger person was doing breakdancing, but that it was a personal expression for him rather than a performative act.
When Kimmel tried to joke with him about this, Phoenix very quickly became serious, saying it was a “serious thing” for him.
If the moment comes – as Phoenix says – to show the transformation into the Joker, this must fall later in the movie.
But fans don’t have long to wait to find out.
Joker is out in cinemas from October 4
