Turns out Joaquin Phoenix is a pretty chilled man to please on the Joker set, with his co-star Josh Pais revealing his only request.
After being recruited by director Todd Phillips for the backstory piece to Batman’s antagonist, Josh recently revealed he was brought up to speed on the kind of co-star Joaquin was looking for.
Pretty simply: ‘No a**holes’.
Seems fair enough, right? We’re sure you’d wish to make such a stipulation to your boss in your next job interview too.
Josh plays the boss of Joaquin’s Arthur Fleck, Hoyt Vaughn, who recruits and then unceremoniously fires him as a clown-for-hire. It’s from here in the dark film we see Arthur’s descent into violent madness.
‘I had a meeting with Todd,’ Josh said in a chat with The Hollywood Reporter. ‘He said, “I loved your tape. I just want to make sure that you’re not an a**hole because one person on set can really ruin the whole vibe of the thing”.
He continued: ‘Joaquin told Todd, “I don’t care who you cast, just make sure everybody is a really good actor — and no a**holes.” So, I guess I passed the test.’
Not a bad seal of approval, right?
Still, as Josh added: ‘I played an a**hole!’
Maybe the film’s cinematographer didn’t get the memo though…
Joker was released worldwide earlier this month and already it has become a huge global hit. We smell Oscars already.
According to Reuters, Joker raked in an impressive £93.5million (£75,849,000) on its debut – smashing box office records to become the highest October launch of all time.
The record was previously held by 2018 thriller Venom that brought in $80million (£64,898,800).
Joker acts as an origins story set in 1981 as it follows failed stand-up comedian Arthur, who turns to a life of crime in Gotham City. Despite the worldwide acclaim and buzz around the release, Joker hasn’t been without scrutiny and it’s faced criticism over its dark and violent scenes.
Families involved in the Aurora shooting complained to Warner Bros and Joker has been accused of glamourising gun violence.
Director Todd Phillips defended the movie’s inclusion of violence and Warner Bros, the studio behind the film, insisted ‘neither the fictional character Joker, nor the film, is an endorsement of real-world violence of any kind’.
Joker is in cinemas now.
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