Joker: This is how Joaquin Phoenix prepared to play the character

Joker premiered at the Venice film festival and bagged an eight-minute standing ovation for the amazing performance of Joaquin Pheonix. Phoenix has evidently scaled the character of Joker layer by layer as he paved his portrayal of the character to become one of the most fascinating performances in cinema. The film has broken the norms of the traditional comic book film of being light and funny. Instead, Todd Phillips has created a cinematic universe with one standalone film, which is evidently superior to all the mainstream comic book films, even those of DC itself. Preparing for the character has reportedly been a journey in itself for Joaquin Phoenix, Todd Phillips has stated that the actor would often walk out of the sets while shooting a scene and go off-script often. Here's a glimpse of how Joaquin Phoenix prepared for his iconic portrayal of Joker.

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The journey from Joaquin Phoenix to Joker

Joaquin Phoenix already has a pedigree of losing himself in a character with films like Her and Gladiator. The actor's preparation for the part reportedly targetted the mental and emotional aspect of the character rather than just the physical. The character of Joker on-screen will always be attached to Heath Ledger's portrayal of the character. The actor was sure that his portrayal of the character is not a competition to Heath Ledger, instead, Joaquin has stated in various interviews that Heath's portrayal of the character is unbeatable and unmatchable. 

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In conversation with an online news portal, Joaquin Phoenix has stated that he started to lose the sense of reality while essaying the character. He claims that he really started to go mad when he was preparing and playing Joker. Joaquin did an extensive study of people living with chronic laughter disease called as the Pseudobulbar effect. The actor spent time with people going through the disease to mimic the way they express their emotions and implemented it in the movie. Joaquin has stated that the film relies heavily on the psychological aspects of Joker and hence an extensive study for playing the character was important. 

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