Joaquin Phoenix Revealed That This Was The Hardest Part Of Playing The Joker

We’re now less than a month away from the release date of the Joker sequel Folie À Deux, following the huge success of the first film.

Back in the lead role is Jaoquin Phoenix – who famously takes his roles extremely seriously, and even admitted to losing a serious amount of weight to perfect the Joker’s signature gaunt appearance in his first performance as the villain.

However, Joaquin admitted around the release of the first film that the hardest part of his process wasn’t the weight loss or even the pressure of taking on such an iconic role but, in fact, the Joker’s laugh.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Joaquin explained that perfecting the character’s laugh was something that took months for him to perfect.

“I didn’t think that I could do it,” he admitted at the time. “I kind of practised alone but I asked Todd [Phillips, the film’s director] to come over and audition my laugh. I felt like I had to be able to do it on the spot and in front of somebody else. It was really uncomfortable. It took me a long time.”

Joaquin’s take on the Joker’s uncontrollable laughter was initially inspired by a condition called “The Pseudobulbar Effect”, which director Todd Phillips showed the Oscar winner videos of in their first meeting, according to IndieWire.

However, Joaquin wasn’t wholly convinced that the character had this affliction, saying: “It’s one of those examples of something I didn’t want to answer. Initially I’d approach it thinking it was this affliction.”

However, once he and Frances Conroy who played his mother built their characters, he got thinking about the character’s histories. 

“I thought of him having these reactions that one would consider inappropriate,” he recalled. “I thought of the movie as a commentary on humour in our PC culture. Somebody who was out of touch with the world, laughing at school at something horrible that has happened. How to explain that to the principal?

“I never decided which one it was, but I liked the idea that it was perhaps his real nature emerging that other people were trying to suppress.”

Joker was a huge hit, winning two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes and three BAFTA Awards

The sequel, Folie À Deux, is taking a very different approach as it’ll be a musical starring Lady Gaga.

Joker, Folie À Deux is released in UK cinemas on October 4th.