Joaquin Phoenix’s favourite actor of all time
It was finally time for Joaquin Phoenix to climb the critical mountain. As one of Hollywood’s most respected and sought-out actors for decades, Phoenix had proven his diverse acting chops in lauded performances from films like Gladiator and Her. But in 2020, he had finally found the role that would land him his first Academy Award: the Joker in Todd Phillips’ psychological thriller.
Before he stood on stage to accept his Oscar, Phoenix had a few other award shows to attend. One of them was the Screen Actors Guild Awards, where he once again won ‘Best Actor’ for his take on the demented Batman villain. When he accepted the award, the actor took time in his speech to pay tribute to another iconic actor who donned the facepaint to portray the Joker: Heath Ledger.
“I’m standing here on the shoulders of my favourite actor, Heath Ledger, so thank you,” Phoenix said at the close of his speech. Ledger had played the Joker in The Dark Knight as one of his final performances: a few months after finishing the film’s shooting, Ledger died of an accidental prescription drug overdose at the age of 28. Ledger’s version of the Joker has become the de facto rendition of the character, and Phoenix acknowledged that Ledger’s titanic performance helped lead him away from copying anyone else in his preparation.
“The attraction to make this film and this character was that we were going to approach it in our own way, so, for me, I didn’t refer to any past iterations of the character,” Phoenix said at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival. “It just felt like something that was our creation in some ways.”
During his speech, Phoenix also took time to acknowledge one of his other favourite actors: Leonardo DiCaprio. “When I started acting again and going to auditions, I’d get to the final callback and…. [I’d] always lose to this one kid. No actor would ever say his name because it was too much,” he said of DiCaprio. “You have been an inspiration for over 25 years to me and so many people.”
Phoenix also acknowledged the lineage of performances that had come before him. As a part of the speech, he jokingly took aim at fellow Batman actor Christian Bale, who spent nearly a decade playing the titular role as part of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. Bale had been nominated for his role in the film Ford v Ferrari, making him one of Phoenix’s main competitors for the SAG Award. During his speech, he begged Bale to “just suck once” at a role.
