The ecclectic playlist of songs that won Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar
There’s a version of Joaquin Phoenix that is wild, eccentric, loud and energised as in Joker, most well-represented in the iconic dance that Phoenix’s Joker does in the toilet, fresh from a killing spree that helped pave the way to an Oscar for ‘Best Actor’ that year.
While the script directed him to look for somewhere to stash his gun, Phoenix instead began to tango, and director Todd Phillips was lucky enough to have a handheld camera to capture it. In this role, he’s untamable, unhinged and unpredictable.
But the real Phoenix is far less wild and conspicuous. In fact, he’s deeply shy, a trait he shares with the Joker, underneath all the gaudy extravagance, so much so that director James Gray, who directed Phoenix in four films, remembers waiting backstage with him before a television interview, where the actor got so nervous he vomited.
Before each role, Phoenix still gets crippling anxiety for weeks before shooting starts, he told GQ in one of his more candid interviews. The actor feels physically sick the day before shooting and even sweats profusely for the first three weeks of shooting, so much so that he has to put pads in his armpits.
The actor’s chronic shyness extends to his personal space. On the set of Joker, Phoenix had to sit in the makeup chair for hours every day to achieve his DIY approach to his clown persona that represented his character’s descent into madness.
He made his discomfort with the arrangement well known to makeup designer Nicki Ledermann, immediately apologising profusely for his awkwardness and what he described as his difficult persona. “It’s not you, it’s me, and I just want to apologise in advance,” he confessed.
“He doesn’t like to be touched. He doesn’t like to be wrangled. He doesn’t like to be manhandled,” Ledermann told NME in an interview, adding, “As an actor, you do get wrangled and manhandled all the time. Not just by make-up but also by wardrobe, hair, the PAs who have to bring you to set. It’s really hard for him because he’s not that kind of a person.”
So Ledermann came up with a solution. The makeup designer, who prides herself on her music taste, would play an eclectic mix of songs to create a calming space for Joauqin, featuring modern psychedelic surf rock from the likes of Khruangbin and indie jazz-infused ballads from The Marías. Ledermann even dropped the playlist on Spotify.
Excellent music was a feature both onscreen and off for Phoenix in Joker, which features a heady original soundtrack alongside classics from Frank Sinatra, such as ‘That’s Life’, or Gary Glitter’s ‘Rock and Roll Park 2’, and Stephen Sondheim’s fitting ‘Send in the Clowns’.
Just as in Joker, where dialogue isn’t enough and the songs give audiences a glimpse into the protagonist’s psyche, Ledermann’s playlist offers us a small but precious glimpse into the mind of the ever-elusive and enigmatic Joaquin Phoenix.
Songs that won Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar:
- Emmit Fenn – ‘Painting Greys’
- Lamb – ‘Wise Enough’
- Tyler, the Creator – ‘FUCKING YOUNG / PERFECT’ (Feat Toro y Moi, Kali Uchis, Syd & Charlie Wilson)
- Jetta – ‘I’d Love To Change The World’
- Sigur Ros – ‘Sæglópur’
- Mellow Fellow – ‘How Was Your Day?’ (Feat Clairo)
- Ennio Morricone – ‘Sospetti e tenerezze’
- Fatboy Slim – Demons (Feat Macy Gray)
- Marius Furche – ‘Mad World’ (Instrumental Mix)
- Ben Howard – ‘Small Things’
- The Walters – ‘I Love You So’
- Rex Orange County – ‘Sunflower’
- Midnite – ‘For His Speech’
- BROCKHAMPTON – ‘GOLD’
- The Marias – ‘Bast Ya’
- boy pablo – ‘Everytime’
- Greg Laswell – ‘Days Go On’
- Ginger Taylor – ‘Scar’
- The Guess Who – ‘Laughing’
- Gary Glitter – ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll (Part 2)’
- White Rabbit – ‘Mayssa Karaa’
- The Marias – ‘Only In My Dreams’
- Faithless – ‘Muhammad Ali’
- Gabriel Yared – ’37°2 le matin’
- N.E.R.D. – ‘Lemon – Drake Remix’
- Cosmo Pike – ‘Great Dane’
- Madeleine Peyroux – ‘Don’t Wait Too Long’
- Daniel Caesar – ‘Best Part’ (Feat HER)
- BADBADNOTGOOD – ‘In Your Eyes’
- Manu Chao – ‘Bong Bong’
