Joaquin Phoenix’s co-star Zazie Beetz reveals his weird preparation to play the Joker – including drastic weight loss and re-writing scripts
WITH his pitiless eyes and lopsided, painted-on smile, Joaquin Phoenix’s new take on the Joker is set to terrify audiences.
Now his beautiful co-star in the blockbuster, Zazie Beetz, has revealed the creative madness behind the maverick’s acclaimed performance as Batman’s nemesis.
The German-born actress told how Joaquin rewrote scripts during filming, dropped weight at such an alarming rate that scenes could not be re-shot and enjoyed an edgy approach to life on set.
Zazie, 28, said: “It’s such an honour to work with him. He is not afraid to try something again or take risks.
“I need to work on taking more chances because I don’t want to waste time on set. So it’s great to see someone like him really take that initiative and thrive in their work.
“It was, creatively, a very loose and open set. We rewrote the whole thing while we were shooting.
“We would write the scene for the night then do it. During hair and make-up we’d memorise those lines then do them.”
Joaquin, 44, is already being tipped for the Best Actor Oscar next year.
He has been nominated for Academy Awards three times — for Gladiator, Walk The Line and The Master — but has never won.
For the role of Joker, he shed three and a half stone.
Zazie said: “We had to do everything then because Joaquin had lost so much weight, we couldn’t do re-shoots later. So we were figuring it out.”
Joker, released nationwide this week, focuses on the backstory of Batman’s deadliest enemy, the Joker — here given the original name Arthur Fleck.
Zazie plays the New York single mum who is Fleck’s love interest as he descends into madness.
She said it was the chance of a lifetime to star alongside Joaquin.
Zazie explained: “They sent me the script and within the first ten pages I was convinced I needed to be in this movie.
“My role started evolving because Arthur Fleck started evolving. Joaquin as a performer is very playful and loves to explore.
“On set, he was constantly finding new things. When he becomes the Joker, it is this inherently playful creature.
“Joaquin brings a lot of that, while also bringing humanity to a role we would usually keep at arm’s length. He brings a lot of soul to it.
“What’s special about his Joker is that it’s a really human story for a character we don’t necessarily reserve empathy for — or we’ve historically kept at arm’s length because we’ve labelled him the villain.
“That’s what really drew me to this film — the heart placed somewhere we usually don’t see.”
Joaquin has always been fiercely protective of his privacy.
He was born into an alleged sex cult, experienced the drug overdose death of older brother River, also a top actor, and had his own battles with booze.
Last week he turned up at a premiere for the film but would not speak to the media.
Zazie has said that behind the mask of the Joker character, Joaquin was “a really honest and genuine person”.
She added: “It’s really nice as an actor to work with somebody like that, to exchange emotionally. I really respect him as an actor, so just to watch him do his work was a learning experience for me.”
Yet Zazie, who lives in New York, is arguably Joker’s breakout star.
The three great jokers
- Jack Nicholson: He brought Batman’s enemy to life in Tim Burton’s 1989 take on the Caped Crusader. Jack was nominated for a Golden Globe and a Bafta for his turn and although he didn’t win, he set the bar for modern screen Jokers.
- Mark Hamill: The Star Wars icon voiced Joker in 1992’s Batman: The Animated Series and since then in spin-offs, video games and films. His acclaimed performances put him in high demand as a voice actor.
- Heath Ledger: His twisted take in 2008’s The Dark Knight redefined the role and posthumously won him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Heath, who died months after filming ended, wrote a bizarre diary in character to prepare for the role.
Previous roles include the mutant mercenary Domino in superhero sequel Deadpool 2. She is also a regular in Sky Atlantic’s comedy series Atlanta.
But her high-profile parts have led to some unwanted attention in the past. Zazie said: “Walking in the street, particularly in a city like New York, every single day, I am reminded of how objectified women can be.
“Being catcalled every day, multiple times a day. It’s incredibly degrading.
“I feel very passionate about this. You should be allowed to wear whatever you want, walk around topless or naked or anything, without it necessarily being sexualised.”
Zazie — whose German father was a cabinet maker and her mum a social worker from the US — moved from Berlin to New York when she was a child.
She has performed on stage for much of her life yet still struggles to come to terms with her fame.
Zazie is dating American actor David Rysdahl, whom she says helps her in daily battles with anxiety.
She has said she feels at times like she lives two different lives.
“I have my private life, what I feel in my home on a day-to-day basis,” Zazie explains.
“And then it feels like there’s surrounding white noise of other people having opinions, or the expectations I think of how to feel about certain things.
“I also struggle with anxiety. Depression and anxiety are real and don’t evade fortunate people.
“Everything might circumstantially be good. I’m in a healthy relationship, I have a loving family and I’m doing well in my career.
“But when I go home at night, I still struggle with this. I still have good days and bad days.”
Zazie is determined to make her mark not just as an actor but, one day, as a mother too.
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She said: “I still feel young and small in a big, big world. I’m always questioning what I want.
“I don’t want to just be pretty. I want to be ugly and I want to be bad and I want to be good and I want to be sexy and I want to be asexual. I want to transform as I transform in my life.
“On my personal bucket list? I’d like to be a mother. I hope that doesn’t sound like too much.”
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