PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Joaquin Phoenix, actor of the film Joker.

To listen to the interview, click on the ► icon on the right, just above the picture

Joaquin Phoenix is the absolute protagonist of Joker by Todd Philips, in competition at the 76th Venice International Film Festival. In the origin story of Batman principal antagonist, Phoenix portrays the evolution or involution of Arthur Fleck who, in a world that lacks of empathy, can’t find his place in despite putting always on his “happy face”. Phoenix reveals how he preferred to be Joker rather than Arthur Fleck as the former is constantly defeated by rules and constrictions while the latter is finally free to be whoever he wants: dancing, laughing out loud.

Joker centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone fictional story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society. A clown-for-hire by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night… but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty, Arthur makes one bad decision that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty character study.