Joaquin Phoenix Finally Talks on His Casting as The Joker

As we previously reported, The Joker standalone origins movie, directed by Todd Phillips has been officially confirmed to be going into production at Warner Bros. after actor Joaquin Phoenix who was rumored to be in talks for the role, finally signed on for the movie.

Now Phoenix in a recent interview with Collider goes on to talk on why he choose the role:

“I take a lot of time and consideration when making decisions and what I’m gonna work on always. So, in some ways, the process, which is obviously reading a script and meeting a filmmaker and then continuing to have meetings and discussions with Todd [Phillips]. I think he’s very impressive and he seems to have a very interesting understanding of this world and what he’s trying to say. And so there is something very appealing about that and working with him on this particular project. It feels unique, it is its own world in some ways, and maybe, mostly, it scares the fucking shit out of me or something. It might as well be the thing that scares you the most.”

Phoenix even goes on to admit that he’s been wanting to do a role for a comic book character like The Joker for sometime now, as far back as three to four years ago:

“Three or four years ago, I called my agent and said ‘Why don’t they want to take one of these characters and just make a lower budget film about it, a movie but a character study, and why not take one of the villains?’ And I thought, ‘You can’t do the Joker, because, you know, it’s just you can’t do that character, it’s just been done.’ So I was trying to think of other characters, and he said ‘I’ll set up a general meeting with Warner Bros.’ And I said ‘I’m not gonna go, I can’t go to a general meeting.’ So I completely forgot about it, and so then I heard about this idea, I was like, ‘Oh that’s so exciting, that’s the kind of experience I wanted to have, with a movie based on a comic character.’ I felt like you could get something on screen.”

To read the full interview head over to Collider.com.