Comic Book Movies

Joaquin Phoenix: “It is its own world in some ways, and maybe, mostly, it scares the fcking sht out of me or something”

Published

5 years ago

July 12, 2018

Joaquin Phoenix is finally opening up about taking on one of the most iconic super villains of all time. Up until this week Phoenix had been fairly coy about rumors of him stepping into the character. Warner Bros officially announced that they would be producing a separate Joker Origin film, which would be a lower budget character driven crime drama film, focusing on a man who is “disregarded by society.” The movie is said to be a cautionary tale.

Phoenix recently opened up, and spoke about how he landed the role and his process in moving forward to make the film great:

“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 f*cking sh*t out of me or something. It might as well be the thing that scares you the most.”

Phoenix was also asked if he had seen fan response to his casting and if he felt doubled pressure from what the studio was looking for in the character:

“It’s a magnified version of what you deal with as an actor. So, when you get a script, obviously, the writer- usually for me, it’s the writer/director, last several years I’ve worked with a filmmaker that was the writer and director- and they have their expectation, and they’ve imagined things in their head, and they’ve imagined different actors, and suddenly you take it on and so there’s this moment of anxiety of Did I live up to their expectations? And at some point you have to just own it and say like, I can’t consider who they might have thought up before or what the movie was for the 6 months ago, this is what it is now and I have to find my way into it. And so in some ways it’s a very similar experience, right? But it feels magnified because it’s not just one person’s expectations, but what you’re telling me is that there’s at least a dozen.”

When asked what type of project the Joker movie would be, Phoenix said that you couldn’t quite classify it:

“I wouldn’t quite classify this as like any genre. I wouldn’t say it’s a superhero movie, or a studio movie or a… It feels unique, and I think more than anything, and probably the most important thing, is Todd seems very passionate about it and very giving, and so that’s exciting. I think, underneath the excitement of these films, and the size of them, there are these incredible characters that are dealing with real life struggles. And sometimes that is uncovered and exposed, and sometimes it isn’t, and so I always felt, like, there were characters in comics that were really interesting and deserve the opportunity to be kind of studied. And so I think that’s what Todd sees appealing about this idea.”

Phoenix even went on further to hint that he had actually had an idea to do a project similar to this one. He wanted to make a lower budget character study of a comic villain:

“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.”

Stay tuned for more news to come, as this project ramps up. I sound like Phoenix and Director Todd Phillips are heading in the right direction and both have a clear picture as to how they want the film to unfold.

FILM RATING

Related Topics:Batman Breaking News Crime DC drama Joaquin Phoenix Joker Warner bros

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Brandon Creighton

Brandon started Coastal House Media, formerly, BCactionMR.com in 2012, with the intent of publishing news he found exciting about upcoming and current events in the world of comic book, action and sci-fi movies. A year later, "BC" became a Verified Creator (Paid Writer) for Movie Pilot, a large fan site, dedicated to all things pop culture. [2013-2018] After Movie Pilot closed its doors, Brandon decided he wanted to give others the opportunity to continue writing and sharing their passion and excitement for entertainment news. We now have evolved into an ever-growing community of bloggers, writers and gamers who love to share our opinions with the world. We cover everything from pop culture, indie, horror, movies, gaming and streaming, to the most recent film trailers to hit the internet. Coastal House Media is dedicated to J.S.W. Thank you for planting the seed all those years ago. RIP Brother

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Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom | Official Trailer

Arthur must enlist the help of his half-brother Orm in order to protect Atlantis against Black Manta, who has unleashed a devastating weapon in his obsessive quest to avenge his father’s death.

Published

1 week ago

September 14, 2023

Staff

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom [credit: Warner Bros. / DC]

Genre:

Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Release Date:

December 20, 2023

Director:

James Wan

Cast:

Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Plot Summary:

Arthur must enlist the help of his half-brother Orm in order to protect Atlantis against Black Manta, who has unleashed a devastating weapon in his obsessive quest to avenge his father’s death.

FILM RATING

Disney +

Marvel Studios’ Loki Season 2 | Official Trailer | Disney +

The second season of the American television series Loki, based on Marvel Comics featuring the character of the same name, sees Loki working with Mobius M. Mobius, Hunter B-15, and other members of the Time Variance Authority to navigate the multiverse in order to find Sylvie, Ravonna Renslayer, and Miss Minutes.

Published

2 months ago

July 31, 2023

Staff

Genre:

Action, Adventure

Release Date:

October 6, 2023

Director:

Disney +

Cast:

Tom Hiddleston, Jonathan Majors, Sophia Di Martino, Owen Wilson

Plot Summary:

FILM RATING

Comic Book Movies

Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion Review: Nick Returns With A Fury

Published

2 months ago

July 26, 2023

Jacques van Zyl

Nick Fury (Marvel)

The following piece was written during the 2023 Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the television series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Overview Of Secret Invasion

Secret Invasion is set in the present-day Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Nick Fury learns of an invasion of Earth by a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls. Fury, joined by Everett Ross, Maria Hill, and the Skrull Talos, who has made a life for himself on Earth, races against time to stop an invasion and save humanity.

Brief Summary (Contains Spoilers)

The series starts off with Talos pursuing Everett Ross for the murder of a CIA agent, who had information about a potential Skrull rebellion. Maria Hill arrives on scene and discovers that Everett is a shapeshifting Skrull and contacts Nick Fury to request assistance. Nick returns to learn that not only has Talos been exiled from the Skrull Council, but Gravik is taking the lead with the rebellion. Fury approaches an old acquaintance by the name of Sonya Falsworth to propose an alliance, but to no avail. In the meantime, Talos reunites with his daughter, G’iah who shares with him the location of a Skrull attack in Russia. The mission to stop the attack not only end in failure, but in the death of one of Fury’s team mates. Fury and Talos is forced to escape to fight another day.

Gravik gains the support of the Skrull Council to lead them in a new war. Fury is blamed for the attack in Russia and the death of one of the team members, and is discharged of his duties. Sonya learns from another rebel that Gravik has a new weapon, a machine that can help enhance their strength with the use of powered DNA. The rebel’s next target is the Royal Navy. Their attempt to launch a missile at another aircraft is however thwarted by collective efforts from Fury, Talos, Sonya and G’iah. G’iah attempts to run away but is confronted by Gravik who shoots her and leaves her for dead.

G’iah, however, survives and lives to fight another day. We quickly learn that there is a rebel Skull Imposter posing as one of the Avengers. The rebels turn their focus on the President of the United States, and posing as Russian soldiers almost succeeds in their attempt, however, they leave behind many casualties. The rebel Skrulls tries to convince the United States President to attack one of the Skrull compounds. Gravik is willing to call off the attack in exchange for something from Nick that could potentially tip the scales in the favor of the rebels.

The last episode ends with a short but grand face-off between Fury and Gravik with a special twist…but I will leave this for you as the viewer to experience on the screen.

The summary has been written in such a way as to not spoil too much for the viewer.

Final Views

I really enjoyed the suspense and surprises that the series brought with every episode. Even though the series was only 6 episodes long, it kept the suspense alive and it kept the golden thread going that is taking place within the broader MCU. As you may recall, Captain Marvel’s movie end where she flew off to find a new home for the Skrulls and this series continue many years later where some of the Skrulls feel the promise of a new home has been broken. Even the blip is referenced and it keeps the memory alive of a world still affected by Thanos’ snap.

The rating for this series is definitely a 4 out of 5. The story had a feel of a crime drama and spy thriller. The fight scenes were amazing and I personally felt the last episode could have been longer to give us an even longer fight. There are many questions that this television series have going through my head that I won’t list over here to limit spoiling the experience for you as the viewer. I can only hope that some of the questions will be answered in future Marvel Studios productions.

*Olivia Colman as Sonya Falsworth (Marvel)*

Olivia Colman’s portrayal of Sonya Falsworth was really amazing to watch and I really hope we get to see more of her in future productions. Emelia Clark and Kingsley Ben-Adir brought in a breath of fresh air as G’iah and Gravik respectively. As always, having Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury is epic to say the least, and I encourage keeping both eyes on his performance throughout the MCU.

I highly recommend watching Iron Man (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), WandaVision (2021), Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) before watching Secret Invasion. These movies provide the detailed backstory to most of the returning characters. These movies and television series are based on the list of recommendations made in Marvel Studios’ Legends as well.

There is no post-credits scene, so no need to wait till the end. The whole series is now available on Disney Plus so make sure to watch. This series is rumored to tie-in with both The Marvels and Armor Wars, upcoming movies in the MCU.

FILM RATING