2020-01-23 The Hollywood Reporter

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 26 JANUARY 2020 AWARDS 1

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But her gamble paid off. The R-rated Warner

Bros. project, which stars Joaquin Phoenix as

loner Arthur Fleck as he becomes Gotham’s

psychopathic criminal mastermind, has

nabbed the most Oscar nominations of the

year (11 nods, including best picture, best

director and best actor) and has earned more

Joker

Joaquin Phoenix delivers an intense, at times disturbing

performance in Todd Phillips’ thriller that examines the origins

of Gotham City’s criminal mastermind BY AARON COUCH

than $1 billion globally. In the midst of a busy

awards season, Koskoff is already prep-

ping her next film, Scorsese and Leonardo

DiCaprio’s Killers of the Flower Moon, and jug-

gling campaign duties on The Irishman as well.

But she took some time to talk with THR about

the most stressful moments on the Joker set,

the prospect of a sequel and why Scorsese still

hasn’t seen the movie.

Knowing what Joaquin Phoenix went through

on the role, what did his Golden Globes speech

mean to you?

EMMA TILLINGER KOSKOFF From day one of

principal photography, I literally was like,

“This is the most extraordinary acting I have

ever had the privilege of watching up close on

the day.” I was mesmerized for the 57 days of

shooting that followed. I was sort of glossed

over, watching him up there, because I was so

BEST PICTURE

“With the comic book universe completely exploding,

I thought it would be just another standard iteration.

Then I read the script.” ZAZIE BEETZ

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mma Tillinger Koskoff has built

a reputation as Martin Scorsese’s

right hand, working her way up

from an assistant on 2004’s The

Aviator to sharing a 2020 Oscar

nomination with the filmmaker for The

Irishman. But just four days after ending a 108-

day shoot on the director’s Netflix film, Koskoff

found herself in a scouting van with Todd

Phillips, taking a leap of faith with another

director. Joker may not have seemed like a

natural move for Koskoff, who hadn’t kept up

with comic book films since working as Uma

Thurman’s assistant on Batman & Robin more

than 20 years earlier — and who had never

produced a movie not directed by Scorsese.