2020-01-23 The Hollywood Reporter

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 27 JANUARY 2020 AWARDS 1

From left: Stars Zazie Beetz and Joaquin Phoenix, director

Todd Phillips and producer Emma Tillinger Koskoff at

Joker’s world premiere in August at the Venice Film Festival,

where it won the Golden Lion.

with my key grip and production manager.

“Can we flag it?” — meaning, to cover it. But

there was no way to shield him. That was a

major stress to me, believe it or not, because I

wanted desperately to protect that. I’m pretty

sure we did. I’d have to go rummage through

the internet, but I’m pretty sure we got away

with it somehow.

Scorsese has said he hasn’t seen Joker, aside

from a few clips. Does that surprise you?

It’s not surprising. I don’t know where that

interview was or how that came up within

the conversation. You know what this time

is like, the madness that is Oscar campaign-

ing. Marty has not seen anything. Joker is just

one of the many films he has not seen, so it’s

not specific to Joker, it’s just the amount we’ve

all been working and traveling and running

around. We’re in full prep on the next film, so

he’s also prepping a movie. I think when he

says, “I’ve seen clips,” he probably means from

television — television ads. Having CNN on

or whatever.

On that note, have you had time to see the other

nominated films?

I haven’t seen all of them. I’m trying to plow

through them. It’s an extraordinary year for

movies all around. I loved Parasite. I loved it.

I loved Marriage Story. Once Upon a Time.

I haven’t seen [but want to see] 1917 , I haven’t

seen Jojo Rabbit. There are a couple I’m dying

to see and will see before Feb. 9. My schedule

has been insane, so it’s hard. But I try to see

all the movies by that magical Oscars date.

I think that’s Marty’s thing, too. It’s simply

time management.

You don’t seem like a franchise filmmaker, but

then again neither does Joaquin. Would it

take much convincing to join a potential Joker

sequel should Todd and Joaquin make one?

I would be there in a heartbeat. It’s a no-

brainer. I would be bummed if I wasn’t asked

back. It was a beautiful, incredible experience,

and I couldn’t be prouder of the film. Todd is

an angel and heaven to work for. I would run,

not walk, back.

Interview edited for length and clarity.

of the character. I’m very good at reading

the room. I know Bob De Niro’s needs on The

Irishman are going to be far different from

Joaquin Phoenix’s on Joker. When Joaquin was

still new to preproduction and had just come

to New York to dive into prep, it was important

to me that he knew he was going to want for

nothing. I didn’t want to assume anything,

and I didn’t want to be that person who would

be like, “Hey, are you OK? No. You’re not OK.

I know you’re not OK. You’re starving.” I just

wanted him to know early on that my lack of

checking in didn’t mean I’m not here and I

don’t care. I just didn’t want to interfere with

what he was dealing with and going through.

What kind of things would Joaquin come to

you for?

It was not a lot. He doesn’t come with all

the bells and whistles a lot of actors come

with. He’s pretty self-sufficient. I wanted

to respect his creative space and just take

care of whatever came up when it came up.

Anything he needed in terms of comfort.

Extra time in the morning. Whatever I could

proud of him and so happy that he is getting
the recognition for this performance. I said
to anybody who would listen to me that he’s
going to sweep and win every possible act-
ing award available to him for this role, and
that appears to be what’s happening. Fingers
crossed, knocking wood, toes crossed, for
what’s still to come.

You are known as the kind of producer who lets
talent know you are there to support them, giv-
ing them space unless they come to you. Is that
doubly so on Joker, with an actor going through
such a transformative performance?
Every actor comes with different needs. I have
worked with Joaquin only on this film, and
you can imagine what he as a human being
went through to get to where he needed to be
to perform every day — the weight loss that
he and Todd decided upon and just the nature

do production-wise, from a physical produc-

tion standpoint. That’s where I come into

the mix.

What was the most stressful shot in Joker to

get right for you?

The one scene that was very stressful for me

was the stair dance, because Joaquin had been

working on it for a while. And it’s really the

first time you’re seeing the Joker, aside from

the reveal in the room. This was an extremely

important scene for him. His privacy while

shooting the scene was of paramount impor-

tance to him. New York City has no paparazzi

laws whatsoever. If you are in a public space,

they can literally be at the camera. You can’t

tell them to get off the set. Every day we were

outside we’d be done shooting, and it’d be all

over the internet that night. We really wanted

to protect this. There were extensive meetings

VITAL STATS

STUDIO Warner Bros.

RELEASE DATE Oct. 4

WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE

$1.1 billion

(through Jan. 16)

DIRECTOR Todd Phillips

CAST

Joaquin Phoenix,

Robert De Niro

TOP AWARDS

Golden Lion at Venice,

11 Oscar noms,

11 BAFTA noms,

2 Globe wins,

2 SAG Award noms