Page 31 - The Hollywood Reporter (January 2020)

of the character. I’m very good at reading
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
T H E H O L L Y W O O D
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
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
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
R E P O R T E R 2 7 J A N U A R Y
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.
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