A grey, balding Joaquin Phoenix reveals full-on transformation for latest role

The king of the transformation (Picture: TheImageDirect/Getty)

Joaquin Phoenix is hardly one to shun a physical transformation for a role and by golly he’s done it again.

The star – who previously lost 52lbs to take on Arthur Fleck in Oscar award-winning Joker – was seen on set, sporting grey, thinning hair for Ari Aster’s next film, Disappointment Blvd.

Transforming his body once again, a shirtless Phoenix, who usually sports a voluminous salt and pepper barnet, was seen getting into character as he sported a pair of tracksuit bottoms while crewmembers milled about.

Dare we say he’s, to borrow a term, unrecognisable?

In a series of costume changes, the actor was also seen in a white shirt and blue, stripey underpants, before changing into brown trousers on the streets of Montreal as he took notes from director Aster.

While the details of the film have been kept under wraps thus far, what we do know about Disappointment Blvd is that it’s ‘an intimate, decades-spanning portrait of one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time’.

Phoenix is front and centre for Ari Aster’s latest (Picture: TheImageDirect.com)

He flashed a grin in between takes, as crew milled about on set (Picture: TheImageDirect.com)

Aster’s previous credits include the groundbreaking films Midsommar and Hereditary, so we are already wringing our hands in anticipation (and freaking out at the same time) for this latest outing.

The star will be joined by Parker Posey, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Denis Ménochet, Hayley Squires, Michael Gandolfini and Zoe Lister-Jones. Not a bad call-sheet, non?

It’s not the first time Phoenix – who recently welcomed a son with partner Rooney Mara – has transformed himself for his art, famously dropping weight to take on Joker (under the guidance of a medical professional).

He lost 52lbs for Joker (Picture: Warner Bros. Pictures)

Speaking about the toll it took at the time, Phoenix recalled to AP he developed a ‘disorder’.

He explained: ‘Once you reach the target weight, everything changes. Like so much of what’s difficult is waking up every day and being obsessed over like 0.3 pounds. Right? And you really develop like a disorder. I mean, it’s wild.’

Phoenix added: ‘I think the interesting thing for me is what I had expected and anticipated with the weight loss was these feelings of dissatisfaction, hunger, a certain kind of vulnerability and a weakness.

‘But what I didn’t anticipate was this feeling of kind of fluidity that I felt physically.’

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Phoenix may be a busy man, with reports a sequel to the 2019 film is in the works following its critical and commercial success.

Earlier this year The Hollywood Reporter claimed Todd Phillips, who directed and co-wrote the first flick, has sealed a deal to work his magic on Joker 2 – despite Phoenix’s mixed feelings about revisiting the character.

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