Joaquin Phoenix ‘upsettingly thin’ in Joker: Folie à Deux and admits he ‘shouldn’t do it again’-Tori Brazier at Venice Film Festival-Entertainment – Metro

Joaquin Phoenix is back as Arthur Fleck/Joker, this time joined by Lady Gaga (Picture: Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

Joker star Joaquin Phoenix has reflected on the intense weight loss he embarked upon to play Arthur Fleck, admitting he ‘probably shouldn’t do it again’ as the long-awaited sequel premieres.

Joker: Folie à Deux sees the Gladiator actor return to the DC Comics villain role that won him the best actor Oscar in 2020.

This time, it’s a musical (despite what people are saying, and among other genres like psychological thriller) and Lady Gaga has teamed up with him and writer-director Todd Phillips to play Harley Quinn.

For his part as Arthur, Phoenix is upsettingly thin onscreen with his ribs on show and an extremely bony appearance after shedding a large amount of weight again.

However, he did point out that it’s ‘not really that dangerous when you work with a doctor’ to achieve the look he needed for Joker once more, five years later.

Phoenix declined to discuss the specifics of his gruelling diet as ‘nobody really wants to hear that’, but he did share the additional challenge he faced for Joker 2.

‘This time it felt a bit more complicated just because there was so much dance rehearsal that we were doing, which I didn’t have last time. So it felt a bit more difficult,’ he told reporters including Metro.co.uk at the Venice Film Festival press conference for the movie, ahead of its world premiere.

‘It is safe – but you’re right – I’m now 49, I probably shouldn’t do this again,’ he added. ‘That’s probably it for me!’

Phoenix also pointed out that his 38-year-old co-star Lady Gaga lost ‘a lot’ of weight for her turn as Harley, here a psychiatric patient named ‘Lee’, who becomes infatuated with Arthur’s Joker persona.

The actor admitted that while his weight loss to play Joker was safe, he likely wouldn’t do it again (Picture: Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

Joker: Folie à Deux introudces Gaga (L) as Lee, a version of Harley Quinn, with Phoenix revealing she too lost ‘a lot’ of weight (Picture: Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock)

‘I remember I met you and then we did some rehearsals and then you went away for like a month and when you came back, you’d lost a lot of weight – which was really impressive and seemed very difficult,’ he complimented her, although Gaga was careful not to elaborate.

She merely accepted his praise with a quiet ‘thank you’, before sharing: ‘I think we transformed into our characters over a period of time, and we continued to hone every kind of detail.’

After discussing the romantic waltz their characters share in one scene, the chart-topping Bad Romance singer then chimed in of her leading man: ‘He did great on set – we fed him blueberries when he was hungry!’

When a follow-up question also asked Phoenix to specify exactly how many pounds he lost, the star explained why he wouldn’t be sharing that information, after getting ‘so sick’ of talking about it last time.

The new movie is a musical and released next month (Picture: Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

‘I don’t know – and I don’t remember. I know I was responsible last time for talking about it quite a bit,’ he began, smiling. ‘It’s difficult to do and it becomes your obsession as you’re working through and trying to get to a certain weight, so then you can’t help but talk about it.’

He also confessed that he didn’t like the idea of actors ‘just talking about how much weight they lost’.

‘By the end of that run, I was so sick of myself – and angry at myself – for making such a thing of it because part of it is you just do what you’re f**king supposed to do, and that’s it,’ he confessed of the press tour for Joker back in 2019.

Singer and actress Gaga reacted to the crowds at Venice who called out to her (Picture: Reuters)

Director Todd Phillips joined his leading actors to promote the film at is Venice Film Festival press conference (Picture: Daniele Venturelli/WireImage)

‘But I fell into this trap of talking about it, so I was like, this time I’m not going to do that, so I won’t – but it was 47 pounds,’ he quipped before hastily confirming that he was joking.

In Joker: Folie à Deux, Arthur is now a patient at Arkham State Hospital, waiting for his trial for the murders he committed two years prior.

There, he meets and quickly falls in love with Lee, sharing delusions as his followers start a movement to try and free him.

Joker: Folie à Deux premieres at Venice Film Festival on September 4. It will release in UK cinemas on Friday, October 4.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

Entertainment – MetroRead More