Joaquin Phoenix: From Childhood To Joker: Folie A Deux

Joaquin Phoenix, an actor characterized by his eccentric and enigmatic persona, is renowned for embodying dark, offbeat characters that further heighten his mystique. Phoenix's upbringing mirrored his unconventional spirit; he spent his first three years of life as a member of the religious cult Children of God, until his family broke away due to disillusionment with its practices. The Phoenix family led a nomadic life in those early years, residing in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Florida before settling in Los Angeles, where Phoenix and his three siblings picked up acting.

Overcoming tragedy after his brother River's death in 1993, Phoenix emerged as a revered and critically acclaimed actor, earning accolades across a diverse spectrum of movie roles. Yet alongside his rise to prominence, he garnered notoriety for his unpredictable media appearances and intense acting methods. Despite this, frequent collaborators such as director James Gray contend that Phoenix is often misunderstood. "He's actually very tender and sweet and sensitive. It's almost as if he channels his intensity into the characters. Like the work is an outlet for his darker side," Gray offered in an interview with Esquire. Regardless of public perception, Phoenix's undeniable talent has led to a captivating life and career of personal evolution and widespread acclaim.

During his acting hiatus following "Parenthood," Joaquin Phoenix spent time in Mexico with his father. When he returned to the States, his brother River suggested he change his name from Leaf back to Joaquin and encouraged him to get back into acting by introducing him to the Martin Scorsese film "Raging Bull." However, in the early morning of Halloween in 1993, tragedy struck the Phoenix family.

Joaquin and River, accompanied by their sister Rain and River's girlfriend, actor Samantha Mathis, spent an out-of-the-ordinary night at the Los Angeles nightclub The Viper Room, where River was interested in performing. Their night took a turn for the worse when River overdosed on a lethal cocktail of drugs. Joaquin was the one who made the phone call to 911, which circulated across the media in the direct aftermath. In an attempt to escape the overwhelming media attention and grieve in peace, the Phoenix family fled to Costa Rica. Months passed before Joaquin made the decision to return to acting.

Despite his celebrated comeback with the well-received "To Die For," Joaquin Phoenix's trajectory through the remainder of the '90s was marked by a string of critical and commercial disappointments. Phoenix followed "To Die For" with Oliver Stone's 1997 crime thriller "U Turn," playing the role of Toby N. "TNT" Tucker, a young mechanic whose life takes a dark turn when he crosses paths with a desperate drifter in debt (Sean Penn) and a seductive femme fatale (Jennifer Lopez) plotting a murder in a small Arizona town. The film was a box office failure and was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards: one for worst director and another for worst supporting actor.

That same year, Phoenix played Doug, the younger brother of the Holt family, whose romantic entanglement with the Abbott sisters leads to complex family dynamics in the period coming-of-age film "Inventing the Abbotts," which received a lukewarm reception. The trend continued with subsequent projects such as the 1998 dark comedy "Clay Pigeons" and the 1999 Nicolas Cage-led crime thriller "8mm," although the latter managed to gain some traction at the box office despite its unfavorable reviews. Still, Phoenix was undeterred, and his obvious talent was never overshadowed.

In 2000, Joaquin Phoenix continued his successful streak by taking on the role of another villain in James Gray's crime film "The Yards," commencing a long-term partnership between the two. "The truth is, there aren't a lot of really great actors, ones you love to work with, and they don't grow on trees," Gray said about the actor in a New York Times interview. Seven years later, Gray and Phoenix teamed up once again for the action thriller "We Own the Night," with Phoenix this time playing a nightclub manager entangled in a criminal underworld of drug trafficking and organized crime. This also marked Phoenix's first producing credit.

The next year, Gray and Phoenix reunited for the romantic drama "Two Lovers." While Phoenix's performance was widely lauded, it was also during this time that Phoenix was working on his mockumentary "I'm Still Here," gaining lots of press for his unusual behavior that many believed overshadowed the theatrical release of "Two Lovers.". In 2013, Phoenix played a pimp who exploits the plight of Polish immigrant Ewa (Marion Cotillard) and falls in love with her in his fourth collaboration with Gray, "The Immigrant." It seems clear that Phoenix possesses a collaborative, loyal nature, as well as a tendency to team up with directors — like Gray — who bring out the best in his craft. Other frequent collaborators have included M. Night Shyamalan, Ridley Scott, Gus Van Sant, and Terry George.

During the promotion of "Two Lovers," Joaquin Phoenix announced that he was retiring from acting to pursue a career as a hip-hop artist. He grew a disheveled beard, donned dark shades, and made bizarre media appearances — most notably an uncomfortable interview with David Letterman. As it turned out, it was all an act for his mockumentary "I'm Still Here," directed by his close friend and then brother-in-law Casey Affleck. Portraying a heightened caricature of an entitled, out-of-control celebrity, Phoenix set out to explore the complexities of celebrity culture, media dynamics, and the relationship between stars and their audience.

Only Phoenix and Affleck were in on the joke, making it difficult for the general public to decipher what was real and what was an act. The movie was no easier to interpret. "To this day, people still think it may have been real. There's a lot of confusion surrounding it and that, I think, that bonded us even more," Affleck told The Frame. 

The film was subjected to controversy due to its experimental and unsettling content, compounded by allegations of sexual harassment behind the scenes. Two civil lawsuits were filed for workplace sexual harassment against Affleck that were both settled out of court. Affleck publicly apologized for contributing to "an unprofessional environment" in a 2018 Associated Press interview. Since then, Phoenix and Affleck have grown apart. "My sister and him divorced. And I haven't spoken directly to him or indirectly in a long time. Three or four years," Phoenix revealed to Vanity Fair in 2019.

For Joaquin Phoenix and writer-director Todd Phillips, "Joker" wasn't about making another comic book movie; it was about creating an authentic character study of Arthur Fleck, an impoverished party clown and aspiring stand-up comedian who goes on to become one of Gotham's most notorious villains. Phillips was adamant that no one else but Phoenix could embody the role the way he envisioned. "The goal was never to introduce Joaquin Phoenix into the comic book movie universe. The goal was to introduce comic book movies into the Joaquin Phoenix universe," he told TotalFilm.

In hindsight, it's impossible to imagine anyone but him in the role, but initially, Phoenix was hesitant. "Usually when I'm scared of something, it makes me feel like I have to go towards it. I had so many mixed feelings about the character. And I like that," he shared with IndieWire. 

With fear motivating him and some convincing from Phillips, Phoenix threw himself into the role and transformed into the Joker. Part of the physicality was mastering the laugh by studying those afflicted with pathological laughter and getting his look right by rapidly losing 52 pounds. He made one of the most recognizable comic book characters his own and won his first Academy Award for best actor as a result. Additionally, "Joker" became the most profitable comic book film and the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, surpassing $1 billion at the box office.

Joaquin Phoenix has always gravitated toward characters with deep psychological depth and emotional complexity, showing his vast range with every new role he takes on. Today, he may be best known as the Joker, but that doesn't stop Phoenix from showing interest in smaller, independent projects. "I don't really care about genre or budget size, anything like that," he told The New York Times. "It's just whether there is a filmmaker that has a unique vision, has a voice, and the ability to make the film." This open-minded approach has led Phoenix to experiment with an eclectic mix of genres. 

In 2017, he played a troubled hired gun in the 2017 crime thriller "You Were Never Really Here" and won the award for best actor at the Cannes Film Festival. More recently, he's led back-to-back projects from A24, perhaps the biggest name in independent film. His performance in the 2021 black and white drama "C'mon C'mon" was met with overwhelming praise, revealing yet another facet of his acting range as a family-first, introspective radio journalist. His second A24 film, Ari Aster's surrealist tragicomedy horror film "Beau Is Afraid," may have been a financial failure, but his performance as the neurotic Beau was nothing short of exceptional.