Everyone has their favorite joker. Your dad likes Jack Nicholson. Your older sister mourns Heath Ledger.
But this joker is changing opinions fast. And for Joaquin Phoenix it actually makes total sense...
The Joker has been played by many veteran actors during the last 60 years. From Cesar Romero -- who played the first live-action Joker in the Batman 1960’s series -- to Jared Leto’s Joker in Suicide Squad.
People have developed high-expectations for the Joker actors, but why is Joaquin Phoenix transcending the character?
And why do people have such high expectations for the Joker actors anyway?
A deeper question is why are we so attached to the ones we love? One of the most iconic Joker actors would be Mark Hamill who served as Joker’s voice in the “Batman: Mask of the Phantasm” animated series.
But why do fans consider him iconic?
Originally, the showrunners were about to cast Tim Curry for the role, and he seemed to be the perfect fit for it!
But there was one problem…
Tim Curry could play a really good dark villain but he wasn’t able to portray the Joker's “funny nature” that well. Hamill did something different.
Mark Hamill’s appeal lies in the fact that he’s capable of balancing joker’s dark nature with his twisted savage humor, and that is why Hamill’s Joker became a timeless classic. But do you know who the most iconic Joker actor actually is?
If you’ve seen the Dark Knight movie then you probably know who I’m talking about. It’s none other than the legendary Heath Ledger!
Critics and fans alike tend to use Heath Ledger as the point of comparison for the other Joker actors who came after him, but why is that?
Similar to Hamill, Heath was also able to balance the Joker's evil nature with his twisted humor. But his Joker has its own special charm.
Heath’s Joker tends to be unpredictable and spontaneous. One moment, he’s able to deliver a witty joke and on the next one, he’s doing some intense heavy scenes…
Heath is able to excellently portray the cult-favorite clown character which makes him one of the most iconic Joker actors but unfortunately, his success was short-lived…
Ledger died at 28-years old and everyone felt devastated over this tragic news. Since then, people can’t help but compare the succeeding Jokers to Ledger’s Joker.
But how exactly can Joaquin Phoenix cope with the pressure of playing such an iconic and complicated character?
First of all, who is Joaquin Phoenix? and how did he get the role anyway? Phoenix actually grew up from a lower-class family.
He had four siblings. His older brother River and his three sisters. Life wasn’t always easy for them and they had to go through some tough times together…
His family of 7 shared a one-bedroom apartment but the landlord didn’t allow children to stay inside… you won’t believe what Joaquin and his siblings did when the landlord inspected their room… They had to hide behind the laundry machine for several hours until the landlord finally leaves. It was a lot harder for Joaquin too since he had to keep his siblings quiet and behaved so the landlord won’t hear and notice them.
And in order to keep food on the plate, Joaquin and his older brother River had to hit the streets...
River would sing on the streets while Joaquin begged for loose change in order to keep their family from going hungry… but fortunately, things changed for the better. A talent agency discovered River and he spiraled into fame. But River didn’t let his new-found fame and career lead him away from his brother.
He also brought Joaquin into the spotlight with him.
But Joaquin’s self-confidence spiraled downwards and he didn’t feel like he can get out of his brother’s shadow… So he quit acting… but his brother did something unforgettable for him.
Joaquin mentioned in his speech how his brother made him watch a movie called “Raging Bull.” River made him watch the movie twice and told Joaquin that he’s going to start acting again and that is what he will be doing… And Joaquin got back into acting thanks to his new drive.
But things unexpectedly took a turn for the worse for his brother…
River overdosed himself at a bar and died at the age of 23. Joaquin frantically called 911 to get help but unfortunately, it was too late… Joaquin was just 19-years old at that time.
This devastated him and he took a break from acting again. But after his break, he tried to challenge himself this time…
Throughout the past decade, Joaquin has played a lot of interesting and unique roles… From action movies like the Gladiator and the Master, to romance films like Her and Walk the Line, to even playing Jesus in the Mary Magdalene movie directed by Garth Davis, Joaquin Phoenix definitely proved that he’s a versatile actor.
But does Joaquin have what it takes to take on the iconic Joker role?
It seems critics aren’t so happy about the new Joker film… “What he delivers is less a performance than a display of his bag of actorly tricks - and they're pretty wonderful, but they adorn a character who's an empty framework, and, to all appearances, empty by design, for fear of alienating the target audience,” Richard Brody, from the New Yorker’s said.
“Why should such a remarkable performance, so many spectacular images and such vaulting pretensions to social commentary amount to not much?
The answer may lie in the movie's relentless manipulativeness,” Joe Morgenstern from the Wall Street Journal said. But despite being slammed by most critics, the Joker was received fairly well at the Venice Film Festival
It even won top Honors!
Well, as for who played the best Joker among all the actors throughout the past decades, that is a topic for another discussion...