The Joker movie is in post-production now, but we still aren’t hearing that much about the film it seems. No one is out on the interview circuit for the film specifically, so there just aren’t opportunities for it.
Luckily, Marc Maron was in the film, and he is out promoting other projects at the moment. NME had an opportunity to ask him about how his involvement came about. “I finished that a while ago,” said Maron. “We’d just finished wrapping the third season of Glow, I did a week in New York and did a scene with Robert De Niro and Joaquin Phoenix. I couldn’t believe it was happening, but once I got there I was like ‘Here we go. Let’s do the job’.”
Maron went on to say, “I think it’s a very interesting approach to this world. I’ve been somewhat judgemental when it comes to comic book movies and I’ve got a little pushback in the press for being a hypocrite. Whatever I think, if you get a call and someone says, ‘Hey do you wanna do a scene with Robert De Niro and Joaquin Phoenix?’ your principals fall to the wayside. If it’s relative to what I think of Marvel movies then it’s like, ‘Yeah, of course I’m gonna do that’. Oddly, it’s not that kind of movie.”
“The approach that Todd Phillips has taken,” continued Maron, “is more of an origin story and a character study of a mentally ill person that becomes The Joker. It was great to meet him and it was great to see him work. I wasn’t really beside myself because they do become people very quickly. When you’re not shooting you are just hanging around. Still, he’s Robert De Niro and the subtleties of how he does what he does is innate and amazing to watch. He’s a nice guy and kinda shy, but it was a great experience and not too much of a mindf***.”
As to Phoenix, however, things may have gone slightly differently. “Joaquin is another story. I didn’t really get to talk to him because he was pretty immersed in The Joker. I was just like, ‘I’m not gonna bother that guy’. That was fine. You just gotta respect people’s process.”
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of an actor playing the Joker and going deep, and it’s doubtful it will be the last time we hear it either.
The Joker is due to hit theaters on Oct. 4.
SOURCE: NME
IMAGE SOURCE: Shutterstock – Marc Maron – Kathy Hutchins
