11 Characters Joaquin Phoenix Played Before Playing The Joker

Weeks after its arrival in theaters, the film joker has been much commented on due to the impeccable production, intensity of the scenes and careful photography. However, what does not come out of the mouth of the people is the surprising performance of Joaquin Phoenix as the mythical villain of animated comics and films linked to the Batman universe. From now on, the actor’s name will forever be etched in cinematic history, but did you stop to wonder how Phoenix made his career, which is clearly at its highest point?

Incrível.club brought together the best roles ever played by Joaquin Phoenix before playing the famous Joker. These are productions that have had great relevance in the professional history of the actor and in contemporary cinema itself.

Despite Forbidden Tales of the Marquis de Sade not having been the actor’s debut film, it is a production that catapulted his career in 2000. As the Portuguese title suggests, the feature revolves around the figure of the Marquis de Sade. Phoenix plays Abbot Coulmier, a priest who tries to maintain his morals while running the asylum where the Marquis is committed. The nobleman, despite being locked up, continues writing, secretly delivering his texts to Madeleine, a young laundress who sees him as an idol. The story takes on other dimensions when Coulmier falls in love with the young woman, and suffers to see the great influence that the Marquis exerts on her. This is how a tragedy involving the hidden and the forbidden begins.

Gladiator it was very useful to increase the actor’s international fame. Launched in the same year as Forbidden Tales of the Marquis de Sade, the film was a resounding success at the box office, and paved the way for other productions that mixed action and epic stories. Phoenix’s portrayal of Emperor Commodus garnered good reviews, as there was no doubt that Phoenix masterfully managed to build an ungrateful villain like the immoral son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Many people still remember the iconic scene in which Commodus votes against the protagonist gladiator, sending him to his death.

After the success achieved in theaters with a film with a historical plot, Phoenix moved on to a very different genre: science fiction. In 2002, he debuted Signals, the story of Graham, a former pastor who lives in a rural area with his two young children and younger brother Merrill.

It’s about a family scarred by tragedy, trying to survive in the midst of loneliness and suddenly having to deal with an extraterrestrial invasion. Graham and Merrill realize they will have to conquer their own demons if they are to face what is the strangest event of their lives.

Launched in 2004, Rwanda hotel is a feature film set in the civil massacre that took place in Rwanda, Africa, in 1994. Jack Daglish’s character, played by Phoenix, is the one who films the devastating slaughter between Tutsis and Hutus, ethnic groups in conflict. Amidst the barbarism, the hotel ends up becoming a crucial place for the development of the story, as it is there where the refugees hide.

The film was nominated for several Oscars, being well received by audiences and critics. With that, Phoenix gained even more recognition.

The village also debuted in 2004, and was the second film Phoenix worked on with director M. Night Shyamalan (Signals was the first). In the production, the actor plays Lucius, a man who lives in a village located in a valley surrounded by greenery.

The film appears to be set in the 19th century. The locals are people who value ancient customs, and are always alert to the creatures that inhabit the forests of the region. The creatures are known to be dangerous and pose risks to the life of the community. In view of this, there is a truce between the residents and the creatures, when it is established that the territories of both need to be respected. However, when a villager is seriously injured, someone will have to cross the forest in search of the substances needed to heal the man, putting the truce in jeopardy.

In 2005, Joaquin Phoenix returned to the big screen, this time as the protagonist of the film Johnny & June, based on the life of musician Johnny Cash. Phoenix faced the task of playing the artist, giving him a very personal touch, in a performance considered impeccable.

The film received critical acclaim, which was made clear by Phoenix’s best actor Oscar nomination. He didn’t take the statue home, but he got even more respect and the consolidation of his work as a star of the first magnitude.

In 2007, it hit theaters The Owners of the Night. In the production, the actor played Bobby Green, the man responsible for a nightclub called “El Caribe”. Bobby lives between the lawlessness of the place he runs and the secrecy of his life, away from his father and brother. Members of the NYPD, relatives disapprove of Bobby’s unruly life. The nightclub has a regular customer, a Russian drug dealer who is arrested in a police operation led by the team of the protagonist’s father.

The film is a drama that unfolds in urban settings, involving mafias and police conspiracies. Once again, Phoenix embodies a villain with a personality marked by several tragic shades.

This is a movie that stands out for its premise. Launched in 2012, The master tells the story of Freddie Quell, a World War II veteran with alcoholism and sex addiction problems. He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, and tries to adapt to life after the conflict. Quell meets Lancaster Dodd, leader of a philosophical movement called “The Cause”. In the group, Quell finds comfort in his troubles.

Thanks to a scathing performance about the torments experienced by a man and his desperate quest to find balance, Phoenix was again nominated for an Oscar for best actor. Again, he didn’t win, but he did away with any doubts that might exist about his preparation to play roles that require intense dedication, both physical and mental.

Undoubtedly, 2013 was also a great year in the life of Joaquin Phoenix. The film Is it over there gave the actor the chance to build a character with a very peculiar story: Theodore Twombly falls in love with an operating system.

The film pleased the critics, who were full of praise for the protagonist. The success was so great that Is it over there won the Oscar for best screenplay. The production consolidated Phoenix as a unique actor, multifaceted and capable of playing any character, however complex.

Launched in 2017, You Were Never Really Here stars Joe, a war veteran and former FBI agent. In the production Phoenix lives a lonely man who spends his days in an old house in New York with his elderly mother. His life seems to be quiet amid isolation, until an important politician calls him on a mission: to rescue his kidnapped daughter.

The work brings the interpretation of Phoenix in a more intense way than ever before. The violence of his gaze, the strength of his movements and the harshness of his voice make him a man capable of absolutely anything.

On Foot He Doesn’t Go Far is a dramedy that hit theaters in 2018. With an ironic, sarcastic and even subversive tone, the film tells the story of John Callahan, who becomes paraplegic after suffering a traffic accident. Wanting to get rid of his addiction to alcohol and with the support of his girlfriend and best friend, he starts to attend a rehabilitation program, where he discovers his talent for drawing.

The production was more of a challenge for the actor, as he had to play a man in a wheelchair who, despite the difficulties presented by life, maintains the necessary courage to move on.

In your opinion, what is the best film that Joaquim Phoenix participated in? Do you think that with joker, Will he finally win an Oscar? Comment!