Every year Hollywood delivers countless projects that are forgotten within days of its release. But there’s also always a few that stand out and eventually find their way onto the Academy Award stage. This year it seems Cillian Murphy’s portrayal of J. Robert Oppenheimer is bound to make a place in the nominated list of Oscars, at least.
However, there are performances that not only make their mark with an Oscar award but also manage to permanently etch a spot in their admirers’ minds for years to come.
Heath Ledger’s portrayal of Joker in The Dark Knight and Joaquin Phoenix’s display in Joker are some of the rare performances that fit that description. Needless to say, these stars really pushed themselves to touch the pinnacle of acting – an idea, however, that not every actor resonates with.
Marvel Star Edward Norton Seemingly Doesn’t Subscribe to Joaquin Phoenix’s Acting Approach
Edward Norton‘s most popular role is certainly The Narrator in Fight Club, wherein he portrays a white-collared insomniac. He’s so dissatisfied with his life and at the same so drenched in his work that to fight against these constraints and feel some kind of freedom his subconscious creates Tyler. This individual represents everything The Narrator wasn’t able to become. In short, let’s just say, Norton’s character became a nutcase.
Off camera, however, Norton ensures whatever character he’s playing, despite the physical and emotional depths it reaches in certain scenarios, he himself doesn’t compromise his psychological health.
In an interview with The Guardian, he was asked if it’s a privilege to play different personas (even if they are wrong) without any consequence. He replied:
“Sometimes I feel that at its best, acting is like having a skeleton key – it lets you into every door on an experiential level, a learning level, and it does do that on emotional level as well. In some ways, it’s a free pass to exorcise all kinds of emotional stuff without the consequences. And that is kind of a privilege. I also am not one of those people who subscribe to the idea that acting should put you in the nuthouse – I think it’s very possible to do all that and retain psychological health.”
Regardless of how Norton perceives the idea of where the actor and filmmakers should draw the line in their pursuit of the perfect take, there’s no denying that the three-time Oscar nominee is one of the finest actors of his generation. Whatever is his method, it works just fine!
Joaquin Phoenix Started to Go Mad While Preparing for Joker
There are roles one might be able to do without much effort, but the character of Joker has somehow found itself attached to a certain aura and only a few actors are capable of meeting the demands needed to do justice to the character.
Accordingly, when Joaquin Phoenix was handed the responsibility to lead Joker, not many batted an eye because by that time the Walk the Line star was already known as an actor who was not just very capable but also not afraid to immerse himself in the persona of his characters.
When it came to preparing for the disturbingly skinny Joker, the 48-year-old admitted he started to go mad. Speaking with ET, he said:
“The first thing was the weight loss, that’s really what I started with. As it turns out, that impacts your psychology, and you really start to go mad when you lose that much weight in that amount of time.”
Phoenix’s extreme efforts paid off, as he was honored with an Oscar trophy for Best Actor in a Leading Role in 2020.
Source: The Guardian
