Joaquin fully changed into the character Arthur Fleck and surprised everyone when he revealed what it took to achieve that appearance.
When Joker debuted at the 76th Venice Film Festival, he explained that, according to Esquire, he had lost a whopping 52 pounds to portray the character. “The first thing for us was the weight loss,” he said. “I think that’s really what I started with. And, as it turns out, that then affects your psychology. You start to go mad when you lost that amount of weight in that amount of time.”
Making his rounds for the press tour, Joaquin was very candid about the weight-loss process and his controversial diet of only lettuce and steamed vegetables.
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For the much-anticipated sequel Joker: Folie à Deux, Joaquin again transformed into the sinister character, but the 49-year-old actor has changed his tune when talking about the transformation.
“I’m not going to talk through specifics of the diet, because I just think nobody wants to hear that. But this time, it felt a bit more complicated just because there was so much dance rehearsal that we were doing, which I didn’t have last time,” Joaquin said at the 81st Venice Film Festival, per Variety.
“So it felt a bit more difficult, but it is safe,” he continued. “But you’re right, I’m now 49, I probably shouldn’t do this again. This is probably it for me.”
Joaquin was joined by his co-star Lady Gaga (real name Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta), who portrays a new character, Harleen Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn. Joaquin added that she also underwent a transformation for the film.
“Stefani also lost a lot of weight,” he said. “I remember when I first met you in rehearsals and then you went away and when you came back, you lost a lot of weight. It was really impressive.”
Unlike his openness to discussing the diet and weight loss for Joker in length, Joaquin was more hesitant about his process for the sequel. “I know I was responsible last time for talking about it, but it’s difficult to do so that becomes your obsession because you’re working the entire time to get to a certain weight,” he said.
“So then you end up talking about it, and then it just sounds like an actor going on and on about how much weight they lost. By the end of that run I was so sick of myself and angry at myself for making such a big deal about that part, because you just do what you’re fucking supposed to do. So this time I was like, ‘I’m not going to do that.'”
Unable to resist the urge to bring it up anyway, Joaquin said, “It was 47 pounds,” before admitting, “No, I’m joking. I don’t know.”
Director Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux takes place two years after the events of the original film. Based on the trailer alone, it’s set to be a musically inspired trip that will see Joaquin and Lady Gaga fully transformed into unrecognizable, whimsical, and dark characters.
Joker: Folie à Deux is in theaters Oct. 4