Joker has been a huge success, to say the least. It is the highest grossing R Rated film of all time, and has already garnered a Best Actor in a Drama Golden Globe Award for Joaquin Phoenix’s masterful take on a mentally unstable clown who takes that final step over the line. Now, as the Golden Globes are the stepping stone into Oscar season, the film continues to campaign for multiple Academy Award categories. And it would seem that these campaigns have no issue with throwing Phoenix under the bus to prove their worthiness. It would seem that Phoenix wasn’t exactly the easiest to work with on this project, for many aspects of the film.
Phoenix jokingly thanked director Todd Phillips in his Golden Globe acceptance speech for somehow working with his ‘pain in the ass’ self. But, it would seem that Phoenix may have been a terror to all on set. In the campaign for Joker to be nominated for Best Hair & Make-Up, they use Phoenix’s method acting and want of control as part of the reasoning behind why they should win. Next Best Picture gave the highlights of their Oscar bid presentation.
“‘Joker’s’ presentation focused entirely on Joaquin Phoenix. It featured multiple close-ups detailing the Joker character’s evolution throughout the course of the film, including multiple sequences of Phoenix manipulating his look on screen. There was no prosthetics work referenced, but there was shading used to make him look even more emaciated, and some CGI to touch up his bloody smile at the end of the film. One of the presentation’s major focal points was the difficulty of working with Phoenix. He initially wanted to do his own makeup and hair himself, and the film’s makeup team had to work out a compromise with him. Additionally, he apparently didn’t like being touched frequently. He lost 50 pounds for the film and was said to be “hungry” often. As such, he would walk out in the middle of hair dying jobs and would disappear on set in between takes, so the crew had a hard time finding him for touch-ups. The process of maintaining continuity was so arduous that the person in charge of keeping continuity actually quit. The team would bribe him with crackers to get him to keep still (since he could eat little else). The “difficult actor” narrative seemed to have connected with the audience and there were multiple audience questions as a result.”
So, they’re taking the ‘difficult actor’ method to try and get nominated. While that is a valid reason to prove more effort went into their jobs, is doesn’t exactly make it award worthy. Throwing the star of the film under the bus like that seems terrible. Not to mention, you’re also trying to campaign for Phoenix for Best Actor. Not sure this is how you go about it, but to each their own, I guess. Make Up artists are unsung heroes in the film world, and should be recognized. Hopefully this negative campaign doesn’t soil the work done by these artists.
What do you think of Joker’s campaign for Best Make-Up? Let us know in the comments below!