Joaquin Phoenix shocked the world when he dropped a whopping 52 pounds for 2019’s “Joker” in a performance that won him an Oscar for Best Actor. Now, he’s revealing why shedding the weight again for its sequel has been more challenging this time around.
“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,” Phoenix said during a Venice Film Festival press conference on Wednesday, People reports.
“So it felt a bit more difficult, but it is safe. But you’re right, I’m now 49, I probably shouldn’t do this again,” he added. “This is probably it for me.”
In 2020, the actor revealed he ate an extremely restrictive diet, supervised by a doctor, to achieve his gaunt-like appearance in “Joker.” To transform into the iconic antihero, Phoenix said at the time that he mostly ate “lettuce and steamed green beans.”
The “Gladiator” alum went on to share that his co-star Lady Gaga (real name Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta) had to go through some physical changes of her own to play the Joker’s villainous love interest, Harley Quinn.
“Stefani also lost a lot of weight,” he told reporters during the press conference.
“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,” he added, to Germanotta.
Elsewhere during the conference, Phoenix admitted he doesn’t know the exact amount of weight he lost for the sequel, despite keeping track last time.
“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 explained.
“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,’” he added.
He then teased the crowd by whispering into the mic, “It was 47 pounds,” only to say that he was kidding.
“Joker: Folie à Deux” is set to hit theaters Oct. 4.
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