He has been nominated 3 times as a candidate for the golden statuette but everything suggests that the fourth time is the charm and the American actor born in Puerto Rico could win the Oscar for best actor in the next awards of the film academy. The Joker movie of Todd Phillips is reaping many successes and a good part of them thanks to the performance of Joaquin Phoenix that, To play the failed comedian Arthur Fleck, he has had to delve into the psychological profile of a character with a personality disorder and also get into his skin by losing up to 23 kilos in 4 months. This is the strict slimming diet that Phoenix followed to give life to the precursor of Batman’s most famous enemy in the DC Comics universe.
The faces of Arthur Fleck
After the masterful interpretation of Heath Ledger as the Joker in the Dark Knight of Christopher Nolan that earned him a posthumous Oscar in 2009, Joaquin Phoenix had an arduous task ahead of him so that his work was at the height of one of the supervillains Iconic DC Comics. He was late in accepting the role, not for fear of being compared to other actors who had played the famous Joker, but for the dimension of the character itself and his insecurity in order to give it life according to the script. His laughter was one of the most difficult and bitter challenges of Phoenix who even told the director of the film that if his laughter didn’t work, he wouldn’t give life to the character. But it worked, that painful laugh, full of bitterness and flavored with failure and instability, may be one of the many reasons why his interpretation of Arthur Fleck is being so praised by critics.
The Joker’s diet
Not only has Joaquin Phoenix had to deal with his own insecurities and the fact of giving life to such a polyhedral character, but also He has had to go down to hell to give authenticity to his performance and weight loss was inevitable to compose the characterFor that reason the actor underwent a strict diet for 4 months.
Phoenix is a vegan and animal rights activist just like his girlfriend, actress Rooney Mara, does not eat anything of animal origin and their diet is based on fruits, vegetables (they have their own garden), legumes, nuts , seeds … Although There have been rumors that the actor’s diet was based solely on eating an apple a day, Phoenix himself denied this fact in an interview with Access where he explained that “I didn’t just feed myself with an apple a day. I also had other vegetables like lettuce and steamed green beans. It is not something new in my career and I also did the diet under medical supervision so that at all times I was controlled and within healthy parameters ”.
To bring the Joker to life, The Phoenix diet has been based on raw fruits and vegetables or with light elaborations for 4 months. A hypocaloric diet that has made him lose 23 kilos for paper.
The dangers of losing weight so fast
As stated, his diet was 500 calories a day, a caloric intake so low that it had psychological repercussions beyond physical“Dieting is horrible and a very lonely period because it is miserable for other people and for oneself” and also said that “eating little affected me psychologically. You start to go crazy when you lose that amount of weight in such a short time. ” It is not the first time that Phoenix loses weight for a role and he already knew the consequences that a restrictive hypocaloric diet would bring him, yet it is obvious that it is a diet that a doctor must necessarily supervise and very dangerous for health, in addition of being able to lead to an eating disorder.
Once he lost weight with the goal that had been set, Joaquin began to become obsessed with getting fat. “Things were not easier when I reached the weight that had marked me. I was obsessed with getting fat just a few grams. It is true that in the end you develop a kind of disorder. I mean, it’s crazy, ”declared the actor. The truth is that these types of diets not only endanger physical health since losing weight so quickly increases the risk of cardiovascular accidents, anemia, diabetes, hypertension, digestive disorders … and also psychological problems such as depression or eating disorders, in addition to known rebound effect.
Other actors who have lost weight to interpret characters
We have already seen other actors make impressive changes in weight, endangering their physical and mental health. Christian Bale in the movie The driver lost about 30 kilos eating an apple and a can of tuna a day. Matthew McConaughey won an Oscar for the Dallas Buyers Club movie in which he lost 21 kilos to bring his character to life. Adrian Brody for the movie The pianist lost 15 kilos by eating two cooked eggs and small portions of chicken or fish with steamed vegetables for lunch and dinner. Anne Hathaway also lost more than 10 kilos based on a diet of oatmeal and water to play Fantine in the movie Les Miserables.
All of them great actors who carried out sublime interpretations but who have put themselves in serious danger by losing that amount of kilos so quickly with highly restrictive diets. Everyone has lost weight under medical supervision but it is clear that no doctor can recommend any of these diets to lose weight so quickly. Enjoy their performances but keep in mind all the sacrifice behind and do not try to emulate their dangerous diets, remember that you can lose weight in a healthy way, eating healthy and exercising regularly. Do not put your health at risk.