The irony was lost on Jimmy Kimmel the night he interviewed Joaquin Phoenix about Joker.
Kimmel, in his standard “I am killing it, you’re on the show, this is a show, you get to meet me, look at me!” interview process, begins to ask the common questions (talking for his guests after asking them questions), the interview starts well enough. Kimmel laughs, the audience laughs, Phoenix chuckles, classic Late Night Talk Show-type stuff.
I really loved hearing Joaquin’s responses as he came across as completely genuine as he normally does. Countering some of Kimmel’s sillier questions with tasteful sarcasm, the interview continues as most interviews do.
There was one moment, however, where you can visibly see Joaquin Phoenix become uncomfortable after one of Kimmel’s ribs.
Kimmel goes on about the dancing scene in Joker set to Hildur Guonadottir’s exceptional score. Joaquin really opened up talking about his previous experiences with dancing in his youth. Kimmel jokes that Joaquin was dancing with a cardboard cutout; this is where the awkwardness begins to the point of infuriation.
To top it off, Kimmel plays an outtake from the film showing Joaquin frustrated with someone on set (this was, in fact, a joke on everyone) but the dancing thing stuck really hard. There was no faking Joaquin’s physical response after Kimmel’s joke about his dancing.
“… Playing my video, inviting me on the show… you just wanted to make fun of me…”
That moment of the interview really stuck out to me and still sticks out to me today. The visible discomfort Phoenix displayed shows how important the dancing he did in his youth was, even if he wasn’t performing for anyone but himself.
Look, I know some of you will say
“He is an actor! He is thin-skinned! Let him get over it already!”
and I do think he got over it rather quickly.
Those few moments of discomfort go to show what dancing really meant to Joaquin Phoenix; I respect him for “breaking character” on the show and letting the world know how important it was to him.
…
P.S.
Eric Andre hit the nail on the head when he hosted Kimmel on his spoof of late-night talk shows.
“I am killing it, you’re on the show, this is a show, you get to meet me, look at me!”
It was clearly a playful sleight on Kimmel and how he chooses to run his show but there is a grain of truth in every joke.
