Joaquin Phoenix's interview with Jimmy Kimmel turns awkward after his unseen video gets aired
Over the years, Jimmy Kimmel has had good interviews and some bad ones! During an episode of 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host was joined by Joaquin Phoenix who came on the show to promote his 2019 movie 'Joker'. While chatting with Kimmel, Phoenix discussed playing Arthur Fleck, a failed stand-up comedian, in Todd Phillips' film. He also revealed that he had to lose a significant amount of weight for the role. As per The Week, Phoenix shared that he used to dance alone as a child. When Kimmel joked about it, Phoenix took offense and quipped, "You're making fun of it, but it was serious for me."
However, things took a turn for the worse when Kimmel played unseen footage from 'Joker' on his talk show. The footage showed Phoenix flipping out on the set of the movie. At that moment, Phoenix had no clue that Kimmel would be showing some unseen clip to his studio audience and he was pretty embarrassed after the whole incident. “Sometimes movies get intense. You have a lot of people in a small space and you’re trying to find something. That was supposed to be private, I’m sorry you guys [the audience] had to see that. I should probably publicly apologize to Larry. I am sorry, but he did whisper constantly while we’re trying to work, and sometimes it’s really hard to find the emotion you’re after… he shouldn’t have done it," Phoenix said, according to The Things.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Phoenix's publicist revealed that the reel shown on the renowned talk show “was a joke outtake.” In the footage, Phoenix can be seen in his character while cussing out a cinematographer named Larry for whispering. In the clip, Phoenix can be heard saying, "The constant whispering, just shut the f**k up, dude. I’m trying to find something real.” At the time of writing, the YouTube video of Kimmel and Phoenix's awkward interaction had garnered over 17 million views.
After the episode was released in 2019, viewers flooded the comments section calling out Kimmel for humiliating Phoenix on the ABC talk show. One user wrote, "Joaquin has nothing to be embarrassed about. He's an icon. He's human. We all have moments where we get frustrated or annoyed with someone. It's a human thing. Making a film is no easy task, the good ones aren't anyway. So yeah I can imagine anyone, no matter how gentle of soul you are normally, you may crack at one point or another. I'm a very kind person, have I snapped at people before? Many times." Another user penned, "Just to clarify the dislikes are for jimmy not for Joaquin." A third user said, "Hey Jimmy, what do you get when you cross a talented actor who doesn't want to play silly interview games with a host who won't stop playing silly interview jokes?" A fourth user commented, '"You're making fun of it, but it was serious for me,' he says without a smile, while Kimmel laughs it off. Literal chills." Another said, "Jimmy looks mean and cruel while he's laughing. its disgusting."
However, after the movie was released, Phoenix shared how his family reacted. He said, “My sisters got into a heated discussion about what the movie was about, what it meant, what was real, what wasn’t. It was really fun to watch that. I think they were really engaged in a way that they haven’t been with other movies of mine. They haven’t seen my other movies, but they wouldn’t have been as engaged if they had," as per Entertainment Weekly.