Joaquin Phoenix Gushes Over Rooney Mara

Joaquin Phoenix sat down for an interview with Vanity Fair where he revealed he thought Rooney Mara despised him after they first met on the set of the 2013 movie Her. The couple is now engaged and this is the first time Joker talks about his feelings.

It is unclear when the couple started dating. Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara made a movie Mary Magdalene in 2016. Next year, they went to Cannes together. It was around that time we learned that they were living together. So how did he know she was the one? “She’s the only girl I ever looked up on the internet,” he said. “We were just friends, email friends. I’d never done that. Never looked up a girl online.”

Joaquin Phoenix and his late brother River Phoenix grew up in a cult. River was only 23 when he OD’d at infamous Viper Room. in VF interview, Joaquin Phoenix remembres his brother’s words. “You’re going to be an actor and you’re going to be more well known than I am.” At the time he wasn’t even acting, but “in hindsight, you’re like, ‘How the f**k did he know?”

Phoenix was clear about Joker, he wants to let the film speak for itself. “There are so many different ways of looking at it,” Phoenix says of the Arthur Fleck/Joker character. “You can either say here’s somebody who, like everybody, needed to be heard and understood and to have a voice. Or you can say this is somebody that disproportionately needs a large quantity of people to be fixated on him. His satisfaction comes as he stands in amongst the madness.”

This movie will most likely get Phoenix an Oscar nomination. However, he isn’t playing the same old Hollywood game. Over the years, he learned to make a compromise between his private and his public life. Hence, the role of one of the most famous villains, Joker. He explored the character of Arthur Fleck by doing research on narcissism and criminology. He also studied the movements of Buster Keaton and actor Ray Bolger, the scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz.

Joaquin mentions Rooney Mara again. “Rooney said to me the other night, ‘Do you realize how many great opportunities you’ve had? These films?”. I said it’s true, I’ve been so fortunate, so many movies where I was like, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to top this experience. The experience of making this movie. It was incredible that I found another one.” And this time he did not let the character consume him.

The whole interview is quite different, but this is Joaquin Phoenix. Nothing about his life is typical or Hollywood. However, he finishes on a high note: “I love my life. I **king love my life.” We bet Mara has everything to do with it!