Joaquin Phoenix Walks Out of Joker Interview Over Question About the Film’s Violence

Joaquin Phoenix was taken aback by an interview question about Joker’s potential to inspire violence and walked out of the interview. The actor, who is garnering praise and Oscar buzz for his role in the DC Comics-inspired film, spoke with the Telegraph about the film and found himself surprised when the interviewer asked about questions regarding concerns that the film could inspire violence of the kind as his character, Arthur Fleck, propogates during its running time.

According to Digital Spy, Phoenix was asked if he was “worried that this film might perversely end up inspiring exactly the kind of people it’s about, with potentially tragic results?”

Joaquin Phoenix was apparently shocked by the question and muttered, “Why would you…? No… no,” before he walked out of the interview. He returned an hour later once the journalist did some “peace-brokering” with a rep for Warner Bros. Phoenix then explained his reaction by saying that the question had not crossed his mind, and asked the interviewer what an intelligent answer would sound like.

While there has been a very notable conversation about the violence in Joker, Phoenix is a notoriously private individual who is not on social media and doesn’t do many interviews, which may have led to him being unprepared for the question. Joker is set to release on October 4th in the US.