Play It Again: Joaquin Phoenix

Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Lemonada Media

Society & Culture, Film Interviews, Tv & Film

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 23 July 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“I wanted to be good, but I completely burned up the morning,” said Joaquin Phoenix on day 1 of Eddington. “Ari and I stayed on set when everyone left for lunch—and, slowly, something emerged. I don’t know if it’s any good, but it didn’t make me want to end everything.”

With the film’s arrival in theaters, we return to our candid, long-form talk with Phoenix. At the top, we unpack his transformation in Joker: Folie à Deux (7:10), his free-wheeling collaborations with director Todd Phillips (9:32), and the nomadic upbringing that marked his early years (13:00). Then, he reflects on his childhood television debut in Hill Street Blues (20:27), the brilliance of Robert De Niro (25:53), and his formative performances in To Die For and Parenthood (32:45).

On the back-half, we discuss how the polarizing mockumentary, I’m Still Here (45:15), inspired his singular collaborations with directors Spike Jonze, Paul Thomas Anderson, James Gray, and Lynne Ramsay (49:30). We also talk about the evolution of his acting process (50:47), the impassioned Oscars speech he delivered accepting Best Actor for Joker (56:15), and whether he’ll ever turn in what he believes is a ‘great’ performance (1:00:40).

Hear our episode with Ari Aster and watch on YouTube.

Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at [email protected].

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Lemonada
0:02.0	Lemonada
0:04.0	This is Talk Easy. I'm Stan Forgo, so welcome to the show.
0:42.5	Today, actor and activist, Joaquin Phoenix.
0:47.9	To run through his credits is to name some of the finest films of the past 30 years.
0:50.2	To Die For by Gus Van Sant.
0:52.4	Two Lovers by James Gray.
1:13.6	Her by Spike Jones. The Master by Paul Thomas Anderson. You Were Never Really Here by Lynn Ramsey. Come on, come on by Mike Mills. And that's just naming a few of my personal favorites. Whether he's playing a burnt-out teen and to die for a traumatized World War II vet and the master, or Napoleon and Napoleon,
1:20.6	his work always feels more lived than observed. He doesn't transform so much as he inhabits.
1:27.0	His latest transformation is in Eddington, the new COVID-era Western, directed by Ari Aster.
1:32.8	Set in May of 2020, the film revolves around a kind of social and political standoff between Joe Cross, a local sheriff, played by Phoenix, and Ted Garcia, the incumbent mayor, played by Pedro Pascal.
1:40.5	After months of lockdown and mask restrictions, Cross decides to mount a campaign for mayor, challenging Garcia in a community reeling from the pandemic and polarization that came from that period.
1:52.8	On Sunday, I sat with the film's director, Ari Aster, for a lengthy conversation to unpack the politics and purpose of the film, especially in this climate.
2:03.1	If you haven't heard that episode, you can listen to it wherever you're listening to this right now.
2:07.9	You can also watch the episode in full on our new YouTube channel. Just search Talk Easy on YouTube,
2:14.0	and it should pop right up. We've also included a link to the page in the description of this episode.
2:20.1	When I sat with Phoenix last fall, he was in the throes of promoting the new Joker film.
2:25.4	But as you'll hear, he's not exactly one to be on message or to stick to talking points.
2:33.2	Like his work on screen, there's nothing programmatic or
2:36.7	rehearsed about his answers. He seems to be finding them in the moment, as you'll experience
2:42.5	them here today. We talk about everything from his nomadic childhood to his first roles on
2:48.5	television, to his early days making Eddington with Ari, the impassioned
	...

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