The 'Joker' star gets angry and somewhat rude in an outtakes video that aired on the late-night show
Not a joking matter. Joker star Joaquin Phoenix had an awkward moment on Tuesday night's Jimmy Kimmel Live when the host revealed that Joker director Todd Phillips had sent over a behind-the-scenes clip from the film.
It started when Kimmel asked the 44-year-old actor if filming the dark content matter in the movie was difficult.
"It was a light set, you know?" Phoenix said, noting that he enjoyed his time making the film. "And Todd Phillips, the director, he's really funny. Yeah, I feel almost guilty, but we had a great time."
"It's interesting that you say that," Kimmel replied, before revealing that Phillips had sent over an outtake reel of Phoenix, which he showed the audience.
In the clip, an irritated Phoenix is seemingly trying to concentrate and cursing while complaining about a man named Larry. "No, like, the constant whispering, just shut the f**k up, dude," Phoenix says in the clip. "I'm trying to, like, find something real."
He goes on to say, "I know you started the f**king Cher thing, Larry, f**king making fun of me, like I'm a f**king diva. It's not even an insult. Cher, really? Singer, actor, dancer, fashion icon? How is that a f**king insult?"
When the clip was done, Phoenix looked visibly shocked, saying, "This is so embarrassing."
He revealed that "Larry" from the clip was the film's cinematographer Lawrence Sher.
"Look, sometimes movies get intense because you're a lot of people in a small space and you're trying to find something so you can feel intense," Phoenix explained. "But that was supposed to be private. I'm a little embarrassed. I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry you guys had to see that."
Kimmel, 51, tried to make light of the situation, but Phoenix noted, "There's no excuse for that. You shouldn't talk to people [like that]."
Still looking stunned, Phoenix tried to interject some humor into the situation, saying, "Let me think about this a bit more. My publicist will issue a formal statement tomorrow."
Phoenix added, "Can we move on? ...I should probably publicly apologize to Larry."
Before he could get an apology out, Phoenix was already defending the clip.
"The thing is, though. I am sorry, but he did whisper, like, constantly while we were trying to work and sometimes it's really hard to find the emotion that you're after," he said. "So it was wrong of me, I'm sorry, but he shouldn't have done it."
ET's Ashley Crossan recently sat down with Phoenix to talk about his shocking 50-pound weight loss for his role in the Joker, which hits theaters on Oct. 4. Here's what he had to say about his transformation:
RELATED CONTENT:
