Joaquin Phoenix accepted his best actor award for “Joker” at Sunday’s Academy Awards with a lengthy and impassioned speech that touched on racism, animal rights and his own ability to grow and change “Joker” also scored nominations for director for Phillips, adapted screenplay, cinematography, makeup and hair styling, costume design, editing, original score, sound editing and sound mixing. It’s still up for the biggest award of the night, best picture.
By J. Kim Murphy, Adam B. Vary wrote in variety magazine In an expansion to his speech at the BAFTAs about representation in the film industry, Phoenix referenced a suite of progressive causes. “Whether we’re talking about gender inequality or racism or queer rights or indigenous rights or animal rights, we’re talking about the fight against the belief, one nation, one race, one gender or one species has the right to dominate, control and use and exploit another with impunity,” he said. “I think that we’ve become very disconnected from the natural world and many of us, what we’re guilty of is an egocentric world view, the belief that we’re the center of the universe.”
Phoenix had been nominated by the Academy three times before his win on Sunday, once in best supporting actor for “Gladiator” in 2001 and twice in best actor, for “Walk the Line” in 2006 and “The Master” in 2013. He is the second performer to win an Academy Award for playing the Joker, after Heath Ledger’s posthumous supporting actor win in 2009 for “The Dark Knight.