Joaquin Phoenix has a new movie coming to cinemas, the historical epic Napoleon where he plays the Corsican soldier turned French Emperor throughout his life.

Directed by Ridley Scott, who recently advised people with quibbles about the historical accuracy of Napoleon to ‘get a life’, the film is soon to release on the big screen.

The film is already picking up plenty of glowing reviews and it had a world premiere at the Salle Pleyel in Paris last night (14 November).

However, Phoenix was spotted reportedly leaving the theatre before the film had even started alongside partner Rooney Mara.

Variety’s Elsa Keslassy got a spot of footage of the Napoleon star heading out of the movie theatre and claimed that Phoenix ‘didn’t give any interviews’ at the world premiere of the film.

Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Now that the SAG-AFTRA strike has been resolved actors are once again able to promote their films, which includes attending the premiere.

You may remember the moment that the cast of Oppenheimer walked out of the movie’s premiere in solidarity with their fellow striking actors, with the stars able to have about an hour of promoting the film before leaving.

A number of people who saw the video noted that Phoenix ‘famously hates interviews’, while others said he doesn’t tend to watch his own films which would help explain why he didn’t stick around.

According to Variety, director Ridley Scott also decided to duck out of part of the evening, though he ‘skipped the carpet entirely’ and gave a speech on stage before the premiere.

During his speech Scott joked that he’d made 10 movies with Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman and somehow they were ‘still good friends’ after all that.

Elsa Keslassy

@ElsaKeslassy

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Joaquin Phoenix didn’t miss journalists during the 118-day SAG-AFTRA strike. He didn’t give any interviews at the world premiere of #Napoleon in Paris. And he walked out of the theater before the movie started. Is he still in character?

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6:28 AM · Nov 15, 2023

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Also at the Napoleon premiere was Vanessa Kirby, who plays Josephine de Beauharnais in the movie, and said she had a ‘lot of empathy for her character’.

“It was difficult in many ways to be the feminine in that extremely masculine world and she did such an amazing job of remaining dignified until the end,” Kirby said of her character in the film.

Already very well regarded among critics, Napoleon will be in the running for major awards, with Ridley Scott, Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby likely to be in the running for the big gongs.

While it looks like he didn’t stick around for the movie’s screening at the premiere, Phoenix was in the theatre to see drummers perform on stage while dressed as Napoleonic era soldiers.

Napoleon releases in cinemas on 22 November.

Film fans, the day is finally here – so run to the cinema and grab your popcorn as Joker: Folie à Deux has just dropped.

Not to skew your opinion before you have even seen it, but the highly-anticipated sequel hasn’t had the best reception so far, seeing its score on Rotten Tomatoes slump down to a measly 39 percent.

And to rub a bit more salt in the wound, there’s a bloke who reckons that he deserves some credit for helping Joaquin Phoenix craft his persona for the Clown Prince of Crime.

Scott Lotan lives with a laughing condition just like the Joker, which causes him to burst into uncontrollable fits of giggles or even tears, and these exaggerated emotions often emerge at quite unfortunate times.

Take a look at this:

The man, from Virginia, US, suffers from something known as the pseudobulbar affect (PBA) which is a neurological condition that can occur in people with multiple sclerosis (MS).

It causes him to experience painful and exhausting laughing episodes – which can last up to 10 minutes at a time.

Lotan has no control over his villainous chuckles and they can be triggered at the most inopportune moments, such as in the aftermath of a tragic crash in which his fiancée and mum were killed.

Following the release of Joker in 2019, he shared his thoughts on Phoenix’s performance with LADbible, explaining that he thought the star did ‘a great job’ of conveying the struggles those with PBA face.

However, he believes that the Oscar winner and director Todd Phillips should have at least given him a nod for helping them perfect the DC character’s manic laugh – accusing the pair of ‘stealing his persona’ without any acknowledgement.

Scott Lotan suffers from the pseudobulbar affect (PBA) which causes him to burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter (LADbible)

Speaking to LADbible in 2022, Lotan said: “OK, Joaquin, you don’t eat meat, you want to protect all the animals – what about the people? I mean, you stole my persona.

“You took my identity, and you put it on the screen and made millions, and you can’t help a community? You can’t donate to MS or Parkinson’s or any of these other things? I don’t get it.

“I’ve seen the interviews with Todd Phillips, I’ve seen the interviews with Joaquin, and they make reference to the videos, and that laughter, and how it helped develop the actual character.”

The father-of-two explained that he finds it unjust that the community who provided the blueprint for a quintessential element of Phoenix’s character went unrewarded for their assistance.

Lotan added: “At no single point, one of the highest grossing movies ever, have you reached out to do anything for the community.”

The US dad reckons that Joaquin Phoenix owes him some credit for inspiring his cackle (Warner Bros.)

“The reality is, when you look at my videos on YouTube and you watch that movie, you think about my storyline… It kind of helped form the character, the Joker itself,” the PBA sufferer said.

“No recognition from Todd Phillips, no recognition from Joaquin, or any of it.

“It’s like, not that I care to have you guys come pay me, but do something for the community.”

Lotan’s frustrations were likely spurred on by his life experience as someone living with PBA, as he told LADbible in 2021 how he had been refused service at restaurants and ‘asked to leave’ places as his laugh made people uncomfortable.

“Many times if I am out for a drink with friends, there is someone with low self-esteem that believes I am laughing at them and they will try and start a fight,” he added.

Opening up about how his PBA impacted his grieving process following the deaths of his mother and fiancée in 2003, the dad revealed he had to ‘separate himself’ from other mourners at the funerals due to his laughter.

Lotan explained he hoped the Hollywood star would reward the PBA community for their assistance (LADbible)

For Lotan, the disorder is also physically taxing as well, with his chuckles often leading to uncomfortable choking – something which he praised from Phoenix’s Oscar-winning performance.

“The choking comes from trying to catch my breath, desperately needing to breathe. Also, spit builds up in your mouth and as you pull in a breath the spit goes down the wrong pipe,” he said.

“My neck gets really sore and I am moving my head to try to relieve strain and sometimes that cuts off air.”

Lotan added that having PBA also ‘weighs heavy on the mind’, as the condition is broadly misunderstood, so people often have ‘preconceived notions’ about the real reason behind his amusement.

Praising Phoenix’s portrayal, he said: “I think he captured the feeling of isolation and frustration with the lack of understanding from others.”

That laugh won’t sound the same when you hear it ringing out in the cinemas now, will it?

Joker 2‘s Joaquin Phoenix and director Todd Phillips disagreed on one key part of the DC supervillain before shooting the first movie.

Joker: Folie à Deux finally hit cinemas last week, five years after Phoenix’s Oscar-winning performance as the chilling Arthur Fleck in the original film.

The actor put a unique spin on a character that has had polarising reviews since Heath Ledger’s iconic portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight.

But it seems Phoenix couldn’t replicate that magic in the Joker’s sequel where he starred opposite Lady Gaga, who portrayed Fleck’s love interest Harley Quinn, as the flick is currently rated just 33 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

In fact, it’s been reported that there have been ‘mass walkouts’ during screenings of the sequel so far, with fans less than pleased with the film after it was taken in a musical direction.

When we look back, we’ll hopefully remember Phoenix’s excellent take on the DC villain, with his signature sinister laugh, nervous demeanour and his iconic clown-like appearance.

However, it turns out that the actor had a spat with the director of both Joker films, Todd Phillips, over one aspect of the character that they seemingly never saw eye-to-eye on.

Joaquin Phoenix’s take on the Joker will go down in history (Warner Bros.)

Before the release of Joker in 2019, the Napoleon actor revealed to the New York Times that he had to lose a load of weight to play Arthur Fleck the way that Phillips envisaged him.

Calling the process of following a weight loss diet as a ‘horrible way to live’, Phoenix explained that he wanted the Gotham City tormentor to be ‘kind of heavy’ when speaking to Phillips, having lost weight for roles previously.

However, the director didn’t let it happen in the end, saying that Phoenix would need to get ‘real thin’ for the film. The actor ended up losing 52 pounds for his role in the first movie.

Joker: Folie à Deux has not been received well so far (Warner Bros.)

Phoenix spoke about his weight-loss for Joker: Folie À Deux at the Venice Film Festival in September, highlighting that he wouldn’t be doing it again.

The star revealed: “I’m not going to talk through specifics of the diet, because I just think nobody wants to hear that.

“But this time, [losing weight] felt a bit more complicated, just because there was so much dance rehearsal that we were doing, which I didn’t have last time.”

Phoenix concluded: “So it felt a bit more difficult, but it is safe.

“I’m now 49, I probably shouldn’t do this again. This is probably it for me.”

Joker: Folie à Deux is in cinemas now.

Eagle-eyed viewers think they’ve worked out what Joaquin Phoenix said Lady Gaga after the pair got a standing ovation for Joker: Folie à Deux.

As I’m sure you’ve heard, Todd Phillips’ musical sequel to Joker hasn’t been received very well.

If Rotten Tomatoes is anything to go by, Joker: Folie à Deux scored 33 percent among the critics and just 31 percent by the general audience.

Some called it ‘a waste of good film’, while others said it was ‘truly terrible’.

The movie follows the chaotic relationship between Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) and Harley Quinn (Gaga), set primarily in Arkham Asylum.

Quinn is his psychiatrist who becomes infatuated with Arthur.

Despite the bad reviews, the film did get a long standing ovation at the Venice International Film Festival last month.

However, as Phoenix stood up to receive cheers, people on X think he told his co-star: “It’s horrible.”

Joaquin Phoenix had a word with Lady Gaga after getting a standing ovation for Joker: Folie à Deux (Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

And according to AI software, Gaga allegedly replied in no particular order: “Don’t say that.

“You think do? No, it’s not.

“Why, what are you talking about?

“I love that.”

Commenting on the clip, one person tweeted: “Someone should use that AI lip reader that I keep seeing on here to figure out what they were saying… it almost looks like Joaquin said, ‘it’s horrible’.”

Meanwhile others pointed out how unreliable AI can be, adding: “Can you make another edit, I’m pretty sure she said ‘I like big butts and I cannot lie’, I ran it through like seven AI detectors and they all agreed with me about the butts. Ta.”

Another person sarcastically wrote: “Yeah they chose this moment to have this conversation like it’s the first time they’ve seen each other since filming.”

On the night, meanwhile, the ‘Bad Romance’ singer told a press conference why she chose to move into acting.

Gaga said: “The reason I started making music when I was really little was because I just had something to say, and trying to figure out how to do that.

“One of the reasons I love music and I love movies so much is the stories that you get to tell, and the way that we get to express something to the world that will hopefully help people feel good about life and give them a moment to escape into another world to fall into somebody else’s story.

“I think that what I really meant to say is that I believe that movies have a tremendous power to change the way people feel, and that’s part of why I love to create.”

Phoenix also added: “The dream is not what inspired the movie, the dream was just, I had this dream that I was performing as the Joker doing songs, and I just called Todd and said there might be something there.”

LADbible Group has contacted representatives of Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga for comment.