Joaquin Phoenix

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q185140: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as actor. The films the hosts said they acted in, which the two lists below run through too: To Die For (1995); 8mm (1999); Gladiator (2000); Signs (2002); Walk the Line (2005); The Master (2012); Her (2013); Mary Magdalene (2018) (2018); Joker (2019); C'mon C'mon (2021); Come On, Come On (2021); Napoleon (2023); Eddington (2025); I'm Still Here; Reservation Road.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Spartacus (1960): 3 lines

  1. lineage (riff / imitation) · through Gladiator (2000), which they acted in: Spartacus ⇒ Gladiator (the host's read). Richard, seeing Spartacus for the first time, says it is the main thing Gladiator riffs on.
    “this is really the main thing the gladiators are riffing on.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:03:34 · Richard Lawson (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. people (casting approach) · through Gladiator (2000), which they acted in: Spartacus ⇒ Gladiator (the host's read). Gladiator, like Spartacus, is loaded with supporting actors who are thespian gems, which the speaker says Scott recognized.
    “as Ridley Scott recognized about this movie, is like loaded up with supporting actors who are like just thespian gems.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:33:49 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (scene reused) · through Gladiator (2000), which they acted in: Spartacus ⇒ Gladiator (the host's read). The trident thrown into the stands in Spartacus is in Gladiator too, with Russell Crowe doing it.
    “that's literally in Gladiator.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 1:14:49 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)

Hardcore (1979): 1 line

  1. lineage (rip-off) · through 8mm (1999), which they acted in: Hardcore ⇒ 8mm (the host's read). Says 8mm directly rips off Hardcore, in the style of Se7en.
    “It's ripping off hardcore in the style of seven.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:42:12 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Ira Glass: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Come On, Come On (2021), which they acted in: Ira Glass ⇒ Come On, Come On (the maker said so: Mike Mills interview on the episode). Johnny is a WNYC-style old-school radio journalist; Ira Glass is a big influence on Mills.
    “Ira Glass has been like a big influence, big hero to me.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:14:04 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)

Ira Glass's This American Life: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Come On, Come On (2021), which they acted in: Ira Glass's This American Life ⇒ Come On, Come On (the host's read). The radio-producer device is in the Ira Glass tradition, not the conspiracy podcaster.
    “I think it's a little bit more in the tradition of Ira Glass than it is necessarily in the tradition of the conspiracy theory podcaster”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:34:54 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Martin Scorsese: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Joker (2019), which they acted in: Martin Scorsese ⇒ Joker (the host's read). Miles imagines Joker as a Scorsese pastiche that may not work.
    “it's like a Scorsese Pestiche that just kind of doesn't work”
    The Big Picture · 'Shazam!’ and the Future of the DCEU With David F. Sandberg | Interview · 0:10:08 · Miles Surrey (0.85 sure it was them)

Mike Mills's son: 1 line

  1. people (people) · through Come On, Come On (2021), which they acted in: Mike Mills's son ⇒ Come On, Come On (the maker said so: Mike Mills interview on the episode). The project began with Mills being his kid's dad; the uncle idea distances it.
    “the whole project is just my kid and me being my kid's dad”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:02:30 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)

Mills's SFMOMA kids-interview video piece: 1 line

  1. career (career) · through Come On, Come On (2021), which they acted in: Mills's SFMOMA kids-interview video piece ⇒ Come On, Come On (the maker said so: Mike Mills interview on the episode). The film grew from his video piece interviewing Silicon Valley kids about the future, which he did not feel done with.
    “I really didn't feel like I was done with asking kids about the future.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:13:00 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)

Nancy Gale: 1 line

  1. people (people) · through Come On, Come On (2021), which they acted in: Nancy Gale ⇒ Come On, Come On (the maker said so: Mike Mills interview on the episode). Nancy Gale, who ran his kid's preschool, taught him about children's power and breadth of feeling.
    “Nancy Gale comes in mind who ran my kids, preschool, is a very deep person about children”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:08:52 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)

Seven (1995): 1 line

  1. lineage (rip-off) · through 8mm (1999), which they acted in: Seven ⇒ 8mm (the host's read). Calls 8mm Schumacher ripping off Se7en.
    “8 millimeter is Schumacher ripping off seven.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Game with Brendan Hines (Ad-Free) · 0:41:48 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Studs Terkel: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · them, directly: Studs Terkel ⇒ Joaquin Phoenix (the maker said so: Mike Mills interview on the episode). Mills introduced Phoenix to Studs Terkel to build the radio-journalist character.
    “introducing Joaquin to Studs Triple.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:13:58 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Gladiator II: 6 lines

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Gladiator (2000), which they acted in: Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read). The sequel is very similar in structure and story to the original.
    “it's pretty well known that this movie is very similar in structure and story to the original.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:06:45 · Sean Fennessey (0.80 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (lineage) · through Gladiator (2000), which they acted in: Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read). The sequel's plot, structure, approach and pacing mirror the first, forcing a one-to-one comparison.
    “it's just the movie is so similar to the 1st one in terms of plot, structure, approach, focus, pacing.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:15:52 · Mallory Rubin (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. contrast (contrast) · through Gladiator (2000), which they acted in: Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read). The sequel tries to feel new by flipping the first film's premise: Marcus Aurelius's dream of Rome becomes its failure.
    “Instead of here's Marcus Aurelius's dream of what Rome can be, it's a bastardization and a compromise and a failure to execute against that promise.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:21:30 · Mallory Rubin (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. lineage (lineage) · through Gladiator (2000), which they acted in: Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read). Because it mirrors the first film, outcomes for characters become predictable by inversion.
    “I almost felt like it became impossible not to know what was going to happen to certain people”
    The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:21:39 · Mallory Rubin (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. lineage (lineage) · through Gladiator (2000), which they acted in: Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read). Lucius's hand in the grain is a callback to Maximus's hand in the wheat.
    “And it's an obvious callback to Maximus walking through the kind of afterlife feeling the wheat.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:52:34 · Sean Fennessey (0.40 sure it was them)
  6. craft (craft) · through Gladiator (2000), which they acted in: Gladiator ⇒ Gladiator II (the host's read). Lucius as Maximus's son is a classic retcon not in the first film's text.
    “it is, is a classic case of reconning.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:53:58 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007): 2 lines

  1. unmapped (parody target) · through Walk the Line (2005), which they acted in: Walk the Line ⇒ Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (the host's read). Amanda argues effective parody must work from something that works, and watched the two back to back; the buzz-saw brother incident mirrors Walk Hard's setup.
    “for something, to be an effective parody, it has to be working from something that actually works.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 0:04:20 · Amanda Dobbins (0.90 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (parody of) · through Walk the Line (2005), which they acted in: Walk the Line ⇒ Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (the host's read). Walk Hard is a beat-for-beat demolition of Walk the Line (and Ray), pairing contempt with affection.
    “it is such a perfect note for note, beat for beat, cliche for cliche, demolition of this kind of movie, with just the right amount of contempt and affection”
    The Big Picture · ‘Elvis,’ ‘Walk Hard’ and Top Five Music Biopics · 0:28:10 · Adam Nayman (0.90 sure it was them)

Kingdom of Heaven (2005): 1 line

  1. unmapped (followed) · through Gladiator (2000), which they acted in: Gladiator ⇒ Kingdom of Heaven (the host's read). Ridley tried to repeat Gladiator with Kingdom of Heaven and again later.
    “And even Ridley tried to do it. Kingdom of Heaven. Two more times.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 2:06:08 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Troy (2004): 1 line

  1. unmapped (followed) · through Gladiator (2000), which they acted in: Gladiator ⇒ Troy (the host's read). Troy coasts off the goodwill from Gladiator.
    “Troy is the one that coasts off of the Goodwill from Gladiator”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Spartacus with Richard Lawson (Ad-Free) · 2:06:43 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Unfriended: Dark Web (2018): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through 8mm (1999), which they acted in: 8mm ⇒ Unfriended: Dark Web (the host's read). Dark Web, about buying snuff on the dark web, is an unofficial sequel to 8MM.
    “It's sort of an unofficial sequel to 8 millimeter.”
    The Big Picture · The 10 Best Horror Movies of the Decade | The Big Picture · 0:48:23 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Acting (24) everyone in acting

Other (4) everyone in other

What was said about them, by kind

career (1)

  1. career (career): Joaquin Phoenix → Joker. The Joker appealed because it was pitched as a Scorsese-style film he could work in, unlike green screen.
    “The Joker thing for him is totally the fact that they sold it to him as, we're going to shoot it like a Scorsett.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Avengers: Infinity War with John Hodgman · 2:24:45 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

contrast (2)

  1. contrast (contrast): Joaquin Phoenix → Come On, Come On. Phoenix plays a nice, imperfect guy, the inverse of his damaged-masculinity roles in Joker and The Master.
    “what Phoenix brings to it is almost the exact inverse of what we know him for, from the Joker and from the master”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 0:33:25 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. contrast (contrast): Joaquin Phoenix → Benedict Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch is a classically trained actor who can make pretend feel real; Phoenix is an autodidact who cannot.
    “classically trained theater actor who is like, I can make pretend things feel real.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Avengers: Infinity War with John Hodgman · 2:24:22 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

craft (5)

  1. craft (craft): Joaquin Phoenix → Gladiator. Chris likes Phoenix's Gladiator performance.
    “I'll say, I really appreciated his performance in Gladiator.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:05:43 · Chris Gethard (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. craft (craft): Joaquin Phoenix → 8mm. Phoenix gives a really good performance in a bad movie.
    “Oh, Joaquin Phoenix an 8 millimeter, by the way.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:06:20 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  3. craft (craft): Fred Hechinger and Joseph Quinn → Joaquin Phoenix. The twin emperors play late-period Joaquin mannered, crazy Joker-style villainy.
    “these guys are doing late period Joaquin, you know, like they're doing the more like mannered, like crazy Joker shit”
    The Big Picture · ‘Gladiator II’ Is Here. Are We Not Entertained? · 0:43:00 · Chris Ryan (0.50 sure it was them)
  4. craft (craft): Joaquin Phoenix → Come On, Come On. Phoenix surprised Mills with how good he was at doing the interviews.
    “I was surprised at how deeply Joaquin got into it and how good he was at it.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:17:03 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)
  5. craft (craft): Tom Hardy → Joaquin Phoenix. Like Hardy jumping into the lobster tank, Phoenix likes surprises in front of him that a green-screen movie cannot give.
    “much like Tom Hardy jumping in the lobster tank”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Avengers: Infinity War with John Hodgman · 2:25:12 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

lineage (1)

  1. lineage (lineage): Joaquin Phoenix → Studs Terkel. Mills introduced Phoenix to Studs Terkel to build the radio-journalist character.
    “introducing Joaquin to Studs Triple.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife,’ ‘Tick, Tick ... Boom!,' and Our Top Five Feel-Good Movies · 1:13:58 · Mike Mills (0.90 sure it was them)

people (1)

  1. people (people): Joker → Joaquin Phoenix. Phoenix is the frontrunner for Joker, though the speaker does not care about the movie.
    “I really don't care about the movie, but that's my guy.”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:46:47 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)

what-if (4)

  1. what-if (what-if): Joaquin Phoenix → Joker. Breaking news that Phoenix is in talks to play the Joker in Todd Phillips's standalone film.
    “guess who's in talks to play the Joker in Todd Phillips's standalone Joker movie?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · As Good as It Gets with Chris Gethard · 1:03:35 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. what-if (what-if): Joaquin Phoenix → Doctor Strange. Feige wanted Joaquin Phoenix to play Strange.
    “Oh, and he wanted Joaquin to be strange.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Avengers: Infinity War with John Hodgman · 2:20:59 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
  3. what-if (what-if): Joaquin Phoenix → The Avengers. Phoenix was the first choice for Bruce Banner when Marvel recast; Ruffalo was a surprise.
    “And he also was the 1st person they were trying really hard to get for Bruce Banner for Avengers when they knew they were recasting.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Avengers: Infinity War with John Hodgman · 2:21:19 · unknown (0.35 sure it was them)
  4. what-if (what-if): Mark Ruffalo → Joaquin Phoenix. Ruffalo and Phoenix were the short list to replace Norton; Feige keeps courting Phoenix (Doctor Strange too) and Phoenix only did Joker because it was twisted.
    “Kevin Feige is always trying to get Joaquin Phoenix to do one of these movies.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · The Avengers · 0:25:35 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

  1. fun, about Joaquin Phoenix: Same Stella McCartney suit all award season.
    “wearing the same Stella McCartney suit throughout award season.”
    The Big Picture · The Snubs and Surprises of the 92nd Academy Award Nominations | The Oscars Show · 0:47:10 · Amanda Dobbins (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Joaquin Phoenix: Feige's white whale is getting Joaquin Phoenix into a Marvel movie; Phoenix says he doesn't know how to work in this process.
    “has been trying to get Joaquin Phoenix to commit to one of these movies since the beginning”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Avengers: Infinity War with John Hodgman · 2:20:49 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)