Joaquin Phoenix’s Weirdest Movie Yet Nets Him Golden Globe Nomination

Joaquin Phoenix released his weirdest movie yet in 2023, and it has netted him a Golden Globe nomination. Last year, the two-time Golden Globe winner starred in Beau Is Afraid, the newest project from filmmaker Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar) which can’t really be appropriately described as being in any genre but, if forced to make a distinction, could be considered a kind of “dramedy.” Phoenix plays the lead role in the film and has earned another Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

As noted, Phoenix has won twice before: in 2005 for his role as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, and again in 2019 for Joker. The second win was for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama, while the previous win was for the same category he’s nominated in this year. Up against Phoenix are some incredible performances from several great stars, listed as follows: Jeffrey Wright for American Fiction, Matt Damon for Air, Nicolas Cage for Dream Scenario, Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers, and Timothée Chalamet for Wonka.

Beau Is Afraid is a fever dream of a movie, which has been labeled as a “surrealist tragicomedy horror film.” A synopsis of the movie states that it is about “a reserved man who makes regular visits to a therapist to manage his anxiety” who “finds himself challenged when he embarks on a tumultuous and emotional odyssey to get home to his mother.” It was written, directed, and co-produced by Aster. While the film generally received positive reviews from critics, it was ultimately considered a box office bomb, earning just $11.5 million at the box office, on a budget of $35 million.

In a previous podcast conversation for A24 — the film’s producing studio — Phoenix opened up about filming one of the more disturbing and captivating scenes in Beau Is Afraid, which takes place in a bathtub. “I’m a little reluctant to say this, because it sounds so f—ing stupid and just like actor s—, but I remember… what I did before was I did the scene, but I wasn’t really volatile,” he said while speaking to Aster. “I was still nervous. I was still… In some way, I was controlling a little bit. I was controlling what people thought about me. I didn’t want to let people down. And it was like new crew were early on set. And I remember just realizing I had to do something that was f—ing stupid, and I just so didn’t want to do it, but I just knew.”

“I just started screaming, just the most intense guttural pain scream that I could before we were shooting, sitting there, because I had to just fully humiliate myself,” Phoenix continued. “And then just go like, okay, well once that’s happened, you can’t look any more stupid than you do now. And it just let go of everything, right? I don’t know why, but I just was overcome with this need to do that. And I think it probably made you uncomfortable. We weren’t in the same room. You were on the monitor, but I have a feeling that you got very uncomfortable.”

Aster replied, “I remember knowing what you were doing. It felt to me like you were kind of trying to scream yourself out of the state you were in. It didn’t actually feel like even a take. It somehow felt like you were trying to break out of something.” Beau Is Afraid is currently streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime. Tune into the 2024 Golden Globes on Sunday to see if Phoenix picks up his third award.