After winning big at the Venice Film Festival and the Golden Globes, Joker has added another win to its success by delivering an Academy Award to its leading man, Joaquin Phoenix.
Joaquin Phoenix is now the second performer to win an Oscar for playing the Batman villain after Heath Ledger in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight.”
Phoenix in his opening remarks while receiving the award for the Best Actor at the just concluded was 2020 Oscar Award said;
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This form of expression has given me the most extraordinary life. But the greatest gift that’s been given to me is to use our voice for the voiceless.
Phoenix went on to stand up for every kind of injustice, detailing how we’ve become “disconnected from the natural world.”
There was stiff competition in the 2020 Best Actor category: Phoenix topped Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory), Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood), Adam Driver (Marriage Story), and Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes) to pick up his statue.
The actor during his award acceptance speech, used his moment in the spotlight to call attention to serious causes.
In his speech, he delivered a message of unity, saying;
Whatever the cause was close to a person’s heart — be it gender inequality, racism or animal rights — we’re talking about the fight against injustice.
He said;
We’re talking about the fight against the belief that one nation, one people, one race, one gender or one species has the right to dominate, control and use and exploit another with impunity.
He also said he hopes others are granted what he has been previously — a chance to be better.
In his words, He stated;
I’ve been a scoundrel in my life. I’ve been selfish. I’ve been cruel at times, hard to work with, and I’m grateful that so many of you in this room have given me a second chance. And I think that’s when we’re at our best — when we support each other. Not when we cancel each other out for past mistakes, but when we help each other to grow, when we educate each other, when we guide each other towards redemption. That is the best of humanity.
He concluded by emotionally quoting a lyric written by his late brother, River Phoenix, when he was 17 years old: “Run into the rescue with love and peace will follow.”
