From "Joker" to "Joker"

'Joker': Joaquin Phoenix Pays Tribute To "Favourite Actor" Heath Ledger In Emotional SAG Awards Speech

Joaquin Phoenix was honoured with the award for Best Actor at the 2020 SAG Awards on January 19th for his role in Joker. During his acceptance speech, the actor honoured the late Heath Ledger who played the "Joker" before him.

Joaquin Phoenix has had a very successful awards show season this year for his performance in Joker. During his acceptance speech for the Best Actor prize at the 2020 SAG Awards, he talked about all of his fellow nominees and congratulated every single one of them. He also paid homage to his "favourite actor" Heath Ledger.

Joaquin Phoenix: Honours the late Heath Ledger

"I'm standing here on the shoulders of my favourite actor, Heath Ledger, so, thank you and goodnight," Phoenix concluded his speech. This tribute is particularly special as Heath previously played the DC Comics villain in the 2008 drama, The Dark Knight. This was the late-Australian actors' last film role before his tragic death 12 years ago.

Phoenix had previously told sources that he didn't channel Ledger's previous performance of the "Joker" to make his own mark on the character. Which he seemed to do no problem and Joker became on of the biggest box office hits of 2019. The film took home over $1 billion in global ticket sales since its release in October. Congratulations to Joaquin Phoenix on his very well-deserved win!