"The Joker" Joaquin Phoenix lost a lot of weight for the role. What's up with his health?

Last week, Russian movie lovers filled movie theaters across the country to capacity. This time the reason was the spectacular film “The Joker” directed by Todd Phillips. In addition to a new interpretation of the existing story of the villain, the interest of viewers attracted an impressive game Joaquin Phoenix. It turned out that for the sake of the main role of the actor had to not only rehearse for months crazy laughter, but also rapidly lose weight by 24 kilograms.

Painful thinness of the hero named Arthur makes the image of a man who in childhood received a psychological trauma and carried it through life, even more convincing. The Joker’s inner and outer infirmity is, in fact, a decisive factor. Therefore, Joaquin diet was a prerequisite of the contract actor with the director. Phoenix dreamed of playing the iconic character, having first thought about it back in 2014, and immediately agreed to the role.

We found out what was going on with the actor in the pre-production period. And to understand the health risks of such a grueling transformation, we talked to wellness coach, expert “Championship” Andrei Semeshov.

Eating 300 calories a day

The weight loss process turned out to be the most difficult period for Phoenix in preparation for filming. According to Joaquin, he tried to consume no more than 300 calories a day. At this rate, he lost 24 kilograms in a few months. And this is in his 44 years! Recall that the initial weight was about 70 kilograms at a height of 173 cm.

However, our expert believes that on 300 calories a day is hardly possible to voluntarily last more than a couple of days.

Andrej: “You have to realize that such calories are literally starvation. Of course, there are certain protocols of therapeutic fasting that exclude food for more than a month, when people keep only on water. But, as a rule, such practices are carried out in hospital conditions and certainly under the supervision of medical professionals.

If for a couple of months, the actor lost 24 kg, it turns out that the average loss of three kilograms per week. It is obvious that such a rate of reduction is too much, to put it mildly, hasty. The optimal practice is from 0.5 to 1 kg per week, depending on the ‘severity’ of the initial situation.”