Todd Phillips'
"Joker", a film focusing on the origin story of the titular DC Comics supervillain, has triumphed at this year's Venice Film Festival, taking home the Golden Lion jury award. Accepting the award, Phillips praised the film's star
Joaquin Phoenix, who has been receiving heaps of praise from critics for his fearless performance:
"There is no movie without Joaquin Phoenix. Joaquin is the fiercest and brightest and most open-minded lion I know. Thank you for trusting me with your insane talent."
The reason Phoenix walked away from the festival empty-handed is because the Venice Film Festival has a rule in place that prevents a film from winning both the Golden Lion, and the Volpi Cup Best Actor prize.
This win could boost the film's awards season chances, much like it did for
Guillermo del Toro's 2017 Best Picture oscar winner
"The Shape of Water". On the other hand, last year's Golden Lion winner
"Roma", which raked in 10 Academy Award nominations, ultimately lost Best Picture to
"Green Book". Even if it won't win, at this point it's a safe bet that
"Joker" will get some Best Picture attention, and Phoenix will definitely get a Best Actor nod.
Here's what jury member
Mary Harron had to say about
"Joker", after the awards ceremony:
"They took a comic book mythology that has been done in so many ways and overturned it and revitalized it for now".
Meanwhile,
Roman Polanski took the runner-up Grand Jury Prize for his film
"An Officer and a Spy" ("J'accuse").
Check out the full list of 2019 Venice Film Festival winners after the jump.
