Joaquin Phoenix ponders his Joker meeting Batman

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Joaquin Phoenix thinks his Joker "would feel a surge of excitement" meeting Batman for the first time.

The 44-year-old actor takes on the title role of the Crown Prince of Crime in Todd Phillips' comic book thriller 'Joker', and he admitted he hadn't given much thought to his character coming face to face with the Caped Crusader.

Asked how his version of the villain would react, he told Jake Hamilton: "I hadn't thought about that.

"I feel under pressure. I want to give you a great answer, something that's fun. You have a lot of energy, you seem excited, I want to reciprocate that.

"But I don't know what his reaction will be. I imagine that he would feel a surge of excitement."

Meanwhile, Phoenix also admitted he isn't really into method acting and so he didn't delve into the role of the Joker in the same way the likes of Jared Leto and the late Heath Ledger did when they took on the role.

He explained: "I have to be honest, I didn't have that experience. It was fulfilling - as an actor, I look for roles that are going to push me in ways that I can't anticipate.

"I enjoy that, and I've found that at the end of the day I didn't feel exhausted as I would have imagined. I felt energised, excited, and I couldn't wait to get back to work.

"There's a great interest in actors and the process, and there's a lot that people seem to have an understanding of what method acting is - I don't, I don't know what it is. I think people do want to feel like you share in the struggle of the character, but I can't say that's the case."

Filmmaker Phillips previously ruled out the idea of Phoenix's Joker crossing paths with Robert Pattinson after his upcoming turn in 'The Batman'.

He said: "No, definitely not. Oddly, in the states, comic books are our Shakespeare it seems, and you can do many many versions of 'Hamlet'. There will be many more Jokers, I'm sure, in the future."