On the set of “Joker: Folie à Deux,” Joaquin Phoenix stayed in full make-up even when the solid was workshopping a scene. That left one unsuspecting dad or mum in full panic mode.
“Joaquin suggested, as a joke, that we FaceTime my mum and scare her,” remembers Harry Lawtey, who
performs Harvey Dent, the courtroom nemesis of the titular maniac. “My mum was in England, so it was quite late, and she was getting ready for bed. And I said, ‘Hello,’ and then I brought the phone up to my face, and Joaquin put his head on my shoulder. My mum screamed, ran away and woke up my dad.”
Terrified mums however, Lawtey says Phoenix placed on “a master class” every single day that left
the 27-year-old Brit in awe.
“To watch him do that laugh and to see the effect on him — on everyone — blew my mind,” Lawtey says. “He would be coughing after each take. It was an education to watch him move through different flavors and shades of that performance.”
The “Joker” sequel hits theaters on Oct. 4, 5 days after the Season 3 finale of Lawtey’s hit HBO
sequence “Industry,” which chronicles the debauched antics of younger funding bankers in London. The sequence often finds Lawtey’s sex-crazed (however soulful) Robert in numerous levels of undress, which
stored the intimacy coordinators “very busy.” With the addition of Kit Harington, the Season 3 premiere grew 60% over the earlier season’s bow.
“We developed a bit of a bromance,” Lawtey says of his quick friendship with Harington. “He’s such a fun guy. He doesn’t take himself seriously at all.”
In fall 2022, HBO had simply renewed “Industry” when Lawtey taped an audition for “Joker 2” director Todd Phillips, anticipating nothing to come of it.
“I didn’t have any information about the part,” he says. “So I just recorded a self-talk with my friend and sent it off. And then a couple of weeks later, I had a Zoom call with Todd. My team assumed it
would be kind of a note session for [a second read], but he offered me the part on that Zoom straight away.”
As he ready for “Joker,” Lawtey averted watching earlier Harvey Dent performances from the likes of Aaron Eckhart, Billy Dee Williams and William Shatner.
“I built my own backstory and created my own through-line, so I could authentically stand in those shoes,” Lawtey notes, including, “Todd kept on instilling in me that [Harvey] has his eyes on the prize. He spoke about how the era was the dawn of televised trials. And his notion was that Harvey is someone is willing to use that cynically to his advantage.”
Though this “Joker” is a musical, and Harvey is a courtroom showman, Lawtey doesn’t sing. And possibly that’s for one of the best.
“I mean not singing in front of Lady Gaga is something that I am OK with,” he says. “If there’s someone in that room who should be singing, it’s her. And getting a front-row seat for that, it was a goose-bumps moment.”
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