'It was awkward position to be in': Joaquin Phoenix on not addressing 'Joker' violence

Actor Joaquin Phoenix said that he took a conscious decision to t dress controversy around violent mes of his recent feature "Joker" as he feared that it might actually le to extreme incidents. film h received unanimous praise for Phoenix's acting as Joker, a villain in Batman comic mythology but detractors believe his portrayal hits too close to home in a country where gun violence is a real issue.

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In an interview with Los Angeles Times, Phoenix said he felt blindsided by criticism coming towards film's way.

"It was an awkward position to be in. Because I thought, 'Well, I can't dress this because this is thing that is potentially part of problem  that's precisely what you shouldn't do.'

"So it suddenly seemed like I was being evasive and trying to avoid this topic because it me me uncomfortable. But really I was thinking, This is very thing that would excite this kind of personality'" Phoenix said.

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Families of victims who were killed in 2012 mass shooting at a movie atre in Aurora, Coloro, during screening Batman film " Dark Knight Rises", h written a letter to Warner Bros, studio behind Joker', calling for donations to gun-victim charities because film "presents character as a protagonist with a sympatic origin story". Warner Bros h defended film, saying aim of storytelling is to "provoke difficult conversations around complex issues."

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In September, Phoenix h walked out of an interview with UK's Telegraph when questioned about violence in film. He later told a publication that audience is capable of understanding difference between right and wrong.

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