Joker star Joaquin Phoenix paid tribute to the late Heath Ledger after winning at the SAG Awards on Sunday (January 20) night.
The 45-year-old star triumphed in one of the most closely-fought categories of the night, Best Actor, and also used his time on stage to thank his fellow nominees.
Starting with Leonardo DiCaprio, he told the A-list audience at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium: “There would always be two other guys that I was up against and we’d always lose to this one kid…every casting director would always whisper, ‘It’s Leonardo.’
“You’ve been an inspiration for over 25 years to me and so many people.”
Turning his attention to Christian Bale, Phoenix jokingly begged the Ford vs Ferrari actor to give a bad performance “just once.”
“It’s infuriating,” he said. “I wish you would.”
Phoenix then praised Adam Driver for a series of “beautiful, nuanced, incredible, profound” performances before telling Taron Egerton: “I’m so happy for you [and] can’t wait to see what else you do.”
Finally, Phoenix praised the late Ledger, who played Batman’s nemesis Joker in 2008.
The actor died the same year his film was released and was later awarded a posthumous Oscar for the role.
Closing his speech, Phoenix said: “I’m standing here on the shoulders of my favourite actor, Heath Ledger. So thank you and good night.”
Other winners on the night included South Korean dark comedy Parasite and Renee Zellweger, who was commended for her star turn as Judy Garland in the recent biopic about the Wizard of Oz star.
The wins make Phoenix, Zellweger and Parasite strong favourites ahead of next month’s Academy Awards.
See the full list of winners here.
