Spike Jonze says he ‘fell in love’ with Joaquin Phoenix after meeting with him to discuss Her.
Jonze is back in the director’s chair for Her, which see Phoenix take on the central role of lonely writer Theodore Twombly.
And Jonze admits that after spending just five minutes with the Oscar nominated actor, he knew that he was the right man to take on this role.
Speaking to Total Film, the director said: “I went to meet with him, and within the first five minutes, I fell in love with him. I didn’t know how playful he would be. I didn’t know if that was something he could do, but within those five minutes of talking to him at his house, I thought ‘I love this guy’.
“There’s nothing pretentious about him whatsoever. Within a week of finishing the script, I thought ‘That’s who I want to be in this movie’”.
Her will mark the first time that Jonze and Phoenix have worked together, and this is the first directorial outing for Jonze since Where The Wilds Things Are.
The movie brings together an all star cast as Scarlet Johansson, Rooney Mara, Kristen Wiig and Chris Pratt are all also on board.
Her has already been winning over critics left, right and centre and is a movie to watch out for during the awards season.
Her is released 14th February.
Tagged in Spike Jonze