'I had to just fully humiliate myself': Joaquin Phoenix screamed Beau is Afraid set down

Joaquin Phoenix screamed the 'Beau is Afraid' set down in order to "fully humiliate" himself.

The 'Joker' actor - who is devoted to the art of method acting - was "overcome" with the urge to howl his head off so that nothing else he did after that would embarrass him.

Speaking to director Ari Aster on the 'A24 Podcast', he shared: "I just started screaming, just the most intense guttural pain scream that I could before we were shooting, sitting there, because I had to just fully humiliate myself ... And then just go like, okay, well once that's happened, you can't look any more stupid than you do now. And it just let go of everything, right? I don't know why, but I just was overcome with this need to do that."

The 48-year-old Hollywood star also revealed he was left "squirming" watching the movie back in IMAX.

He told Fandango: “I was definitely squirming in my seat. First of all, I’m just laughing about the entire f***ing movie. There’s a couple of sequences where I’m just squirming – I mean, stuff that [Ari] did with the sound design, it was really great. It’s such a rich world, and there’s so many details to see in it. It is a hundred per cent a movie that you feel. There’s so many rich, complex themes in this film, but it’s such a visceral experience to watch it. Then you leave, and when that feeling subsides, you start thinking about it.”

Oscar-winner Joaquin portrays the titular character Beau Wassermann in the surrealist horror film.

The plot reads: "Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey back home."