Sunday night, Joaquin Phoenix helped the Joker film win one of the night’s top prizes at the 2020 Golden Globe Awards.

In total, the film was nominated for four trophies: Best Actor, Best Director (Todd Phillips), Best Score (Hildur Gudnadóttir), and Best Picture. While Gudnadóttir claimed the win in her respective category, Joaquin also walked away with a strong win for Best Actor for his portrayal of the Todd Phillips film. In the origin flick, Phoenix effectively takes on the role of hopeful comedian Arthur Fleck who eventually transforms into the recognized villain.

It all makes for one interesting conclusion given the fact that Phillips recently revealed that Phoneix never actually agreed to the now-iconic role that he portrayed.

“It was a pursuit to get him because initially, it feels like, ‘ugh, comic book movie.’ Just the idea of it is something he wasn’t so keen on pursuing, and even when I would explain to him it’s not that, it kind of says that, but really we’re doing this other thing, there was a little resistance,” he told IndieWire. “But the more I got to know him, the more I hung out with him, and we spent a lot of time talking about what the movie will look and feel like, and then one day he magically showed up. He never said yes. He just one day showed up to a wardrobe fitting. … It was an incredible partnership.: