Joaquin Phoenix honors Heath Ledger at the SAG Awards

A tribute, from one Joker to another.

The 26^th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards brought with them a handful of moments that we will cherish for weeks to come, and no, I am not talking about the Pitt-Aniston reunion (although we truly are stoked about that!), but Joaquin Phoenix’s speech.

As the actor took to stage to accept his ‘Best Performance by a Male actor’ award, he remembered to thank an integral person in his Joker journey, Heath Ledger.

“Really, I’m standing here on the shoulders of my favorite actor, Heath Ledger,” he said. Ledger, who played the comic book villain in 2008’s The Dark Knight, passed away in the same year due to an accidental overdose at the age of 28. Ledger was however honored with an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a SAG award that year for his performance.

Phoenix went on to appreciate Christian Bale’s work in Ford vs. Ferrari, and called Adam Driver’s performance in Netflix’s Marriage Story “devastating”, further going on to praise Rocketman’s Taron Egerton, telling him he can’t wait to see what else the actor does in the future.