The unexpected comic book movie blockbuster of 2019 was Todd Phillips’ Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix in the title role of Batman’s #1 nemesis. The movie earned a billion dollars at the box office and won Phoenix an Academy Award for his role as Arthur Fleck. No one saw all that coming for the relatively smaller budget and very adult-skewing R-rated film. But when you make that much money, a sequel is inevitable.
In a surprise twist, Joker: Folie à Deux is, of course, a musical. Director Todd Phillips reveals that this came from a dream that lead actor Joaquin Phoenix had one night. In fact, the two wanted to take Joker to Broadway, before settling on the musical theme for the movie’s sequel.
In an interview with Variety, Phillips reveals “Most of the music in the movie is really just dialogue. It’s just Arthur not having the words to say what he wants to say, so he sings them instead.” So while technically, it’s a musical, it’s not going to sound like a typical musical outing.
Instead, Phoenix shares. “It was important to me that we never perform the songs as one typically does in a musical. We didn’t want vibrato and perfect notes.”
Meanwhile, co-star Lady Gaga notes, “Todd took a very big swing with this whole concept and with the script, giving the sequel to ‘Joker’ this audacity and complexity. There’s music, there’s dance, it’s a drama, it’s also a courtroom drama, it’s a comedy, it’s happy, it’s sad. It’s a testament to [Todd] as a director, that he would rather be creative than just tell a traditional story of love.”
As to what exactly will be sung, Variety shares, “As their bond intensifies, Arthur and Lee break into songs like “Get Happy,” “For Once in My Life” and “That’s Life” that convey their shifting emotions: He’s drawn to romantic ballads; she prefers music about power. Clearly, they want different things out of a relationship.”
Ultimately, “The goal of this movie is to make it feel like it was made by crazy people,” Phillips concludes “The inmates are running the asylum.”
Here’s everything we know about the Joker sequel.
Title
Isn’t it beautiful?
— DC (@DCOfficial) October 3, 2023
Todd Phillips reminding us to rewatch Joker and get ready for #JokerFolieADeux pic.twitter.com/loJjviyiLI
The official title for Todd Phillips’ sequel to his 2019 blockbuster hit is officially Joker: Folie à Deux. Which means, in French, “Joker: Shared Madness.”
Joker: Folie à Deux‘s Plot
The first thing we learned about Joker: Folie à Deux is that it will feature the Joker and Harley Quinn together. Considering how loosely the first film played with DC Comics’ mythos, don’t expect this one to be any different. DC explored the origin of the Joker/Harley relationship in the classic Batman: The Animated Series episode “Mad Love,” and then translated (more or less faithfully) in the first Suicide Squad movie. We expect something a little more out of the box this time for Joker and Harley, and we get it in the film’s trailer.
Recently, we learned that Joker: Folie à Deux takes place two years after the first movie. After shooting a talk show host on live television and inciting a major riot in the process, Arthur Fleck is sent to a psych ward and faces the death penalty. In the psych ward, he meets another patient, Harleen “Lee” Quinzel who becomes obsessed with him, or at least, his alter-ego, Joker. Arthur stops taking his medication and he and Lee enter a musical fantasy world, which, according to Variety, “often plays like the MGM musicals of yesteryear on acid.”
The answer is a full-on musical, which uses a genre associated with Judy Garland and Fred Astaire to examine a frayed mind growing even more dangerously untethered as the Joker stands trial for five murders.
For those concerned, Peter Safran and James Gunn have assured fans the movie will remain in the DC Universe, though it will carry an Elseworlds project tag. That means it will live on, but it won’t work into the main timeline of the DC Universe.
Joker: Folie à Deux‘s Cast
Aside from the returning Joaquin Phoenix as Joker/Arthur Fleck, and Lady Gaga as Lee/Harley Quinn, only a handful of other actors have been confirmed thus far. Gaga shares “My version of Harley Quinn is ‘Lee,'” Gaga said. “In a lot of ways, I think this is going to be a very different Lee for people, and I’m excited for them to see the story we wanted to tell.”
Brendan Gleeson has also joined the cast, as has Catherine Keener in a “major” but still unknown role. Jacob Lofland has also joined up, as someone associated with Arkham Asylum. Also officially joining the cast is Industry‘s Harry Lawtey.
Behind the Scenes
Director Todd Phillips is reuniting with his original Joker co-writer Scott Silver for this new continuation.
Joker: Folie à Deux‘s Release Date
The Joker sequel is set to premiere on October 4, 2024.
Originally published on December 12, 2022.
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Source: Kiat Media
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