Just like Valentine’s Day 2023, some brand new images have been released for Todd Phillips’ upcoming “Joker: Folie à Deux” (10.04.24). This time around, we get to see Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga together, in the same frame.
Phillips also just confirmed on his Instagram that the first teaser for ‘Folie à Deux’ would be released in mid-April. I would imagine this one world premieres at Venice in September, which is where the 2019 original first screened and, to everyone’s surprise, won the Golden Lion.
‘Folie à Deux’ would tell its story via the perspectives of both Gaga’s Harley Quinn and Phoenix’s Joker. The film’s main plot, although currently being kept secretive, is rumored to revolve around musical therapy sessions at Arkham Asylum.
Meanwhile, the musical style of ‘Folie à Deux’ is said to be heavily inspired by Liza Minelli musicals such as “Cabaret” and “That’s Entertainment!” Phillips also mentioned that if “Joker” was his answer to “Taxi Driver,” then ‘Folie à Deux’ was partly influenced by Scorsese’s 1977 bomb “New York, New York” starring Robert De Niro and Minelli.
Cinematographer Lawrence Sher also confirmed that he and Phillips used Francis Ford Coppola’s ravishingly beautiful “One from the Heart” as a template and starting point for the visual schema of the upcoming sequel, adding that the film was very “risky.”
All I know is that they better have a great story to tell here because “Joker” didn’t need a sequel, and I mean that as the highest compliment. The 2019 film polarized many critics, but, to my eyes, at least, perfectly nailed the current zeitgeist via Phoenix’s deranged urban savior.
The first “Joker” made $1 billion dollars worldwide. The fact that this sequel is a semi-musical starring Lady Gaga makes me think that maybe it won’t be as popular a film as the first one. Just a hunch. One thing is for sure, Phillips seems to be creatively swinging for the fences with this one. You can’t fault him for lack of ambition.
