Todd Phillips’s Joker made over $1 billion when it was released in 2019 and earned its formidable lead, Joaquin Phoenix, a Best Actor Oscar. So, it was, of course, only a matter of time before we heard that the twisted psychological thriller centered on the green-haired super villain and Batman adversary would be getting a sequel. What is startling, however, is that the new project is slated to be a musical, and Lady Gaga is taking on one of its starring roles.
On 13 June 2022, The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that the multi-hyphenate, last seen on screen as the flamboyant Patrizia Reggiani in House of Gucci, was in early talks to join Phoenix in Joker: Folie à Deux. (The film’s title, revealed by Phillips on social media, is a reference to a medical term for an identical or similar mental disorder that affects two or more individuals, usually members of the same family.) Then, on 4 August, she herself confirmed the news, posting a musical teaser to social media that shows the silhouettes of the two actors dancing cheek to cheek.
Joker: Folie à Deux
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) August 4, 2022
10.04.24 pic.twitter.com/obp7T9lBFL
For the sequel, Phillips will be returning to the director’s chair and has co-written the script with Scott Silver, with whom he collaborated on Joker. The Hollywood Reporter’s sources added that it will be a musical and that Gaga will play Harley Quinn, Joker’s baseball bat-wielding partner in crime, embodied by Margot Robbie in Suicide Squad opposite Jared Leto’s menacing clown. A release date was announced, too: 4 October 2024. On 14 February 2023, a first still followed, showing Gaga and Phoenix staring into each other’s eyes.
Is that blood on their faces or paint? Is the title Joker: Folie à Deux a nod to a condition the titular anti-hero shares with Harley Quinn, or one he shared with his troubled mother Penny, as played by Frances Conroy in Joker? Will other DC superheroes appear in the new film, or will the story be grounded in reality as its predecessor was? These are just some of the questions that have yet to be answered, but either way, with Gaga’s involvement, expect the costumes to be just as dazzling as the music.
This article was originally published on British Vogue.
