Last week we reported that a Joker sequel from director Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix was all but confirmed when the pair took to social media to reveal its official title, Joker: Folie à Deux.
The title alone gave us a lot to speculate about the film’s story, but we could never have foreseen this twist: such an exclusive from The Hollywood Reporter (opens in new tab)Joker: Folie à Deux may actually be a musical, with Lady Gaga in talks to star as Harley Quinn alongside Phoenix’s Joker.
As we discussed in our previous article, Folie à Deux is a psychiatric term that refers to a shared psychosis between two or more people due to close proximity. With this news, we seem to have confirmation that the people in question will be Joker and Harley.
Nothing’s set in stone, of course — THR says Phoenix is reportedly still in negotiations over the movie and has yet to finalize a deal.
Why a musical makes sense for Joker
While this might not be the direction fans were hoping Joker 2 would take, it strikes us as an inspired approach from Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver, who never wanted to take an obvious path with a potential sequel .
In fact, we’d argue that the prospect of this Joker breaking into a song is the next logical step for the character, who often expressed himself through dance in the first film – who was able to forget the haunting quasi-pirouettes that came after Arthur’s first Morde or the utter cheering of his stair dance after his complete transformation into Joker?
And although Phillips has never directed a musical before, the first Joker film already proved that he can successfully operate outside of his comedic comfort zone. It wouldn’t be entirely outside of his wheelhouse, either — before Joker, Todd Phillips and Bradley Cooper’s production company achieved huge critical and commercial success with A Star Is Born, which marked their first collaboration with Lady Gaga.
We couldn’t think of a better choice to play this more dramatic version of Harley Quinn than Lady Gaga, either. While Margot Robbie obviously left an indelible mark on the character, her version of Harley exists in a universe where Jared Leto plays an entirely different Joker and would seem utterly out of place against Phoenix’s interpretation. Gaga’s involvement would also guarantee a bang-packed soundtrack, which is essential to any musical.
However, all of this is subject to Phoenix reaching an agreement with Warner Bros. and officially signing the project. Until then, we’ll just have to wait and see how things develop.
- Phoenix has been open about the possibility of a Joker sequel in the past…
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