Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to Todd Phillips' Joaquin Phoenix-starring King of Comedy riff was inevitable since it took the box office by storm and nabbed Phoenix an Oscar. But how do you top that first go around? The only logical answer is to bring Lady Gaga on board.
It was announced last year that Gaga would take on the next iteration of Harley Quinn in Joker: Folie à Deux, which, somehow is… a musical? Yes, the sequel to Joker is a musical, this isn't a joke, if you pardon the pun. How the semi-realistic landscape of Joker's Gotham universe will introduce a bit of song and dance is anyone's guess, and we still have a bit longer to wait to find out.
In the meantime, here's everything we do know about Joker: Folie à Deux.
What is Joker: Folie à Deux about?
The big question – What on earth is this film going to be about?
While no one is entering a superhero adaptation thinking the door is closed on sequels, 2019's Joker set up a bleak future for Gotham that's fallen into anarchic disrepair. With it still up in the air whether Todd Phillip's world of The Joker is set to overlap with Matt Reeves' The Batman (although, unlikely, seeing as Barry Keoghan nabbed that cameo as the psychotic clown), this next iteration seems to be about The Joker's other great partner: Harley Quinn.
The drip feed of Joker 2 content has been sparse and intermittent since its first announcement, maybe a bit of guerilla marketing to make us all go insane with anticipation. Still, we've got another clue to add to our tiny stack of playing cards, as a picture of Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck out of his full clown glam has been released. It doesn't give much away about the still-mysterious plot, however, given that Fleck was last seen locked up in Arkham Asylum, it does allude to him at least being freed at some point. Although maybe that's all in his head – he does have a habit of doing that.
In the still, he's surrounded by umbrellas looking up at the sky, eyes closed as rain pours down on him. Is it too much to hope this is the lead-up to a stunning rendition of co-star Lady Gaga's song “Rain on Me”? This is a musical after all.
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Gaga's Quinn casting was confirmed by mother monster herself on Twitter back in 2022, with an 18-second graphic clip backed by an instrumental rendition of Fred Astaire's “Cheek to Cheek” — of course!
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We then got a look at a first-look still of the pair. With a simple nod to the film's title and a joker playing card, the extreme close-up shot shows Gaga clutching Phoenix's Joker – paint-smeared face and all – with a mix of horror and adoration. Basically the experience of watching The Joker the first time around.
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How the character will be rendered through the Phillips prism is anyone's guess, but we'd presume a distinction to be made from Margot Robbie's popular interpretation (see: The Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey). You'd be forgiven for expecting full-blown maximalism for Lady Gaga's version of Joker beau Harley Quinn, but if set photos from late March are anything to go by, her take on the character will boast a markedly minimalist aesthetic — dare we call it chic? It's on the other end of the spectrum to Margot Robbie's Birds of Prey lead, that very much being an all-out exercise in high camp.
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Gaga was shooting scenes at the New York County Supreme Court, with a reporter for Vulture getting all the goss from the second of the two days. Here, Gaga's Quinn was out of clown makeup, joined by Joaquin Phoenix as the clown prince of crime. One onlooker was reportedly disappointed to discover that the crowds formed at the Supreme Court were there to watch Gaga shoot her scenes — not the arrest of Donald Trump.
One self-described Little Monster snuck on to set pretending to be an extra with the object of getting Gaga to sign her boob which, if successful, she'd later get tattooed. Alas, she got “way too in the moment" and, after a brief shoulder-grabbing interaction with the star (who was, thankfully, “nice about it”) she was removed from set.
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As caught on videos posted across Twitter, one scene sees a protester heckle Gaga's Quinn, who responds with a forceful kiss. “I wasn't expecting her to kiss a lady onscreen,” one onlooker told Vulture. “She's fucking iconic! I've never seen something like that in my life.”
When is Joker: Folie à Deux released?
It's still very early days for the Joker's return, but Folie à Deux has already been slotted into the calendar for 4 October 2024.
The left-behind bad guy isn't your regular bad guy. He has much better suits, for one
That's exactly five years after the Clown Prince of Crime first danced his way to the top of the box office in Joker. At the end of that film, Arthur Fleck landed himself in Arkham Asylum after sparking riots that swept the whole of Gotham – and according to The Wrap, the sequel musical will mostly take place in the infamous hospital. With the success of Joker, it's likely the folks at DC are hedging their bets on its follow-up, what with the string of issues the studio has had lately including the axed Batgirl and The Flash stuck in limbo.
Nobody wanted a Joker sequel aside from those who inexplicably love it, but this is a Joker musical starring the biggest pop-come-movie star in the world, folks! If you thought Gaga's capital-M Method press tour was unhinged while she embodied an Italian murderess in House of Gucci, just wait until she's filling the squeaky shoes of a capricious comic book clown. Imagine the accent. The accent! Of all the products to emerge out of American cinema's perpetual sequel churn, a zany Gaga-starring musical Joker is about the best we could've asked for. Song one: We Live In a Society (Harley's Version). We'll be first in line.
