Todd Phillips’ Joker probably didn’t need a sequel, but you’re getting one anyway. Now, Joker: Folie à Deux is on the way, and despite the controversy — the first spawned a thousand discourses upon its release and was called everything from a masterpiece to a total shitshow — we’re fine with it because Lady Gaga is in this one, and its the performance she might finally win an Oscar for. The shoot has wrapped, and the countdown clock has begun (less than a year until it hits cinemas); based on what the film’s cinematographer Lawrence Sher has told Definition magazine, the movie “is a big swing and it’s going to be really surprising to people”. He’s also revealed one of the key visual references for the film, which teases us more about its musical roots. Consider us hyped!
Here’s everything we know about Joker: Folie à Deux.
What is the plot of Joker: Folie à Deux? Who will Lady Gaga play?
Though details at this stage are scarce, the film’s working title is a reference to a medical term for an identical or similar mental disorder that affects two or more individuals. We now know that Gaga will be playing Harley Quinn, co-lead to the titular Joker, and likely share in his acute psychotic distress.
Her role is said to be a different DC universe incarnation of the character – the Joker’s infamous partner-in-crime and love interest has been most recently portrayed by Margot Robbie, whose pink-and-blue pigtails can be seen in the Suicide Squad movies and Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey.
Is Joker: Folie à Deux a musical?
Reportedly, music will play a bigger role in the sequel, and while Hildur Guðnadóttir — who won an Oscar for her score for the original — is back on board as the film’s composer, there’s no sign yet of who will be working on music and lyrics, if such an element of the film exists. Of course, Gaga was spotted singing on set (likely thing for her to do).
But we can also take hints from something Lawrence Sher, the film’s cinematographer, said in June 2023. In an interview with The Playlist, he said he broke down the visual elements of Francis Ford Coppola’s One From the Heart before Joker 2 started production, unpacking the film’s colour schemes. “I broke [One From The Heart] down for the new Joker because I wanted it to exist so that it was part of the conversation,” he said. “Whether or not those images ended up really influencing the new [Joker]—maybe in part they did—they became a conversation starter for me and Mark Freidberg, the production designer, and Todd Phillips, as we scouted in those early days.”
One From the Heart, a commercial and critical flop for the director of The Godfather, was a movie musical with a lurid, neon colour palette. Watch the trailer for it below.
Who else is in it?
Of course, in addition to Gaga’s Harley Quinn turn, Joaquin Phoenix will be reprising his titular Oscar-winning role. Zazie Beetz, who had a small but important part in the original as the object of the Joker’s obsession, Sophie Drummond, is also expected to return.
A two-time Oscar nominee who’s most recently known for playing the sinister matriarch in Get Out, Catherine Keener has been added to the cast list. Brendan Gleeson, currently gearing up for Oscar season with his latest film The Banshees of Inisherin, will be joining her. And then there’s a new younger casting, with Industry star Harry Lawtey and Jacob Lofland of Maze Runner fame joining the movie’s ranks. All we know about Jacob’s role is that he’ll be playing a key figure in Arkham Asylum.
Is there a trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux?
Not just yet, but we do have a teaser. On 4 August 2022, Lady Gaga posted a short animated video to Twitter confirming her involvement in the movie, that also showed a silhouette of Gaga with her hair in a neat bun, wearing a long Victorian-style dress and heels. Look closely and you’ll see a little red Harley Quinn-esque heart on her cheek.
What about photos?
Announcing that the shoot had wrapped via Instagram post, director Todd Phillips gave us our first official, individual look at Gaga’s Harley. And it’s truly a thing of beauty. She wears a mussed, platinum blonde bob, the smeared suggestion of dark eyes and a bold red lip, a lobotomy chic expression. A wide-collared black coat hangs off her shoulders, the geometric stitching echoing the character’s trademark harlequin pattern on her dress, the bodice edged with a small (notably clown-coded) tulle trim. Perhaps there’s hope for this movie yet.
Other images have also dropped since:
What about BTS photos?
Some sleuths in Los Angeles spotted the shoot unfolding and the whole thing was, naturally, documented on X (fka Twitter).
On 25 March, we got our first good look at Lady Gaga, and naturally the response online was feral. Spotted on the steps of a courthouse in New York, fan site Gaga Daily tweeted: “Lady Gaga is all smiles in between serving сunt on the set of Joker 2 today.”
In one clip that’s since gone viral, thanks to the Little Monsters watching from afar, Gaga’s Harley grabs a woman on the steps of the courthouse and kisses her.
When is the release date?
What does it all mean?! Well, we will finally find out why Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix go feral in Joker: Folie à Deux when it hits cinemas on 4 October 2024. Get that Oscar look ready, Gagz!