All the Details on ‘Joker 2’ Starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga

“Joker” is nothing but a comedy, and the return of Joaquin Phoenix as “Batman” baddie Arthur Fleck is more than highly anticipated.

“Joker” was the sixth highest-grossing film of 2019 after winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The film made history as the first R-rated movie ever to gross over $1 billion worldwide. Phoenix went on to take home an Academy Award for Best Actor, along with Hildur Guðnadóttir earning an Oscar for Best Original Score. “Joker” landed 11 nominations overall.

Phillips confirmed a “Joker” sequel in June 2022 with an Instagram post teasing the title. The film is set to be released on October 4, 2024 from Warner Bros.

To note, folie à deux means an identical or similar mental disorder affecting two or more individuals, usually the members of a close family. And who may that “deux” be, you ask?

Step aside Margot Robbie and Kaley Cuoco, there’s a new Harley Quinn in Gotham. Academy Award winner Lady Gaga will be taking on the role opposite Phoenix’s Joker as a love interest (and equally unhinged counterpart) Harley. Or, as the term folie à deux infers, perhaps Harley is another familial relation for Arthur aka Joker. Only time will tell…

Gaga was previously nominated for Best Actress in “A Star Is Born” and took home the Academy Award for Best Song. Critics also called out the Academy snub for Gaga’s turn in “House of Gucci.”

“Joker 2” Is a Musical
Lady Gaga leading the “Joker” sequel makes perfect sense since the film will be a musical. An animated teaser set to Irving Berlin’s “Cheek to Cheek” seems to expand on the dance elements of the first movie, and no doubt will put Grammy winner Gaga’s voice on display. Writer-director Todd Phillips previously told IndieWire’s Anne Thompson that it was lead actor Joaquin Phoenix’s idea to dance in the pivotal public bathroom scene after committing his first murder.

Phoenix also told Anderson Cooper on “60 Minutes” that he felt like Arthur aka Joker “had moved way past that and that there was the opportunity to express something else, but I didn’t know precisely what that was…I thought there was some kind of movement, some physical transformation, right? A metamorphosis.”

Phillips eventually brought in choreographer Michael Arnold, who also worked on “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “The Post,” and “The Irishman.” Arnold introduced Phoenix to videos of vaudeville performer Ray Bolger, whose dance technique informed Joker’s unique movements.