Months ago, reports started to float around saying Todd Phillips’ “Joker” sequel was going to be a musical. This made people equally intrigued and confused. But now that we’re closer to the film’s release and we’ve seen a trailer, it makes a bit more sense. So, not only now are we expecting “Joker: Folie à Deux” to be a musical, but according to the filmmaker, this is also a farewell.
Speaking to Variety, filmmaker Todd Phillips talked about the origins of “Joker: Folie à Deux” and what people can expect from his DC film swansong. Apparently, the idea of a musical came from Joaquin Phoenix, who dreamt about his character, Arthur Fleck, singing and dancing on stage. And when Phoenix told Phillips about this idea, the duo started to think about the possibility of setting it up as a Broadway musical. There were just a slew of problems.
“When we started really thinking about it, we realized it takes four years to put something like that together,” said Phillips. “And is Joaquin really going to give six months of his life to do that every night onstage? Then we thought about doing it at the Carlyle as sort of a smaller thing. But COVID hit.”
So, when all of this happened, “Joker: Folie à Deux” became a film that would find the lead character singing and dancing alongside Lady Gaga, who plays a version of Harley Quinn, simply called Lee.
Now, we are only days away from the film having its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. In addition, the film is only a couple of months away from debuting in theaters around the world. Early estimates show the film will likely be another major hit for Phillips. (Don’t forget, the first film was the highest grossing R-rated feature of all time until “Deadpool & Wolverine” just recently overtook it.)
But with all the success that is expected to arrive, don’t expect anymore “Joker” films from Todd Phillips. The filmmaker believes after ‘Folie à Deux,’ his time in that world has come to an end.
“It was fun to play in this sort of sandbox for two movies, but I think we’ve said what we wanted to say in this world,” Phillips said.
We’ll just have to wait and see if this final ‘Joker’ film is the finale fans will embrace or not. “Joker: Folie à Deux” arrives in theaters on October 4.