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The most iconic villainous romance in all of comics is coming to the big screen, and a new poster teases just how suitable these two are for each other. Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck, better known as the Joker, and Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn are locked in a romantic embrace in the poster for director Todd Phillips’s upcoming Joker: Folie à Deux. The tagline reads “The world is a stage.”
This is the first fresh look we’ve gotten at Phoenix and Gaga in the eagerly-anticipated sequel to Joker since Valentine’s Day when Phillips shared a few new photos of the most twisted romantic partners in the game. The photos included a shot from what appears to be Arkham Asylum (or prison) and a third shot of the two all dressed up and dancing on a rooftop, an homage to a famous image created by artist Alex Ross, “Tango With Evil.” The new poster reinforces the fact that Joker: Folie à Deux will be, in many ways, a twisted romance.
Joker made quite the splash when it became the first live-action theatrical film within the Batman umbrella to receive an R-rating and had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2019, where it took home the top prize, the Golden Lion. From there, Joker conquered the box office and became the subject of quite a lot of conversation in the broader culture. Phoenix’s performance was unlike anything we’d seen in a superhero movie, or in this case, a supervillain movie, and it eventually netted him an Oscar for Best Actor. Joker: Folie à Deux has some fairly big clown shoes to fill, yet having Lady Gaga on board certainly helps.
The last time we left Phoenix’s sad sack Arthur Fleck at the end of Joker, he’d just gone on a killing spree in Gotham and became a folk hero to the downtrodden, poverty-stricken denizens of a metropolis that otherwise seemed to offer nothing but empty politicians and feckless cops. The orgy of violence that followed the Joker’s killing of TV talk show host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) included the murders of two of its most prominent citizens, Thomas (Brett Cullen) and Martha Wayne (Carrie Louise Putrello). The Waynes left behind a young son, you might have heard. The film ends with Arthur locked up in a mental asylum, and there’s an insinuation there that he kills the psychiatrist working with him—it’s not shown, but he has bloody footprints as he leaves a session with her, and we see him being chased shortly thereafter.
How Phillips and his co-writer Scott Silver advance the story from here is anybody’s guess, but we know that Folie à Deux will make the most out of Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn and that there are musical elements in the film. We also know that the title Folie à Deux refers to a medical term for two or more people suffering from the same or similar mental disorder; presumably, this would be Arthur and Harley. The sequel includes the return of Zazie Beetz as Sophie Dumond and the arrival of powerhouse performers like Brendan Gleeson and Catherine Keener. The rest is pure speculation, with the script locked up in Arkham Asylum for the foreseeable future.
Joker: Folie à Deux hits theaters on October 4, 2024.
Check out the full poster here:
For more on Joker: Folie á Deux, check out these stories:
New “Joker: Folie à Deux” Images Tease a Twisted Romance And a Famous Dance
New “Joker: Folie à Deux” Image Finds Joaquin Phoenix Soaked But Serene
“Joker 2” Director Todd Phillips Shares Photos of Lady Gaga & Joaquin Phoenix as Sequel Wraps shared madness.
Featured image: Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in “JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX.” Courtesy Warner Bros.
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