By Anthony D'Alessandro, Nancy Tartaglione
Warner Bros on Tuesday released the first trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to the 2019 smash that returns Joaquin Phoenix to his Oscar-winning role and co-stars Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. The film hits theaters on October 4.
The studio revealed the trailer during its studio presentation to exhibitors at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.
The trailer is about mad people — in love. Phoenix is seen taking the stage and performing in a nightclub. The footage is set against the ditty, “What the World Needs Now (Is Love Sweet Love).” Gaga and Phoenix run through the Manhattan streets and dream of dancing clad in elegance against a moonlit sky. The trailer ends with Harley visiting Joker in jail — or Arkham Asylum.
Todd Phillips returns to direct and co-write the script for the sequel, which is billed as a drama with musical elements set in and around Arkham. The cast also includes Catherine Keener, Brendan Gleeson, Jacob Lofland and Harry Lawtey, with Zazie Beetz returning from the first film.
Philipps took the stage this evening and told exhibitors, “It’s been five years since I was here last. Did I miss anything? Just a global pandemic, dual strikes, an economic downturn. … I’m sure it didn’t affect any of you.”
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He said he had wanted to come earlier to thank exhibitors for their support of Joker, but the pandemic hit right in the aftermath. Deadline hears that Phillips was literally scheduled to come and open CinemaCon 2020 before Covid hit and that edition was canceled.
Today he said: “About a month before the film came out in 2019, the narrative turned and there started to be bizarre warnings; it was amazing that exhibitors didn’t flinch. That attitude was a huge reason for our success. It’s a little late now but I wanted to thank you.”
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“When we were making the first movie Joaquin and I always talked about making a sequel really because we were having a great time but we were never really serious,” he added.
“Then when Joker became a huge success we talked about it during the pandemic and decided to do it and we had a blast doing it.”
He continued about the sequel: “We cast Gaga because she’s magic. I was a producer on A Star is Born and that was where I was like she has magic in her.”
“I’ve never talked about it as a musical, but it’s a movie where music is an essential element.”
“The first ways I described Arthur were as weird and aloof and distant, but he has music in him, he has a grace to him. That informed him a lot in the first film. It didn’t seem like that big of a step what we did here.”
But as you can see in the trailer, it’s a seismic notch up. Who knew that was even possible given how much Joker played like a commentary on society, ala Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, more than a DC movie.
The first Joker was a massive hit for Warner Bros/DC, surpassing Deadpool to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, clocking $1.08 billion at the global box office. It scored 11 Oscar noms including Best Picture, winning for Phoenix’s performance and for Original Score.
The new film also carries a R rating for “strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality, and brief full nudity,” per the MPA.
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In Warner Bros’ DC universe, Joker: Folie à Deux is part of DC Elseworlds and is not part of the universe that Peter Safran and James Gunn are building since taking the helm of DC Studios.
Check out the trailer above.
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