“I used to thinkJoker: Folie à Deuxwas a musical, now I realize it’s a f**king drama with music,” to paraphrase Joaquin Phoenix’s famous line inJoker. DirectorTodd Phillipsreturns to theaters this year with the eagerly awaited sequel,Joker: Folie à Deux, with Phoenix returning alongside Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. Since its conception, the sequel has been marketed as a full-blown musical, but Phillips says that label isn’t entirely accurate.
Todd Phillips spoke withVarietyabout the highly anticipated sequel to his Oscar-winning comic book movie. The term “musical” brings with it connotations of big song and dance numbers where every single extra breaks out into a perfectly executed dance routine. InJoker: Folie à Deux, that is not the case. Phillips explained that the musical numbers are formed through Arthur (Phoenix) and Harley’s (Lady Gaga) intimate communication. Don’t expect everyone at Arkham to start dancing with each other. The director said:
“Most of the music in the movie is really just dialogue. It’s just Arthur not having the words to say what he wants to say, so he sings them instead. I just don’t want people to think that it’s like In the Heights, where the lady in the bodega starts to sing, and they take it out onto the street, and the police are dancing. No disrespect, because I loved In the Heights.”
Joker: Folie a Deux
Joker: Folie à Deux is the sequel to Todd Phillips' critically acclaimed comic book thriller Joker. Reprising his Academy Award-winning performance as the failed comedian Arthur Fleck, Joaquin Phoenix revisits the iconic DC character alongside Lady Gaga, who makes her debut as Joker’s lover Harley Quinn in this standalone continuity of the DC Universe.
Not only isJoker: Folie à Deuxnot a fully committed musical, according to Lady Gaga, itdoesn’t feature professional singingby herself or Phoenix. Just like Arthur Fleck’s character, the singing had to be grounded and naturally woven into the story. The actress explained:
“We asked ourselves what would need to be true for two people to just break into song in the middle of a conversation? Where does the music come from when no one can hear it but the characters? Neither Arthur nor Lee are professional singers, and they shouldn’t sound like they are.”
Joker: Folie à Deux Features a “Grounded” Harley Quinn
Just as the Joker is strongly associated with Batman (who has yet to appear in Todd Phillips' Joker-verse),Harley Quinn is tied to the Joker.First introduced to the world as an original character inBatman: The Animated Series(voiced by Arleen Sorkin), Harley and the Joker have had a complicated and controversial relationship over the past 30 years. The character drastically rose in popularity with general audiences when Margot Robbie took on the role in David Ayer’sSuicide Squad, and later returned inBirds of Prey, and again in James Gunn’s reboot,The Suicide Squad. Robbie’s version was more modern and stylized, but still retained some of the character’s signature trademarks.
Just like Phillips did with the Joker in the first movie, transforming him into the disturbed but empathetic Arthur Fleck.Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinnis getting similar treatment. The character’s inclusion inJoker: Folie à Deuxcame from Phillips' desire to pair Arthur Fleck with a female version of himself, “who could serve as a dance partner in a kind of psychotic tango.” According to the director, Lady Gaga’s version of Harley Quinn is just as morally ambiguous, twisted, and manipulative as her comic-book counterpart, but lacks the character’s more zany trademarks:
“The high voice, that accent, the gum-chewing and all that sort of sassy stuff that’s in the comics, we stripped that away. We wanted her to fit into this world of Gotham that we created from the first movie.
Joker: Folie à Deuxreleases in theaters on July 19, 2025. Check out the latest trailer below:
