Director Todd Phillips is celebrating the Christmas season by releasing two new official images from his much-anticipated sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux. Here they are:
As you can see, the first pic shows Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck in his Arkham Asylum cell. The second one shows him in court, in full Joker makeup, as his court-appointed shrink, Dr. Harleen Quinzel, played by Lady Gaga, looks on somewhat adoringly.
Phillips has been smart in how he’s been doling out official stills from the film. While Deadpool 3 has been struggling with the paparazzi posting spoiler images, Phillips, to combat this, has been releasing polished, official images that reveal just enough to get fans excited but don’t spoil the premise either.
As previously reported, Joker: Folie à Deux is rather unusual as far as sequels go, with it poised to have some major musical numbers worked into the plot. Interestingly, this notion didn’t really ruffle feathers among fans, as for the most part, everyone – fanboy or not – seems to love Lady Gaga following her impressive turns in A Star is Born and House of Gucci and feels she’s ideally cast as Harley Quinn. I think people also have a lot of faith in Phillips at this point, as no one really expected (or wanted) him to deliver a conventional sequel. The more unusual – the better.
Phillips was heavily inspired by two Martin Scorsese films when he made the first Joker: Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. To me, it looks like he’s taking heavy inspiration here from Scorsese’s New York, New York, a quasi-musical that was a major flop in the seventies but has since been re-evaluated as a masterpiece. Whatever the case, expect Joker: Folie à Deux to be one of the most-talked-about movies of the year. A lot of critics clutched their pearls when the first movie came out. I remember seeing it at TIFF and having many folks from other websites lecture me about how “dangerous” it was. There was a legit attempt by some to take the movie down a couple of notches, but it was all for nothing, as the film was a box office smash. Those same critics will likely love this movie now that the cultural conversation has shifted somewhat – but I digress.
Joker: Folie à Deux hits theaters on October 4th, 2024.