Joker: Folie à Deux deserves its own Gaga Cut, but Todd Phillips gets the last laugh

Director Todd Phillips had us dancing to a different tune when he returned to the world of DC Comics for Joker: Folie à Deux, a sequel to his monumentally successful film Joker. And while it initially looked like he’d be laughing all the way to the bank, the movie has vastly underperformed at the box office and taken a critical beating. With 2019’s Joker being the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time (until it was dethroned by Deadpool & Wolverine), there were high hopes that its sequel could potentially outperform it, especially with Lady Gaga on board as fan-favorite villain Harleen Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn.

Like with the original Joker, Folie à Deux takes place in a more grounded version of Gotham City; we only got a fleeting glimpse of a young Bruce Wayne (Dante Pereira-Olson) in the first movie and nothing in the sequel. Instead, the story focuses on Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck, who is this world’s Joker…or so you’d think. As Joker and Harley Quinn are two of most iconic characters in comics, fans expected to see a lot of the Clown Princess of Crime alongside Phoenix’s downtrodden clown.

No laughing matter

While we always knew Joker: Folie à Deux would be the Arthur Fleck show, it was disappointing to see Mr. J hog the limelight while “Lee” Quinzel is left waiting in the wings. Noticeably, fans have picked up how a number of her seemingly major scenes have been axed from the film, including what looks like a different ending and possibly even a whole musical number. Now, a clown posse of disgruntled viewers is demanding Phillips and Warner Bros. release the “Gaga Cut.”

There appear to be five key Harley moments axed from Joker: Folie à Deux, with the first being a shot of a smudge-faced Lee in an elevator. Gaga herself shared the image on Instagram after filming had wrapped, and after giving us one of our first official looks at the character, it's no surprise it became synonymous with her.

Another iconic shot included Lee and Arthur performing a big musical number on the courthouse steps. Although we never get to know what song they were singing, a shot of the pair in these outfits and performing kicks was so memorable that it was used as a promo poster outside cinemas in the United Kingdom. You can also see it in trailers, around the 2:20 mark below:

Phillips has also spoken about why one scene of Harley kissing a female bystander at Arthur’s trial was left on the cutting room floor. The same-sex kiss appears during a soft dance moment as Lee enters the courtroom. Despite it seemingly adding another layer to Lee, it was mysteriously MIA from the finished movie. Omitting it has led to some accusations of LGBTQ+ erasure, but speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Phillips himself says it was cut for pacing:

"It had dialogue in it, and, all of a sudden, I wanted it to be more of a music and vibe moment. For that moment to have played, it needed dialogue behind it. Meaning, the woman said something, and then Gaga stopped and did this thing, and it just kind of got in the way of the moment."

Then there are two big moments that both took place on the very tall staircase on which Arthur dances in the first movie. Behind-the-scenes footage showed Gaga walking up the stairs; since she's still sporting Lee's longer hair, we know it must’ve happened early on in the movie. We were also robbed of an alternate ending. You don’t get someone like Gaga in a movie like this without getting her to flex her musical might, and in one video, we see her doing a merry jig and singing a jazzier version of "That’s Entertainment" that hints at a less sombre version of Lee’s final meeting with Arthur. Some have used this wackier take of the scene to theorise that Lee took her own life a few scenes earlier, but Phillips confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that it’s a very real interaction, unlike Arthur's fake romance with Zazie Beetz’s Sophie.

Release the Gaga Cut

Warner Bros. is no stranger to giving its DC movies new cuts, with Zack Snyder’s Justice League finally restoring the director’s original vision for the movie after he had to depart 2018’s Justice League due to personal reasons. Suicide Squad director David Ayer has also teased us about a potential "Ayer Cut," which is apparently much darker and puts a whole new light on Jared Leto’s own version of the Joker from that film.

Given that Gaga was (literally) used as the poster girl for Joker: Folie à Deux but had significantly less screen time than advertised, it has become a sore point for many. Phillips has been criticized, and some fans are trying to determine whether the stars are down on the film; some of tried to use lip-reading techniques to decipher whether Phoenix says, “It’s horrible,” after the movie debuted at the Venice Film Festival. Sadly, despite calls for the Gaga Cut, it doesn’t look like we’re getting one.

Amidst reports that Phillips wanted nothing to do with James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios during production of the movie, as well as apparently refusing to run test screenings, he seems more than done with the story. The director told The Hollywood Reporter, “I feel like my time in the DC Universe was these two films.” Gaga expressed an interest in a potential Harley Quinn solo movie to Hits Radio, saying, “I definitely don’t feel done with Lee as a character.” But that doesn't sound like it's in the cards. Returning to Phillips' THR interview, the director said: “It’s not really where this movie is headed for me.”

It’s unclear whether this is the end for Lady Gaga’s short time in her clown shoes. We’ll have to wait and see whether more comes to light when Joker: Folie à Deux comes to home release. For all we know, there could be a treasure trove of deleted scenes that fans can stitch together for their own unofficial extended cut. For the time being, though, it seems Phillips has the last laugh when it comes to the mythical Gaga Cut.

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