Joker: Folie à Deux isn't really a musical: "It's very different"

In 2019, Todd Phillips' movie Joker became the first R-rated film ever to make over a billion dollars at the box office, a feat duplicated by Deadpool & Wolverine earlier this year. A sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, comes out next month. How will Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix, who won an Oscar for his performance as Arthur Fleck in the first movie, top this? Just add music.

In the sequel, Lady Gaga is on board as Harley Quinn, the love of the Joker's life. Obviously, Gaga is best known as a musician, and there will be singing in the movie. Speaking to reporters at the Venice Film Festival, she outlines why she was interested in the part. “Joaquin’s performance set the bar extremely high. And I think sometimes when stories are told of people who are misunderstood by society, the actors and director can show you something unknown to you. And withJoker I felt I got to understand and see something I never understood before."

As for the singing, Gaga opined that, in her opinion, the movie falls shorts of being a proper musical, which might placate fans who get nervous around singing and dancing. “It’s very different,” she said. “The music is a way to give the characters a way to express themselves because the dialogue wasn’t enough.”

At the same time, Phoenix and Gaga do sing in the film; you can see a bit of it at the end of the trailer below, where they croak out a bit of the song "Get Happy." It's pretty obvious that Gaga is singing below her ability, the better to convey a sense of realism. Also, the pair sang live on camera. “Stefani said early on that we’re singing live and I said no we’re not,” Phoenix told reporters (Lady Gaga's real name is Stefani Germanotta). “And then we did. Not only did we sing live, but every part of the recording was live. Each take was a different version of the song and that felt really exciting.”

Why does the Joker sequel add singing and dancing?

Taking a sequel to a hugely successful movie like Joker and making it a musical is a big risk, but the first movie was pretty ballsy as well. Hopefully Folie à Deux will be another example of big risk, big reward. “I would say on this one I’m more nervous," Phillips told reporters. "There are a lot more expectations on a second film. There’s more nervousness.”

"If you remember the first film Arthur has a musicality to him. He is often dancing to express the way he feels. And Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score is almost a character in the first film. So when it started taking shape with actual music elements we thought what if we got Lady Gaga who actually brings music with her."

I don't know how the movie is going to go over when it comes out on October 4, but I know I'm interested. And that might have to last, because it doesn't sound like Phillips intends to make a Joker 3. “Did you see the movie?” Phillips joked, implying that whatever happens in Folie à Deux is definitive for the characters.

"No, I think for me, the story of Arthur/Joker has been told with this film. As far as continuing in this space, as a filmmaker, probably not. But everything I do is dictated by actors. What actor could I work with, who am I dying to work with? Clearly these films have been built around Joaquin and then we introduced Gaga. So I can’t say yes or no but I can’t really say it’s my goal to stay in this space."

Will Joker: Folie à Deux become the third R-rated movie to make over a billion dollars at the box office? I think the chances are good. And I'm glad that Phillips doesn't seem intent on turning this into a franchise, something that's all too common within the superhero genre.

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