Outside of the DCEU, the world of DC Comics continues to flourish too. Following the critical success of Cristopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight movies (in which the late Heath Ledger delivered one of his most memorable performances as the Joker), director Todd Phillips reintroduced fans to one of DC Comics’ most popular villains with the Oscar-winning 2019 film Joker.
The film tells the origin story of the titular character with Joaquin Phoenix brilliantly showing Joker’s transformation from a stand-up comedian named Arthur Fleck to a madman.
Since then, there have been whispers about the possibility of a Joker sequel and recently, Phillips himself confirmed that it was happening. So far, Phoenix is confirmed to be reprising the lead role. In addition, it was also announced that he’ll be joined by Lady Gaga who will play Harley Quinn.
At the same time, it also seems that, unlike the first movie, Joker: Folie à Deux will be a musical.
Talks Of A Sequel Followed The Box Office Success Of Joker
Despite its R-rating, Phillips’ Joker went on to earn over $1 billion at the box office and when that happened, rumors of a sequel started buzzing everywhere.
These rumors reached a fever pitch when The Hollywood Reporter released a November 2019 article claiming that Philips had already met with then-Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich with a proposal that would see him get “rights to develop a portfolio of DC characters’ origin stories.”
Many also took the report to mean that a Joker sequel was practically a sure thing. But then, Phillips denied it all.
At First, The Rumors Were Scoffed At
“I can honestly say to you there was no meeting that ever happened on October 7 where I marched in,” the director said in an interview, saying that the tip must have come from “some assistant trying to gain street cred with a writer.”
He also further clarified, “When I pitched them ‘Joker,’ it wasn’t a movie, it was, let’s do a whole label. They shut that down quickly and I get it. Who am I to walk in and start a label at a film studio? But they said, let’s do this one.”
That said, Phillips did admit that there had been some discussion about a sequel, explaining, “Well, a movie doesn’t make a billion dollars and they don’t talk about a sequel.”
That said, it has never progressed beyond talk.
“While Joaquin and I have talked about it, and while touring the world with Warner Bros executives — going to Toronto, and Venice, and other places — of course, we’re sitting at dinner and they’re saying, ‘So, have you thought about…?’ But, talking about contracts, there’s not a contract for us to even write a sequel, we’ve never approached Joaquin to be in a sequel,” the director added.
Just a few years later, however, a sequel did get confirmed with Phillips posting a photo of the script on Instagram, along with a photo of Phoenix already going over the script.
Will Joker: Folie à Deux Be A Musical?
There are certainly some early indications that this is the direction that Phillips is going. For starters, the critically acclaimed director had chosen to bring in Grammy winner Lady Gaga on board (which would also imply that Joker exists in a different universe from Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn) for a reported $10 million movie salary.
Moreover, an insider also recently told Variety that the film will feature some “complicated musical sequences” while also commenting that the sequel is “more like A Star Is Born than In the Heights”.
This apparently brought the film’s production cost to around $150 million so far (in contrast, the 2019 Joker had a reported budget of $55 to $70 million).
At the same time, actress Zazie Beetz, who starred with Phoenix in Joker, also seemingly confirmed that the sequel would be a musical, even saying that “it makes wonderful sense.”
“I wasn’t really surprised by that. Todd [Phillips] has always had a creative approach to the character. I love musicals, and I think of them as the characters are feeling and experiencing so much that they can only sing and dance about it, whether in sorrow or in joy,” the actress further explained.
“And so, I can see Arthur, who is feeling and experiencing so much, dancing and singing about it. He’s the Joker, so I think it makes sense to me.”
That said, it is unclear if Beetz will be returning for the sequel (although she’s reportedly in talks for the movie). But she’s also hinted that she would love to participate in a Joker musical herself.
“I can actually see that within myself as well, because singing and dancing is quite a cathartic experience for me,” Beetz said. Perhaps that’s one more surprise that fans can look forward to in the coming months.
