Todd Phillips Shares First Look At Joaquin Phoenix In Joker: Folie á Deux As Filming Begins
Today is officially Day One of filming on "Joker: Folie á Deux," according to a post by director Todd Phillips on Instagram. Phillips shared an image of Joaquin Phoenix's violent antihero, Arthur Fleck, getting a close shave ahead of his return to this darker corner of the DC Universe. After all, it's a real pain to put clown makeup on over stubble, and he wants to look presentable for his lady.
An animated teaser for the sequel to 2019's "Joker" was released back in August, showing artsy silhouettes of Phoenix's Joker and Lady Gaga's Harley Quinn dancing "Cheek to Cheek." Since then Phillips has been assembling an exciting supporting cast, including Catherine Keener and Brendan Gleeson, with Zazie Beetz also in talks to reprise her role as Sophie.
The movie's title, "Folie á Deux," is taken from the French phrase meaning a madness shared by two people. At the end of "Joker," Arthur Fleck was confined to Arkham Asylum but made a break for freedom after seemingly killing his therapist, leaving bloodied footprints in his wake. Whether or not he actually makes it out of the building was left ambiguous, but assuming the orderlies caught up to him, he's perfectly positioned for his canonical first meeting with Dr. Harleen Quinzel — aka the future Harley Quinn.
Two hearts, believing in just one mind
As established in the "Batman: The Animated Series" episode "Mad Love," Harley Quinn's origin story is that she was the Joker's psychiatrist while he was in Arkham Asylum. Dr. Quinzel became fascinated by Mr. J and eventually fell in love with him, helping him to break out of Arkham Asylum and changing her look and her name to match his aesthetic. Hey, we all do crazy things for love.
We've yet to get our first look at Lady Gaga in the role, but the image shared by Phillips shows Arthur Fleck getting his chin shaved by someone in a uniform, most likely an orderly, so it seems like his first escape attempt wasn't completely successful. It did leave him in need of a new therapist, though...
While Phillips (who once again co-wrote the screenplay with "Joker" writer Scott Silvers) might choose to do a straightforward adaptation of Harley Quinn's origin story, it seems likely that he'll put his own spin on it, the same way he invented an original backstory for the Joker in the first movie. After all, we've already seen the "Mad Love" iteration of Harley's origins relatively recently in David Ayer's "Suicide Squad." There's no need to turn it into another "Bruce Wayne's parents getting shot in Crime Alley" sequence.
"Joker: Folie á Deux" will arrive in theaters on October 4, 2024.