Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux is hitting theaters and fans may have already noticed from the trailers that it’s set to take the first Joker movie and go far bigger. The sequel follows from the story of the first movie: after the events of Joker, Arthur Fleck is institutionalized in Arkham, awaiting his trial for his crimes. While fighting his identities, he discovers true love in the form of Harleen Quinzel, and they ignite a storm that threatens to rip Gotham City apart at the seams.
The first Joker movie was a huge hit, making almost $1.1 billion as an R-rated movie and picking up a couple of Academy Awards despite being divisive among critics and getting solidly mixed reviews. While it was originally conceived as a one-off, Hollywood is never an industry to not greenlight a sequel when a movie makes big bucks, and it was soon announced that a Joker 2 was on the way, continuing Arthur Fleck’s upending of Gotham on a grander scale.
A few interesting tidbits were teased and intrigue picked up when Lady Gaga was announced to have been cast in the role of Joker’s longtime love interest, Harley Quinn. While its box office is not tracking quite as high as the first Joker movie, there’s still plenty of excitement for the sequel. Here’s what to know before seeing Joker: Folie à Deux.
The Cast Of Joker: Folie à Deux Is Stacked
The cast of the Joker sequel has some pretty great talent attached to it, both returning and new. Check out just some of the names on the roster:
- Joaquin Phoenix – Arthur Fleck/Joker
- Lady Gaga – Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn
- Zazie Beetz – Sophie Dumond
- Brendan Gleeson – Jackie Sullivan
- Catherine Keener – Maryanne Stewart
- Steeve Coogan – Paddy Meyers
- Ken Leung – Dr. Victor Liu
That cast is rounded out by plenty of talented newcomers in important roles, like Harry Lawty in the role of Harvey Dent. The cast does the heavy lifting in a sequel that jumps into a different genre entirely.
Joker: Folie à Deux Is A Musical
In a departure from most comic book flicks, even those that are daring and weird, Joker 2 is not just a comic book movie, not just a crime movie, but also a musical. That was rumored and pretty much a given as soon as Lady Gaga signed on, but few expected it to lean so heavily into musical fantasy. An extra bit of fun byproduct of that is that Joker: Folie à Deux has not just one soundtrack, but two: Lady Gaga announced she’ll be putting out an original album titled Harlequin to complement the film’s official soundtrack.
Clearly, music lovers and comic book lovers alike will find lots to love in the Joker sequel, which sees Joaquin Phoenix as good as ever in the role of Joker and Lady Gaga as the perfectly deranged Harley Quinn.
Get tickets for Joker: Folie à Deux
