What do you do when you have a surprise $60 million film go on to earn over a billion dollars at the box office? If you're Warner Bros. you give the director of the film the keys to the kingdom.
And that's exactly what the studio did with its sequel to its 2019, psychological comic book thriller, Joker. However, the studio probably didn't expect Todd Phillips to develop a musical for his follow-up. When details on the sequel were revealed in June 2022, it certainly elicited a polarizing reaction in our comment section!
Titled Joker: Folie à Deux, filming on the project recently wrapped up in April, and rumors speculate that the musical nature of the film is due to the audience's viewpoint shifting away from Joaquin Phoenix's Joker, with the sequel being told from the perspective of Lady Gaga's Harley Quinn. Apparently, this version of Harley views the world as one big musical.
Recently, cinematographer Lawrence Cher was back in the news, in an interview with Definition Magazine (via ComicBook). Apparently, the Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated cinematographer also views the musical nature of the sequel as somewhat of a risky proposition.
"Next year we're releasing the new Joker movie, and we're currently in the final stages of post-production," Sher told the magazine. "It's a pretty risky movie and it's going to be surprising for people. I'm so excited for everyone to see it."
Sher's comments come on the heels of his somewhat recent interview, where he disclosed that he initially had trouble working with Lady Gaga on set until he found the trick to communicating with the talented musician-turned-actress.
It seems there was weird tension between the two until another crew member gave Sher an inside tip.
"Oh you know, Stef would like if you just called her Lee on set.’ And I was like, oh, 100 percent, and I literally said, the next thing I said, was something ‘Lee,’ and it was like everything changed. From that point on, it was like she was… our whole connection changed. I was like, alright, cool."
Gaga is a much-publicized method actor and likes to stay in character during her various film production. For her Best Actress Academy Award nominated turn in A Star Is Born, Lady Gaga reportedly stayed in character for over a year.
Do you think Phillips, Phoenix and Gaga will recapture the magic of the 2019 film when Folie à Deux hits theaters on October 4, 2024? Warner Bros. is certainly hoping so, as the sequel has a substantially larger production budget.