Like its predecessor, Todd Phillips' Joker: Folie À Deux will have its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, which gets underway today.
Despite going on to become a huge hit, the first Joker proved to be polarizing when it screened at Venice back in 2019, and Festival director Alberto Barbera believes the sequel will ruffle just as many feathers.
"If you expect just a second part of the previous one, exactly the same kind of narrative and situation and so on, you are wrong, because the theme is much darker," he told Vanity Fair in a recent interview. "It is much more inventive from every point of view. It's completely unexpected. I think it is very bold, and brave, and creative, and an incredibly original film."
We'll be sure to share the first reactions when the movie screens on September 4. In the meantime, Warner Bros. India has shared a pair of character posters spotlighting Joaquin Phoenix as the returning Arthur Fleck and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, aka "Lee."
If it wasn't already clear from the trailers, Gaga's interpretation of the popular DC Comics villain/anti-hero will be very different to both her comic book counterpart and Margot Robbie's previous big-screen version of the character.
"The high voice, that accent, the gum-chewing and all that sort of sassy stuff that’s in the comics, we stripped that away," director Todd Phillips said in a recent interview. "We wanted her to fit into this world of Gotham that we created from the first movie."
Deadpool and Wolverine recently passed Joker's lifetime gross to become the biggest R-rated movie of all time, but Folie À Deux could well reclaim the global box office crown when it arrives in theatres this October.
As for a potential threequel, Phillips doesn't see it happening: "It was fun to play in this sort of sandbox for two movies, but I think we’ve said what we wanted to say in this world."
“Joker: Folie À Deux finds Arthur Fleck institutionalized at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that's always been inside him."
From acclaimed writer/director/producer Todd Phillips comes Joker: Folie À Deux, the much-anticipated follow-up to 2019’s Academy Award-winning Joker, which earned more than $1 billion at the global box office and remains the (second) highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.
The new film stars Joaquin Phoenix once again in his Oscar-winning dual role as Arthur Fleck/Joker, opposite Oscar winner Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born). The film also stars Oscar nominees Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Catherine Keener (Get Out, Capote), alongside Zazie Beetz, reprising her role from Joker.