After almost three years since the original Joker movie starring Joaquin Phoenix has been released, there were plenty of speculations about the sequel, and those speculations were officially confirmed last June when writer and director Todd Phillips announced that he finished the script for Joker: Folie à Deux (Joker: Madness for Two). Joaquin Phoenix, who won the Oscar for his performance in the first movie is set to return. And now, thanks to Variety, we have a confirmation that A Star is Born and House of Gucci star Lady Gaga joined the sequel. It is presumed that Gaga will play the role of Harley Quinn, but that still needs to be officially confirmed.
Lady Gaga is known primarily as the singer, known for worldwide hits like LoveGame, Poker Face, Paparazzi, and Shallow, which she performed with Bradley Cooper in Cooper’s A Star is Born which he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in. Gaga was nominated for the Academy Award for her performance in that movie, and she won the Academy Award for the Original Song Shallow. Last year she starred in Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci as Patrizia Reggiani, and this year she worked on the music for Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick. We can see that Lady Gaga has successful careers as both singer and an actress, and we are excited to see her in the upcoming Joker sequel.
The original Joker movie was released in 2019 and it became of the most successful DC movies ever. It grossed $1.074 billion worldwide against a $70 million budget, which makes it the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever. The movie received critical acclaim, and it was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. The movie won two Academy Awards, for Best Actor (Phoenix) and Best Original Score, composed by Hildur Guðnadóttir.
The talks about the sequel started almost immediately after DC saw what kind of hit they have. Although, even after the official announcement, some fans still think that the movie doesn’t need a sequel. The first movie was a massive success, so it’s not a surprise that WB and DC want more of Phoenix’s Joker, we can only hope that Phillips has a story good enough to justify the sequel and live up to the name of Joker.
Joker: Folie à Deux is set to be released on October 4, 2022.
