Someone out there had Lady Gaga starring as Harley Quinn on their bingo board, and I'm vicariously excited for them. Fresh off the rumored reports of his promotion to a critical position in DC films moving forward, the director recently released an Instagram post announcing that he'd finished penning the screenplay for a Joker sequel.
Almost immediately after release, there was a persistent buzz about Joker—which was initially intended to be a one-and-done—earning a sequel. Once the film crossed a billion dollars at the box office on a $70 million budget, a sequel was virtually guaranteed. Many fans, myself included, wondered where a subsequent Joker film could and would go. Apparently, a musical was the answer we were looking for. Gosh, somebody's bingo board has to be on fire.
That's right, folks, the Oscar-nominated Lady Gaga has been rumored to bring a little song and dance to Arkham in Joker 2.
Lady Gaga is in early talks to star opposite Joaquin Phoenix in director Todd Phillips' sequel to Joker, the Oscar-winning, $1 billion-grossing, 2019 Warner Bros. hit based on the DC villain.
Phillips has been writing the script with Joker co-writer Scott Silver for some time and has finally shown it to the studio. Last week, Phillips revealed on social media the title of the new project — Joker: Folie à deux — referencing a medical term for an identical or similar mental disorder that affects two or more individuals, usually members of the same family. And while the same social media post showed Phoenix reading the script, the actor's involvement is not exactly a fait accompli just yet — sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that Warners has yet to close a deal with the actor, with the two sides deep into it.
Details on her character are being kept under wraps, but Joker is known for his on-off abusive relationship with Harley Quinn, his psychiatrist at the Arkham Asylum mental institution who falls in love with him and becomes his sidekick and partner in crime. It is unclear whether Phillips and company are using other DC characters or striking out on their own, as they did in many instances with the first movie.
If a deal makes, Gaga would play Quinn. However, this new Quinn exists in a different DC universe than Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, who most recently appeared in 2021's The Suicide Squad as well as several other films.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/joker-2-lady-gaga-joaquin-phoenix-todd-phillips-in-musical-1235154135/
Even though I have my reservations, the idea kind of makes sense. The previous film constantly featured Arthur Fleck shedding his mild-mannered persona to become the Joker through dance. Showing Gaga as Dr. Harleen Quinzel falling under the Joker's spell through elaborate dance numbers in a mental facility might be the perfect juxtaposition of humor and grit the film requires.
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