by Director Todd Phillips has shared a first look at the upcoming DC Comics movie, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” the sequel to 2019’s “Joker.”
The filmmaker, best known for directing the “The Hangover” franchise, posted on Instagram a photo from the film’s first day of shooting on Saturday afternoon, starring Joaquin Phoenix.
“Day 1. Our boy. #joker,” Phillips wrote alongside a photo of Phoenix reprising his Oscar-winning role as Arthur Fleck, aka the Joker.
In the cryptic image, Phoenix, 48, is seen lying shirtless with a dead-eyed expression and staring at the ceiling, as his character shaves his face from what appears to be an orderly at Arkham Asylum.
Fans of the film will remember the final shot of 2019’s R-rated “Joker” which showed Fleck running through the halls of the asylum to the tune of Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life,” leaving trails of bloody footprints, clearly having murdered another victim.
Poised to be a musical, the sequel will star Lady Gaga as the Joker’s iconic love interest, Harley Quinn. Catherine Keener, Brendan Gleeson, and Zazie Beetz also star in the film.
In August, the Grammy-winning artist confirmed the casting news on Twitter. “Joker: Folie à Deux. 10.04.24,” she tweetedannouncing the film’s release date via an animated clip of Joker and Quinn dancing.
Margot Robbie, who played the sadistically cheerful on-screen Quinn in 2016’s “Suicide Squad,” 2020’s “Birds of Prey” and 2021’s “The Suicide Squad,” recently shared that she’s “so happy” Lady Gaga is assuming the role of the baseball. bat-wielding supervillain.
“It makes me very happy because I said from the beginning, all I want is for Harley Quinn to be one of those characters, like Macbeth or Batman they always go from being a great actor to being a great actor.” Robbie told MTV News in October. “It’s a great honor to have built a strong enough foundation that Harley can now be one of those characters that other actors try to play. I think he’s going to do something amazing with it.”
“Joker” was extremely successful at the box office upon its release, earning 11 Academy Award nominations. The film won Best Original Score and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Phoenix.
In November of that year, The Hollywood Reporter reported that The Warner Bros. sequel based on the DC villain was “on the way” after the original film grossed more than $1 billion.
While specific plot details about the sequel are still under wraps, “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which translates to “Joker: Madness for Two,” is set to open in theaters on October 4, 2024.
