First Image for 'Joker: Folie a Deux' Reveals Lady Gaga's Harley Quinn Face-to-Face with Joaquin Phoenix's Joker

by Darian Scalamoni

    While many believed it was intriguing that Joaquin Phoenix would be coming on to play The Joker in an R-rated origin story from the director of The Hangover franchise, nobody believed that the film would become a phenomenon in and of itself. The 80s set psychological thriller surrounding the iconic Batman villain went on to gross over $1 billion worldwide against a modest budget of around $60-$70 million. Now, Phoenix and Phillips are returning for a sequel that has been confirmed to be a musical with none other than Oscar-nominated singer and actress Lady Gaga joining as Harley Quinn. Now, thanks to Gaga's Facebook page, we have our first look at the villainous couple together.

    In what was clearly a timely post on Valentine's Day, Gaga shared the image which features Phoenix's Arthur Fleck with marred clown makeup on with a smirk on his face clearly from the fact that he is mere inches away from the love of his life. The ending of Joker featured Fleck within Arkham Asylum, which is the presumed locale of the sequel, as within the comic tale of the romance between Joker and Quinn begins with Harley being his psychiatrist before falling for him in a twisted way. Filming for the sequel, which is titled Joker: Folie a Deux began in December so they may not have much time left of filming. 

    Joker was nominated for a whopping 11 Academy Awards as well, earning two wins for Phoenix's performance as well as Best Original Score from Hildur Guonadottir for the haunting anthems that played throughout the film. Guonadottir will return to compose the score for Folie a Deux. Zazie Beetz, who appeared in the first film as Sophie will return for the sequel while Brendan Gleeson and Catherine Keener will also join the ensemble. Joker: Folie a Deux looks to follow up the massive success set forth from Joker, which is the highest-grossing R-rated film of all-time. 

    The film will be one of the Elseworlds titles that James Gunn alluded to during his presentation to Warner Bros. about the future of DC Studios late last month. Matt Reeves' BatVerse will also serve within Elseworlds while other DC Studios titles Shazam! Fury of the Gods & The Flash are expected to operate in and reset the DCU timeline for new adventures. Some of those new adventures will include a new Superman, Batman and completely new additions such as Swamp Thing and The Green Lantern Corps. 

    Gaga has transitioned to doing more acting following her success starring alongside Bradley Cooper in A Star is Born. She followed that up with Ridley Scott's House of Gucci and will now be the second actress to portray Harley Quinn in live-action after Margot Robbie. 

    Joker: Folie a Deux hits theaters on October 4, 2024. Check back here at Cinema Wave for more updates on that film and much more within DC Studios.