Variety: Todd Phillips on Joker: Folie à Deux

[Real Panda 7,527]

https://variety.com/2024/film/features/todd-phillips-joker-2-movie-interview-1236111122/amp/

“Joker: Folie à Deux,” is about to debut at the Venice Film Festival, and Phillips is feeling jittery about how the unconventional encore will be received. After all, instead of battling Batman, this Joker sings and dances with Lady Gaga.

“Todd took a very big swing with this whole concept and with the script, giving the sequel to ‘Joker’ this audacity and complexity,” says Gaga.

“Joker: Folie à Deux” may be his most go-for-broke gamble yet. It’s a movie that kicks off with a Looney Tunes-inspired cartoon starring the Joker (courtesy of “The Triplets of Belleville” animator Sylvain Chomet) before hurtling through prison riots, courtroom faceoffs and a variety-show sequence that finds Phoenix and Gaga portraying a homicidal Sonny & Cher.

Now, Arthur is locked up in a psych ward and facing the death penalty. But after meeting a fellow patient, Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Gaga), who is obsessed with him — or, rather, his alter ego, Joker — Arthur ditches his medication and prances into a fantasy world that often plays like the MGM musicals of yesteryear on acid.

As their bond intensifies, Arthur and Lee break into songs like “Get Happy,” “For Once in My Life” and “That’s Life” that convey their shifting emotions: He’s drawn to romantic ballads; she prefers music about power.

That led Phillips and Silver to Harley Quinn, a supervillain first introduced in a 1990s animated “Batman” series and later brought to life by Margot Robbie in films like “Suicide Squad” and “Birds of Prey.” But as played by Gaga, this Harley may be manipulative and amoral, but she’s also more grounded.

Gaga has proven that she can belt out any style of music (see her jazz albums with Tony Bennett), and Phoenix, who once channeled Johnny Cash in “Walk the Line,” is similarly gifted at carrying a tune. But Phillips and his “Joker: Folie à Deux” stars wanted to create a rawer, more unstable sound, fluctuating between euphoria and despair, even if that occasionally required singing off-key.

 

Edited August 20 by Real Panda

[Gagaplayer315 13,360]

5 minutes ago, Real Panda said:

Todd took a very big swing with this whole concept and with the script, giving the sequel to ‘Joker’ this audacity and complexity

But will it pay off  

[Real Panda 7,527]

8 hours ago, Gagaplayer315 said:

But will it pay off  

It will trust me, my mom's friend works for Todd Phillips and she says the movie is amazing! Go watch it in cinemas, you wont regret it!

 

This is a joke by the way

Edited August 21 by Real Panda

[Stephen 30,226]

Love them focusing on how risky the whole concept is. That shouldn't be overlooked. Gaga (and Joaquin) often make things look easy when they're not.

Edited August 20 by Stephen

[jackweller 293]

So far I’m pleased to see the promo is quite subtle. 

[A Very Gaga Holida 20,127]

I was thinking, I feel like Todd is (at least a bit) responsible for Gaga’s regain of passion lately, the Joker experience seems to have had a great effect on her artistic and therefore personal perspective. I think we can thank her fiancé Michael too. It feels so amazing to feel that Gaga’s happy and passionate again. 

[Butters Stotch 5,327]

Ohhh, so she's taking advantage of him and not the opposite... that's so interesting 

[Real Panda 7,527]

I just hope this movie makes at least $500 million in the Box Office. So at least Gaga would have a new Box Office peak.

A Star is Born - $436 million

House of Gucci - $166 million

[Nessun Dorma 2,251]

54 minutes ago, Real Panda said:

Gaga has proven that she can belt out any style of music (see her jazz albums with Tony Bennett), and Phoenix, who once channeled Johnny Cash in “Walk the Line,” is similarly gifted at carrying a tune. But Phillips and his “Joker: Folie à Deux” stars wanted to create a rawer, more unstable sound, fluctuating between euphoria and despair, even if that occasionally required singing off-key.

Not to belittle the acting part - which I’m sure was very demanding - but to purposely sing off-key must have been a hard thing for her to do. I mean after all those years her singing is a part of herself. 

[Roughhouse Dandy 8,085]

Lord they're really going for it. Potential new top 3 movie let's goooooooooooooo

[ModernEcstasy 8,146]

My God! She looks so hot in that wedding scene. 
 

I can’t wait for this movie. I can already tell I will want to go see it more than once 

[NewUsername 10,916]

23 minutes ago, ModernEcstasy said:

My God! She looks so hot in that wedding scene. 
 

I can’t wait for this movie. I can already tell I will want to go see it more than once 

ikr! She looks so good!

[Bowman 7,738]

 

she looks so goooood

[Real Panda 7,527]

7 hours ago, Nessun Dorma said:

Not to belittle the acting part - which I’m sure was very demanding - but to purposely sing off-key must have been a hard thing for her to do. I mean after all those years her singing is a part of herself. 

Its their creative choice to do so, I just hope the off key singing doesnt sound too bad. 

Edited August 21 by Real Panda

[OliviaRodrigoStan 4,209]

I wish none of those statements were shared publicly. Everything he said is super spoilery, and a lot DC fansites are already posting stuff like "Joker 2 opens with a Looney Tunes sequence", which is putting everyone off, and giving the wrong impression about the film's tone.