Joker 2 Composer Already Working on Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga Musical

When news of a Joker sequel began to make the rounds, in a way that indicated that it was actually happening, it came with the surprising news that the follow-up was taking a hard left turn and would be a musical. The casting of Lady Gaga as the co-star of the film really cemented how serious they were taking this aspect of the movie and reports have circulated since then that the musical numbers will be pretty big. Now a new update from the sequel’s progress has made its way online, one that offers more of an indicator into the musical aspects of the movie.

Speaking in a new profile for Variety, Oscar-winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir offered a tease of her work on Joker 2, revealing that she’s only recently begun composing the music for the sequel. She offered no specifics about whether she’s just writing the score for the film or is also involved in original songs for the movie’s musical beats, but the potential is there for it. The movie won’t actually be released until the fall of 2024 though, so there’s a lot of time left for her to create the sequel’s music.

“I had been going about my music for 20 years and no one really cared that much,” the Icelandic musician said of her life before winning the Academy Award for the DC movie. “It was a huge change for me to have so much attention. Then, of course, straight after the Oscar, COVID hit. So it was a complete U-turn from all the events to just seeing no one. And it made the whole thing a little bit surreal – being by myself, then being around all these people, and then again being alone.”

Even though Guðnadóttir was very quickly thrust into the spotlight with the success of Joker, she has only composed the score for two other movies since then, Women Talking and Tár. Both of the films were release last year, and the former could very well land her another Academy Award.

“I’m very picky,” Guðnadóttir told the trade about her only doing two other films since Joker. “It’s very important for me to be present for the project that I’m working on, that I have the time and space and mental energy to really live inside the story that I’m telling.”

Joker: Folie a Deux is set to be released in theaters on October 4, 2024.