Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn First Look Revealed In Joker: Folie a Deux Set Photos
New set photos from Joker: Folie a Deux's production have emerged revealing the first look at Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. Lady Gaga is playing Harley Quinn opposite Joaquin Phoenix returning as Arthur Fleck, this universe's version of the Joker, whose transformation the first Joker movie chronicled in 2019. Lady Gaga is joining the cast as Harley Quinn, the character created for Batman: The Animated Series as Joker's henchman and later love interest. She's become an iconic character in her own right, leading her own film (played by Margot Robbie) and animated series (voiced by Kaley Cuoco). But Joker: Folie a Deux seems focused on Harley being taken in by Fleck's chaotic Joker philosophy.
The set photos show Gaga in a costume that's realistic but that still clearly evokes Harley Quinn's classic harlequin-like attire. Take a look below.
What is Joker: Folie a Deux about?
Joker: Folie a Deux is a musical chronicling Fleck and Harley's romance. Reports suggest that much fo the film will be set in Arkham Asylum. In addition to Phoenix and Gaga, the film also stars Zazie Beetz, Brendon Gleeson, Catherine Keener, and Jacob Lofland.
Margot Robbie has been supportive of Gaga offering her take on the character they share. "It makes me so happy, because I said from the very beginning that all I want is for Harley Quinn to be one of those characters, the way Macbeth or Batman, always gets passed from great actor to great actor," Margot Robbie said of Gaga's casting. "It's kind of like someone gets to do their Batman, or someone gets to do their Macbeth. I feel like, in not so many cases, are they female characters – Queen Elizabeth I, but beyond that, which I got to have a crack out as well, which I was honored to do. I was like, 'Wow! Cate Blanchett did Queen Elizabeth I. Now I get to.' It's such an honor to have built a foundation strong enough that Harley can now be one of those characters that other actors get to have a go at playing. And I think she'll do something incredible with it."
Joker director Todd Phillips has said that he not only pitched Joker as a series but as the start of a whole DC Films sub-franchise. "When I pitched them 'Joker,' it wasn't a movie, it was, let's do a whole label," he said in 2019. "They shut that down quickly and I get it. Who am I to walk in and start a label at a film studio? But they said, let's do this one."
He continued, "Here's the real truth about a sequel. While Joaquin and I have talked about it, and while touring the world with Warner Bros executives — going to Toronto, and Venice, and other places — of course, we're sitting at dinner and they're saying, 'So, have you thought about…?' But, talking about contracts, there's not a contract for us to even write a sequel, we've never approached Joaquin to be in a sequel. Will that happen? Again, I just think the article was anticipatory at best."
Joker: Folie a Deux opens in theaters on October 4, 2024.