Joker: Joaquin Phoenix, Todd Phillips Considered Broadway Spinoff of DC Movie

Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix briefly considered a Broadway follow up for Joker.

By Nicole Drum

Joker: Folie a Deux heads to theaters in October, with the eagerly anticipated sequel set to feature musical elements as it brings Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck back to the screen along with Lady Gaga's Harley Quinn, but it turns out that the follow up to 2019's Joker wasn't always thought of as a movie experience; it was, at one point, imagined as a Broadway act instead. Speaking with Variety, filmmaker Todd Phillips said that he and Phoenix considered bringing Arthur Fleck to the stage, at least until COVID happened.

"Todd was in the wings talking with me through a headset," Phoenix said. "I woke up feeling elated and called him, hoping he'd want to do a show with me."

"When we started really thinking about it, we realized it takes four years to put something like that together. And is Joaquin really going to give six months of his life to do that every night on stage," Phillips aid. "Then we thought about doing it at the Carlyle as a sort of smaller thing. But COVID hit."

The concept, however, ended up growing into something more and turned into Joker: Folie a Deux, which will see Phoenix's Arthur expressing himself through music, complete with stylized elements, something that Gaga said makes for a "very big swing" in terms of the film's concept.

"Todd took a very big swing with this whole concept and with the script, giving the sequel to Joker this audacity and complexity," she said. "There's music, there's dance, it's a drama, it's also a courtroom drama, it's a comedy, it's happy, it's sad. It's a testament to [Todd] as a director, that he would rather be creative than just tell a traditional story of love."

What is Joker: Folie a Deux About?

The follow up to Joker will be a musical following the twisted romance between Arthur Fleck and Harley Quinn. Much of the film is expected to take place inside Arkham Asylum. Joker: Folie a Deux is directed by Phillips with appearance from Zazie Beetz, Brendon Gleeson, Catherine Keener, and Jacob Lofland.

The film's casting director, Francine Maisler, has previously offered high praise for Gaga's work in the film as Harley Quinn.

"She's so good in it, you guys," Maisler explained. "She's going to blow your mind. I didn't suggest Lady Gaga. It wasn't my idea. That was Todd Phillips, before me. But I will tell you, she's really surprising — and really good. I saw it and I was really surprised. I mean, we all knew what she could do in A Star is Born, but I thought, 'Oh, well, that's kind of in her wheelhouse.' Something she could do and just be real. But this… Man, she's good. Joaquin blows your mind, but that she could keep up with him, and be real — and not just wiped off the screen by what that role is and what the performance is — shows she's good."

Joker 2 Will Open With a Looney Tunes-inspired Cartoon

It was recently revealed that one of the more unique elements of Joker: Folie a Deux will be a Looney Tunes-inspired cartoon that kicks off the film. The cartoon, from "The Triplets of Belleville" animator Sylvain Chomet", will star the Joker before sending the character off into the film.

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"The goal of this movie is to make it feel like it was made by crazy people," Phillips said. "The inmates are running the asylum."

Joker: Folie a Deux opens in theaters October 4th.

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