Early negotiations are underway for Lady Gaga to play the lead alongside Joaquin Phoenix in Todd Phillips’ follow-up to the $1 billion worldwide smash movie Joker, which won the 2019 Oscar for Best Picture.
Scott Silver and Phillips have been collaborating on the script for some time, and they have finally given it to the studio. Joker: Folie à deux is the name of the new project, which was unveiled by Phillips last week. The title alludes to a medical word for a mental condition that affects two or more people, typically members of the same family. The actor’s involvement isn’t precisely a legal fait accompli just yet, despite the fact that the same social media image showed Phoenix reading the screenplay; insiders tell The Hollywood Reporter that Warners hasn’t finalized a deal with the actor, despite the two sides being engaged in negotiations.
Her character’s specifics are being kept a secret, although Joker is renowned for his on-and-off violent relationship with Harley Quinn, his doctor at Arkham Asylum, a mental hospital, who falls in love with him and becomes his sidekick and partner in crime. It’s unclear if Phillips and team are employing additional DC characters or going alone, as they frequently did with their previous film.
Gaga would play Quinn if a contract is reached. The Harley Quinn played by Margot Robbie, who most recently had an appearance in the 2021 film The Suicide Squad as well as numerous other movies, does not exist in the same DC reality as this new Quinn.
And that’s not all, according to sources, the sequel is also a musical.
Joker was far from a guaranteed thing when Warners initially released it. A Taxi Driver meets King of Comedy journey into lunacy set in a late 1970s deteriorating metropolis, the concept was a dark and brooding character drama. There were just $60 million in the budget, and it was thought to have no commercial potential.
