“Joker 2” Director Todd Phillips Shares Photos of Lady Gaga & Joaquin Phoenix as Sequel Wraps
It’s official—Joker: Folie à Deux has wrapped filming.
To celebrate the moment, co-writer and director Todd Phillips took to Instagram to share two images of his leads, Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck/the Joker and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. These are the most robust looks we’ve seen of the two scourges of Gotham in character yet.
“That’s a wrap,” Phillips wrote in his caption to his post. “Thanks to these two (+ the entire cast) and the BEST crew that the film industry has to offer. From top to bottom. Gonna crawl into a cave now (edit room) and put it all together.”
Lady Gaga wears a tattered coat and wears traces of eye makeup that is very much a staple of Harley Quinn’s look. Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck can be seen in what looks like a prisoner transfer bus, leaning against the caged window. These two are a match made in hell.
Phoenix earned himself an Oscar for Best Actor for his last outing as Arthur Fleck in the 2019 original film. He returns as the tormented would-be comedian turned antihero to Gotham, thanks to his violent and very public outburst at the end of Joker. Gaga is almost certainly playing Harley Quinn, the iconic partner-in-crime to the Joker and a woman known to suffer from her own battles with mental illness. As has been repeated many times on this site and elsewhere, the title Folie à Deux is the medical term for two or more people suffering from the same or similar mental disorder, which is precisely how you might describe the most demented relationship in all of comics.
The last time we got an official look at Gaga was when Phillips posted a close-up of her holding Phoenix’s face. The date of that photo? February 14. Phillips captioned the image, “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
Here’s the image from Valentine’s Day.
View this post on Instagram
And here are the latest images:
View this post on Instagram
Todd Phillips (@toddphillips) • Instagram photos and videos
245K Likes, 4,604 Comments – Todd Phillips (@toddphillips) on Instagram: “That’s a wrap. Thanks to these two (+ the entire cast) and the BEST crew that the film industry…”
The sequel will fall under the new DC Elseworlds banner within DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran’s retooled unified DC universe. Joker: Folie à Deux is slated to hit theaters on October 4, 2024.
For more on Joker: Folie à Deux, check out these stories:
First Look at Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn in “Joker: Folie à Deux” Revealed
First “Joker 2” Image Reveals Return of Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck
Brendan Gleeson on Why He Joined “Joker 2”
Lady Gaga Releases “Joker 2” Teaser Hyping Upcoming Musical Mayhem
Featured image: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 03: Director Todd Phillips attends the 20th Annual AFI Awards at Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on January 03, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for AFI)
