This week, Warner Bros. Discovery announced a number of significant changes to the DC Cinematic Universe, including the existence of a second Joker film. While the future of Supergirl and Batgirl remain in doubt, DC fans do have the sequel to Todd Phillips’ 2019 blockbuster film Joker, Joker: Folie à Deux, to look forward to.
Early this year, Phillips released a photo of the screenplay for the second Joker film, revealing the film’s subtitle will be Folie à Deux. Then it was announced that Joaquin Phoenix, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Arthur Fleck, would reprise the role, and that Lady Gaga, a global pop icon, would co-star with him. The first Joker: Folie à Deux trailer seemed to confirm Gaga’s casting as Harley Quinn, the Joker’s notorious accomplice in crime.
Some of the most shocking information about the impending Joker film is that it would reportedly have musical elements, which has elicited mixed responses from vocal fans. Although both Phoenix and Gaga have sung in films before, one actress claims there are many good reasons to turn Joker into a musical.
The 2019 film Joker, a dark psychological thriller with the Joker as the lead role, was met with mixed reviews from audiences. So it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that Phillips plans to surprise again by making a musical out of the sequel. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Zazie Beetz, who plays Arthur Fleck’s girlfriend Sophie in the next film Joker, shared her opinions on the decision to make the sequel a musical. The actress said that she agrees with Phillips’ “creative approach to the role” and that the genre switch “makes amazing sense.”
Beetz made a good point that, as Joker is essentially a character study, it makes logical for the sequel to take the form of a musical. It is also assumed that Joker: Folie à Deux would spend a lot of time at Arkham Asylum, as there is where Arthur was left at the conclusion of the first film. Breaking out into song or dance seems like a natural progression of the plot, given the setting of the institution, Arthur’s mental condition, and his intrinsic flamboyance as a character.
Even if Sophie does make it out of Joker alive, it seems likely that Beetz’s character arc will conclude in the film. It would be odd for Beetz’s character to show up at Arkham Asylum, given that Arthur would likely be preoccupied with Harley Quinn. Given Arthur’s history of hallucinations, though, there is no reason Sophie couldn’t make an appearance in flashbacks or dream sequences.
