JOKER Director Todd Phillips Explains That a Third JOKER Film is Unlikely
It sounds like Joker: Folie À Deux will be the last film that Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix make in the franchise. Don’t expect a third movie to get made.
During a recent interview with Variety, Phillips explained: "It was fun to play in this sort of sandbox for two movies, but I think we’ve said what we wanted to say in this world.”
I believe he said this about the first film, though. They initially didn’t plan on producing a sequel and now we have a sequel coming. But, maybe this time they will stick to their guns and not make a third film even if the sequel makes another billion dollars.
Joker: Folie à Deux is set a few years after the first movie, as Arthur Fleck is a patient at Arkham Asylum, where he faces the death penalty. It’s here he meets and falls in love with a music therapist and fellow patient named Lee, which is Lady Gaga’s take on Harley Quinn.
The characters form a strong relationship over their shared delusions, and with the movie being a musical, they will be singing their thoughts and feelings.
Phillips also offered some insight into the musical details of the film, saying: "Most of the music in the movie is really just dialogue. It’s just Arthur not having the words to say what he wants to say, so he sings them instead.
“I just don’t want people to think that it’s like In the Heights, where the lady in the bodega starts to sing and they take it out onto the street, and the police are dancing."
Phoenix previously talked about what inspired him to make the sequel, saying: “It’s the only way that I can do any movie. If it doesn’t feel like it’s dangerous, if there’s not a good chance that you’re gonna fail spectacularly then... what’s the point?”
Phillips added: “That was literally the reason to do it. The only reason Joaquin would even do a sequel is if it felt frightening to him. One thing he really got off on in the first movie was this fear, every day, this nauseous fear of like, ‘What are we fucking doing?’
“He did not want it to be easy. And he wanted to feel as scared on this one. He goes, ‘Well, if I’m gonna do it, I just want to feel that it could not work.”
Phillips goes on to say that he doesn’t see this movie as a sequel, saying: “I don’t think of it as a sequel. Hangover 2 was a sequel. So often a sequel is more of the same, just bigger.
“Of course [Folie À Deux] is a sequel, but it felt like we were making something entirely different. It’s tonally and inherently something way more different.
“The first one subverted the expectations of what it was. So how do you do that again? I always said, early on, the film should feel as if it was made by crazy people. Like the inmates are running the asylum.
“It does feel like a big swing. You just go, ‘Well, f-ck it. Why not? What are we all doing here, if not to do that?’”
The movie also stars Zazie Beetz as Sophie Dumond, with Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland, and Brendan Gleeson who will be playing undisclosed characters.
Joker: Folie á Deux is scheduled for release on October 4, 2024.