JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX Visual Style Inspired by Francis Ford Coppola's ONE FROM THE HEART
Director Todd Phillips is deep into post-production on Joker: Folie a Deux which is going to be a musical that’s mostly set in Arkham Asylum. We’ve now learned that one of the inspirations behind the sequel’s visual style is Francis Ford Coppola's 1981 film One From the Heart.
One from the Heart is also a musical, and the story is set in Las Vegas on the Fourth of July and centers on a window dresser and her boyfriend who break up after a five-year romance. It follows them as each of them finds a more interesting partner. The movie didn’t do too well, and it ended up bombing at the box office.
Coppola financed the film through his production company Zoetrope Studios, and he ended up spending way more money on the movie than he originally planned. After it flopped, Coppola had to work himself out of debt.
Regardless, of the film failing at the box office, it really is a beautifully made movie with a stunning visual style. It’s not hard to see why Phillips wanted to emulate that in his Joker sequel. According to cinematographer Lawrence Sher, the visuals in Coppola's musical "became a conversation starter for me and Mark Friedberg the production designer and Todd [Phillips] as we scouted in those early days."
He went on to say in an interview with YouTuber Matti Haapoja: "Even if it's not a reference that you're going to take on set and say 'I want it to look like that,' it's like brain food. It's dream food."
The movie also stars Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn and Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, a.k.a. The Joker. They are joined by Zazie Beetz as Sophie Dumond, with Catherine Keene, Jacob Lofland, and Brendan Gleeson recently cast in undisclosed roles.
The DC drama is currently slated to hit the theaters on October 4, 2024. Here’s the trailer for One From The Heart: