Lady Gaga, Joaquin Phoenix explore inclusion of music in 'Joker: Folie à Deux'

Five years after the Joker took over the world, writer/director/producer Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix are reuniting, this time with Grammy and Oscar winner Lady Gaga. 

For Joker: Folie à Deux director Phillips, using the music within Arthur Fleck was an easy decision for the sequel. “There’s a romance to Arthur in the first film, like when he dances in the bathroom,” says Phillips. “Arthur has music in him. That was a logical leaping off point for the sequel.” 

Joker: Folie à Deux. Copyright: © 2024 Warner Bros. Ent. Inc. All rights reserved

Adds Joaquin Phoenix, back in his Oscar-winning role of Arthur Fleck/Joker: “We started talking about music very early on.”

In the new film, Arthur Fleck/Joker is institutionalized at Arkham awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that’s always been inside him.

“We had to perform live and perform the songs in ways that maybe weren’t the most beautiful renditions of the song,” says Phoenix, laughing. “There was something very exciting about that.”

Lady Gaga, who joins Phoenix in Joker: Folie à Deux as Harley Quinn, shares why the music Arthur has is important. “This music within him, it’s messy, chaotic,” says the Grammy winner. “It’s expressing the complexity of love and in a way brings Arthur to life.”

Joker: Folie À Deux, distributed in the Philippines by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Discovery company, opens only in cinemas October 2 - to days ahead of its United States release. Check out the “The Music Within” featurette below. #JokerMovie