In what has certainly come as a surprise in the news of the Joker sequel, globally renowned pop star and Academy Award nominated actress Lady Gaga has entered early talks to play the role of Harley Quinn in the Todd Phillips written and directed Joker: Folie à deux. She would, in theory, star alongside Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker, though he has technically not signed on yet to the film despite the announcement of the Joker sequel a week ago. It will certainly be interesting to note the potential interpretation differences between Gaga and Margot Robbie’s portrayal (who has been a rare consistent bright spot in the DC Extended Universe films). There is certainly the chance that this film continues the trend of deviating from the comic source material of characters like the original Joker did, which would help differentiate the variants of the two Harley Quinns.
Though the more unexpected element of this news is that the film is slated to be a musical. There are many questions to be asked about how Todd Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver ended up with this direction for the film. It certainly is a massive deviation from the dark and dreary Taxi Driver-inspired drama that was 2019’s Joker. This is especially the case coming from the wide-scale commercial and critical success of the original through being the fourth highest grossing R-rated film of all-time and racking up 11 Academy Award nominations. Though there is no arguing that it will stand out as an original premise within the superhero film landscape.
As of this writing, Joker: Folie à deux. does not yet have a release date.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
