A new article in Variety discussing director Todd Phillips‘ upcoming musical/character study/courtoom drama/comic-book sequel Joker: Folie à Deux, includes a few heretofore unknown teases—including what transpires in the film’s opening moments.
As the outlet reveals, the sequel begins with “a Looney Tunes-inspired” animated sequence, guest-directed by The Triplets of Belleville‘s Sylvain Chomet. Following, the story goes “hurtling through prison riots, courtroom faceoffs and a variety-show sequence that finds [Joaquin] Phoenix and [Lady] Gaga portraying a homicidal Sonny and Cher” as the Joker and Harley Quinn. According to Phillips, “The goal of this movie is to make it feel like it was made by crazy people. The inmates are running the asylum.”
The piece additionally confirms Folie à Deux is set “two years after the first film,” and follows Arthur Fleck “facing the death penalty” in a psych ward after his on-the-air murder of talk show host, Murray Franklin. It’s there he meets a fellow patient, Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Gaga), “who is obsessed with him—or, rather, his alter ego, Joker. Arthur ditches his medication and prances into a fantasy world that often plays like the MGM musicals of yesteryear on acid.”
The outlet also reveals three of the songs the off-their-meds duo will perform include “Get Happy,” “For Once in My Life” and “That’s Life,” noting the Joker is “drawn to romantic ballads,” while Harley “prefers music about power.” Phillips is quick to note the film won’t stop in its tracks to perform familiar numbers, though, since “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.”
Variety’s piece continues to describe Lady Gaga’s all-new, all-different performance as Harley Quinn. “The high voice, that accent, the gum-chewing and all that sort of sassy stuff that’s in the comics, we stripped that away,” according to Phillips. “We wanted her to fit into this world of Gotham that we created from the first movie.”
Gaga told the trade, “Todd took a very big swing with this whole concept and with the script, giving the sequel to Joker this audacity and complexity. There’s music, there’s dance, it’s a drama, it’s also a courtroom drama, it’s a comedy, it’s happy, it’s sad. It’s a testament to [Todd] as a director, that he would rather be creative than just tell a traditional story of love.”
Despite potentially kicking off a new Joker and Harley multi-media franchise, Phillips concludes the interview by stating he (currently) has no plans for a follow-up to Folie à Deux: “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.”
Joker: Folie à Deux hits theaters October 4.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
