Posted in: Joker, Movies, Warner Bros | Tagged: joker 2, Joker: Folie à Deux

Joker: Folie À Deux – Arthur Is "Clearly Is Not A Criminal Mastermind"

The version of Arthur Fleck aka Joker we meet in Joker: Folie À Deux is "clearly is not a criminal mastermind. He was never that."

The more we learn about Joker: Folie À Deux, the more it becomes apparent that this might be one of those times when an original story has some recognizable IP painted over it to make it more appealing to the general public. It is an example of the opposite of "filing off the serial numbers." The first film was already moving very far away from anything resembling the character's lore or even anything resembling the comic book origins. The more we learn about the second film, the more it seems these are completely original characters that Todd Phillips and everyone else involved painted DC-branded clown makeup on and put out into the world. The entire point of the Joker is he is a criminal mastermind, the Clown Prince of Gotham, but when asked by Empire if Arthur in Joker: Folie À Deux is that character or would ever become that character, Phillips replied with, "We would never do that."

"Because Arthur clearly is not a criminal mastermind. He was never that," Phillips explained. "Arthur has become this symbol to people. This unwilling, unwitting symbol now paying for the crimes of the first film, but at the same time finding the only thing he ever wanted, which was love. That's always what he's been about, even though he's been pushed and pulled in all these directions. So we tried to just make the most pure version of that."

There is a difference between taking something in a new direction and creating an original work with recognizable IP that is cynically painted on for branding purposes. Maybe that's not what Joker started out as, but that does feel like the direction that Joker: Folie À Deux is heading in.

Joker: Folie À Deux: Summary, Cast List, Release Date

From acclaimed writer/director/producer Todd Phillips comes Joker: Folie À Deux, the much-anticipated follow-up to 2019's Academy Award-winning Joker, which earned more than $1 billion at the global box office and remains the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. The new film stars Joaquin Phoenix once again in his Oscar-winning dual role as Arthur Fleck/Joker opposite Oscar-winner Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born).

Joker: Folie À Deux finds Arthur Fleck 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.

The film also stars Oscar nominees Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin) and Catherine Keener (Get Out, Capote), alongside Zazie Beetz, reprising her role from Joker. Phillips, who was nominated for Oscars for directing, writing, and producing Joker, directed Joker: Folie À Deux from a screenplay by fellow Oscar nominee Scott Silver & Phillips, based on characters from DC. The film was produced by Phillips, Oscar nominee Emma Tillinger Koskoff and Joseph Garner. Lady Gaga served as music consultant. The film's executive producers are Michael E. Uslan, Georgia Kacandes, Silver, Mark Friedberg, and Jason Ruder.

Warner Bros. Pictures Presents A Joint Effort Production, A Film by Todd Phillips, Joker: Folie À Deux. The film will be released worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, and will be only in theaters nationwide on October 4, 2024, and beginning internationally on 2 October, 2024.

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