Joaquin Phoenix has said that the upcoming Joker sequel could have been set “in space”.
The sequel to 2019’s Joker is set to be released on October 2, with Phoenix returning to the role as Arthur Fleck, and Lady Gaga taking on the role of Harleen Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn, the Joker’s sidekick and lover.
Joker: Folie à Deux takes an unusual departure from its predecessor in that it is a musical, but in a recent interview with Empire, Phoenix suggested that at one stage it could have taken an even more surprising genre turn.
“I had a curiosity about going further with the character,” Phoenix explained. “It felt like you could put him into almost any situation, and I would be interested to see how he would navigate it. I mocked up all of these posters of films that have already been made, like Rosemary’s Baby and Godfather, and I put Joker in them and I gave them to Todd [Phillips, director].”
“There was a running joke of, ‘What about Joker in space?’ But yeah, I was fascinated by where he would end up,” he added.
The film has been described as “mostly a jukebox musical”, and Phoenix, who picked up an Oscar for the first movie, recently said that Gaga was so impressed when she first heard him singing that she spat out her coffee.
It is thought it will include at least 15 “very well-known” songs, with one being named as ‘That’s Entertainment’, known from the 1953 Judy Garland music The Band Wagon.
The film is also set to star Steve Coogan, Atlanta’s Zazie Beetz, as well as Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich) and Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin).
Last September, Hildur Guðnadóttir – who worked as the composer of the first film’s score and returns for the sequel – also teased that the sequel will feature “a lot of music”. “That’s all I can give away,” she added.
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