Summary
- Director Todd Phillips reveals a radical departure in Harley Quinn's character for Joker sequel, portrayed by Lady Gaga.
- Harley Quinn won't have her traditional backstory as a psychologist, instead portrayed as a fellow patient in Arkham State Hospital.
- The decision to change Harley Quinn's character in Joker: Folie à Deux is a bold move that may impact fans' perception of the film.
Joker: Folie à Deux is still almost two months away from release, but the director behind the highly anticipated sequel project is already giving fans his justification for one of the film’s most radical departures from currently prominent DC canon.
Joker was a runaway hit that shocked fans, critics and box office pundits when the DC-based Elseworld story remixed the oft clouded origins of Batman’s most iconic foe to massive success. The film would ride this wave to become the biggest R-Rated box office draw ever, with that impressive $1,078,958,629 record standing until the very recent success of Deadpool & Wolverine, which many would argue owes a lot to the proof of concept that Joker offered to Marvel Studios and others in the space like Sony. The sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, would be announced, and subsequently confirm the appearance of the Joker’s most iconic ally.
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While the idea of a sequel to such a singularly unique project had some questioning if Joker 2 would try to recapture lightning in a bottle or take on some more popular aspects of the DC mythos, it doesn’t seem like the sequel film is going to lean into any existing material when it comes to one major addition. Speaking with Variety in a robust interview about the upcoming film, director Todd Phillips revealed that the film’s version of Harley Quinn, fitting played in the musical sequel by the immensely talented Lady Gaga, would be taken in a very different direction from her traditional depictions. “The high voice, that accent, the gum-chewing and all that sort of sassy stuff that’s in the comics, we stripped that away,” Phillips explained. “We wanted her to fit into this world of Gotham that we created from the first movie.”
The deviation from prior incarnations has been a topic of discussion for a while now. Despite the sequel film taking place in Arkham State Hospital, an analogue for the iconic Arkham asylum, it’s previously been confirmed that Harley won’t be getting her original origin story as a psychologist driven mad by the Joker’s manipulations and her love for him. Instead, this Harley will reportedly be a fellow patient who plays into the protagonist’s delusions, a role that Gaga is reportedly perfectly suited for in more than just musical ability.
The decision to so drastically change up Gaga’s version of the character is a weighty one, as Harley and the Joker are even considered on part with DC’s Trinity in some quarters. While the Joker’s origin has always been ambiguous and shrouded in mystery, and the 2019 Joker offered a well-written version that resonated with a lot of the more grounded facets of the character, Harley is a different case. Despite her association with the Joker, Harley Quinn has a very well-established backstory that has remained more or less constant since her introduction in the 90s gem Batman: The Animated Series. Even her more recent rise to prominence as an independent woman now separated from her iconic lover still keeps the same basic origin and characterization, acting more like character development than a retcon. Many fans, even longtime fans of DC films, are quite precious about the Margot Robbie/Kaley Cuoco version of the character.
With an early Joker 2 review making a bold claim about the upcoming sequel being a darker film that will stand as one of the most daring films in modern times, there’s little doubt that the creatives behind the film have put their best foot forward here. The question of how fans will respond to the direction chosen, and what that will mean for the second film’s impact on the mythos established in the first film can only be answered on release.
Joker: Folie à Deux is currently set for theatrical release in the Unites States on October 4, 2024.
Source: Variety