image copyrightAlon Amir/Warner Bros
Article information
- Author, Ian Youngs
- Role, Arts and Entertainment Journalist, BBC News
April 10, 2024
Lady Gaga with her music, dance and romance appear on stage in the sequel to the movie Joker (“Joker”).
The singer and actress plays a new version of Harley Quinn in “Joker 2: Folie à Deux” alongside Joaquin Phoenix, who won an Oscar for best actor for the first film, from 2019.
The couple meet and fall in love at Arkham Asylum before apparently escaping and forming a musical duo, according to the film’s trailer, released this Tuesday.
Director Todd Phillips stated that it is not a musical, as rumored, but that the music is “an essential element.”
Here are five things to highlight from the sequel’s trailer.
Allow Google YouTube content?Accept and continue
Warning: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. This YouTube content may contain advertising.
End of YouTube content
1. Gaga is the new Harley Quinn
Arthur Fleck (aka Joker) and Harley Quinn’s eyes appear to meet as she participates in a singing group at Arkham Asylum, where he was left at the end of the 2019 film.
In the original story she is a psychiatrist at the institution who is obsessed with the failed comedian and “crown prince of crime”, but in this film, she could be a fellow prisoner. It’s not entirely clear which side of the bars she is on.
image copyrightWarner Bros
“It seems to confirm a big change in Harley Quinn’s origin story,” wrote Alex Stedman in the specialized media IGN, “as it appears to show her as a patient at Arkham Asylum instead of a psychiatrist.”
“It appears that Dr. Harleen Quinzel’s days are behind her,” he noted.
But if she works instead of residing there, that might help explain how she can help him escape.
“Let’s get out of here,” he whispers, before the couple is seen in a fantasy dance sequence on the rooftop.
That cuts abruptly to a sandy Gotham street, where they continue their carefree dance as emergency vehicles race in the direction of the chaos they just caused.
2. The Joker and Harley Gang
image copyrightWarner Bros
“We use music to put ourselves back together. To balance what is broken inside us,” the main character is heard saying off-screen.
The Joker found a partner in love and crime, but also in music. In one scene, they act like The Joker and Harley on a television show, with a full band and backup singers.
The trailer has the soundtrack of What the World Needs Now Is Love, made famous by Jackie DeShannon in 1965.
“I like to say it’s a movie where music is an essential element,” Phillips said at CinemaCon on Tuesday, when asked if it’s a musical.
“To me, that’s not too far removed from the first movie,” he said, adding that in that original movie, “Arthur [Fleck] It’s got music in it.”
3. The staircase routine
image copyrightWarner Bros
One of the most famous scenes from the first film was the one in which The Joker danced on a stone staircase. In the new trailer, Harley is seen climbing those same steps.
In another clip, she and The Joker imitate their original dance as they walk down what look like courthouse steps, with crowds cheering on either side.
Fortunately, there’s no Gary Glitter music this time.
4. A white wedding?
image copyrightWarner Bros
At another point, Harley, wearing a white wedding dress and veil, dances down a hallway to a chapel, where The Joker waits in a white suit, apparently accompanied by showgirls as bridesmaids.
This is, however, one of several fantasy sequences reminiscent of classic Hollywood movie musicals.
That led one person on X to say that it’s similar to the 2016 musical La La Land, but for “people who hear voices.”
5. A fabulous final shot
image copyrightWarner Bros
After causing mass chaos, with riots in the streets, an explosion in a room full of television cameras (the same studio where they performed?), and The Joker and Harley running hand in hand out of a burning building, the trailer it quietly ends with Harley seemingly visiting Arthur in prison.
Using her red lipstick, she draws a curved line on the glass between them and tells him, “I want to see who you really are.”
Phoenix’s grim face slowly changes and breaks into a huge smile, which aligns with the now out-of-focus lipstick to suddenly become the Joker’s famous red face paint.
image copyrightWarner Bros
A masterful shot that we hope took several hundred attempts to perfect, and no lipstick added digitally in post-production.
“Joker 2: Folie à Deux” will be released in theaters in October 2024.
And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and activate them.